Why the BC NDP is confident about Kelowna Centre rematch

Kelowna Centre is a do-over of the 2024 election, but this time Loyal Wooldridge says the BC NDP realizes this is a battleground riding worth investing in during this blitz campaign.

The main contenders in Kelowna are Wooldridge for the BC NDP and BC Conservative Kristina Loewen, the same two from 2024 when Loewen won by 40 votes. Wooldridge said there are a few factors that are going to help him overcome this time.

“I’ve actually enjoyed a shorter campaign. I think it has enabled us to activate really quickly, get on the doorstep and really hear what people want right now. And it’s allowed us to be a little bit more nimble and adjust on the fly,” he said.

This election was called early so the campaign trail is much shorter than it was two years ago.

Unlike last time, BC NDP leader David Eby has made two campaign stops alongside Wooldridge in Kelowna.

“We’ve definitely seen resourcing, as well as focus on Kelowna-specific commitments to make sure that people’s priorities that we’re hearing on the doorstep are represented in Victoria,” he said.

The most recent Kelowna specific promise from the BC NDP was a $30 million pledge to open up the sixth floor of Kelowna General Hospital. Wooldridge said there’s a plan in place to make that happen, even if voters have doubts that the BC NDP will make good on that promise.

“With KGH, for example, we already have a plan in place with Interior Health to implement that. We now have a plan to fund it and get it done,” he said. “The conversations have already been happening for years in terms of what those plans are. So these aren’t just pipe dreams of ideas that have come to light now.”

Wooldridge has been criticized over a video that shows a staffer texting him during the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce forum earlier this week.

OneBC campaign manager Anthony Russo posted the video and said the staffer was texting Wooldridge answers to the forum questions, but Wooldridge said that wasn’t the case.

“The forum was really hard. I was attacked by almost every party from different ridings all night for two hours long, which is an indicator that I’m an obvious threat to the other candidates. I was not being texted answers. I was being texted words of encouragement,” he said.

338 Canada’s poll analytics show Kelowna Centre leaning towards the BC Conservatives, 50 per cent to 46 per cent. But, that hasn’t stopped Wooldridge from being positive.

“We’re feeling the momentum. We’re really feeling optimistic,” he said. “All parties have laid out what they stand for, what they don’t stand for. Now the name of the game of connecting voters and making sure that democracy is in action.”

Loewen has not made herself available to answer questions during the last week of the campaign, iNFOnews.ca has tried numerous times since Oct. 15 to get in contact with her or her campaign. She said she would do an interview but her campaign has not responded to emails, and she has not responded to texts and several phone calls.