There was supposed to be two more years for political parties to get candidates together in Kamloops and the Okanagan ahead of a provincial election, but the snap election call this week has changed that.

There are a lot of political parties running the race this time around, some are arguably scrambling to get candidates in ridings, but the BC Conservatives have several incumbents ready to go in Kamloops and the Okanagan.

Kristina Loewen in Kelowna Centre, Macklin McCall in West Kelowna-Peachland, Gavin Dew in Kelowna-Mission, Pavneet Singh in Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream, Ward Stamer in Kamloops-North Thompson and Peter Milobar in Kamloops Centre are all running for re-election.

Singh is the only one who isn’t an incumbent.

The BC Conservatives have 37 candidates listed online and the BC NDP only have seven posted to the party’s website even though there are many others who are in the race.

So far, Penticton-Summerland’s Amelia Boultbee is the only one who’s running for the orange team in Kamloops or the Okanagan but things are developing by the minute.

Boultbee was originally elected as a BC Conservative in 2024 before switching sides a few months ago.

Independent provocateur Tara Armstrong in Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream hasn’t officially announced whether or not she’s running and hasn’t responded to requests for comment. But her X.com bio now reads “Former MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream.”

Centre BC, BC Green Party and OneBC all have at least one candidate running in the election, but BC United, formerly BC Liberals, aren’t making a revival for this race.

Technically there are 14 parties registered with Elections BC, but not all of them are recognizable to the average voter like the “Party of Citizens Who Have Decided To Think For Ourselves And Be Our Own Politicians.” Yes, that’s a real registered political party.

Candidates have until 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, to be nominated and the provincial general election day is Saturday, Oct. 24.