Cannan won’t seek recount after Dyas wins Kelowna

Updated 9:20 p.m. PT Oct. 19: Ron Cannan said after meeting Kelowna election officials at city hall that he is satisfied and will not seek a recount, Castanet reported Monday. “We got all the answers to our questions,” Cannan said, according to Castanet. The city’s chief election officer said official results would be published by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, Castanet reported.

Tom Dyas won Kelowna’s mayoral race over challenger Ron Cannan by 969 votes in preliminary results from Saturday’s municipal election, and Cannan said on election night that a recount request was a strong possibility.

The City of Kelowna’s website showed Dyas with 19,451 votes, or 50.54 per cent, Cannan with 18,482 votes, or 48.02 per cent, and Andrew Uitvlugt with 556 votes, or 1.4 per cent, the Similkameen Spotlight, a Black Press publication, reported. The figures are preliminary and not official.

Cannan congratulated Dyas on election night and said he respects the voters’ decision. "That’s democracy, and I respect their decision," he said, according to the Spotlight. The Kelowna Daily Courier reported that Cannan thanked and congratulated Dyas and his campaign team and wished the new council "every success over the next four years."

Dyas told the Daily Courier the count was "very nerve-wracking, very very close, but at the end of the day, we took it," and said "there is just one Kelowna."

Cannan also said "some questions have to be answered at city hall" after the count took more than three hours following the close of polls at all 22 voting stations. Cannan’s campaign manager, Shari Matvieshen, said seven of 13 scrutineers were denied vote-count information they had been told they could request, the Spotlight reported.

Castanet reported that Cannan met election officials with Matvieshen to review ballots and get polling-station information that the campaign said was not provided on election night. The campaign had earlier cited a discrepancy of about 800 votes at one station that was later corrected, Castanet reported.

The period to apply for a judicial recount begins once official results are declared and ends nine days after the close of general voting, Castanet reported.

The Kelowna race was one of several across the province decided Saturday. We reported that Pete Fry defeated Ken Sim in Vancouver, that Doug McCallum was elected Surrey mayor and that Rob Howard was elected in Richmond. Our roundup of Burnaby, Coquitlam and other Metro Vancouver races has more.

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independent Canadian newsroom with no corporate parent.