Liberals’ Ben Stewart regains seat in Kelowna West byelection

Result gives opposition party 42 MLAs, one more than the NDP

KELOWNA — Liberal Ben Stewart won Wednesday’s byelection to replace former B.C. premier Christy Clark in the legislature.

With all but a handful of ballots to be counted, Stewart was holding a strong lead in the riding of Kelowna West late Wednesday with just under 57 per cent of the votes.

New Democrat Shelley Cook was in second place with 23 per cent and Robert Stupka of the Green Party was third with 12.5 per cent.

Stewart’s victory means the Liberals will have 42 seats in the legislature — one more than the governing New Democrats.

Kelowna West became vacant when Clark resigned both as leader of the B.C. Liberal party and as a member of the legislative assembly last summer, following her party’s fall from power.

Stewart, the founder of Quails Gate Estate Winery, had won the riding in 2013, but bowed out to allow Clark to run after she lost the Vancouver-Point Grey riding.

The B.C. Liberals were in power for 16 years, but the May election resulted in no party having a clear majority.

Clark’s Liberals, with 42 seats to the NDP’s 41, tried to form government, but the party was defeated in a non-confidence vote.

The New Democrats struck an agreement with the Green party, where its three members would support the NDP’s legislative agenda on supply and budget issues.

Former Liberal cabinet minister Andrew Wilkinson was elected by the party this month to replace Clark and lead the Opposition.

The Kelowna West riding is in the heart of B.C.’s wine region, a sector caught up in the dispute between B.C. and Alberta’s two NDP governments over the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Alberta announced it would boycott all B.C. wines after Premier John Horgan’s government announced it would restrict expanded bitumen shipments until safety and environmental concerns are resolved.

The byelection result means the new standings in the legislature are: 42 Liberals, 41 New Democrats, three Greens, one Independent and one vacant seat.

Ben Stewart, who was elected in Kelowna West in 2013 but resigned to make way for former premier Christy Clark, won Wednesday’s byelection and will return to Victoria as the riding’s MLA.