Referendum fails as four newcomers join Lake Country council

Oct 15, 2022 | 10:12 PM Liam Verster

The District of Lake Country is going to be mostly composed of new faces.

Preliminary results of the 2022 General Local Election shows two incumbents and four newcomers have been elected to Lake Country council.

Blair Ireland, who had previously served the district in a different role, won the mayor’s seat by acclamation. Incumbents Cara Reed and Todd McKenzie also secured their seats ahead of election day as they were running unoposed.

Preliminary results of the election are as follows:

MAYOR

Blair Ireland – At-Large (served different) (acclaimed)

COUNCIL

Cara Reed – Carr’s Landing (incumbent) (acclaimed)
Todd McKenzie – Oyama (incumbent) (acclaimed)
Bib Patel – At-Large (newcomer) (1,461 votes / 72.3 per cent)
Michael Lewis – At-Large (newcomer) (1,333 votes / 66 per cent)
Heather Irvine – Winfield (newcomer) (552 votes / 27.3 per cent)
Tricia Brett – Okanagan Centre (newcomer) (368 votes / 18.2 per cent)

Incumbents Bill Scarrow (At-Large) and Jerremy Kozub (Winfield) lost their respective elections and their seats in council.

In addition to electing councillors, voters in Lake Country had their say on whether to authorize the borrowing up to $8-million for the purchasing of a waterfront property for community use.

Preliminary results shows 1,063 (52.6 per cent) were opposed to the referendum.

The preliminary count has 2,020 of the 12,767 eligible voters casting ballots in the 2022 election. The voter turnout of 15.8 per cent in up/down from the 26.5 per cent voter turnout in the 2018 election.

The results of the 2022 election are preliminary. The Chief Electoral Officer will review and recount the votes and announce the official results at a later date.