Okanagan South

This page is for the defunct British Columbia provincial electoral district named Okanagan South. For towns in and other information on the southern Okanagan region, please see Okanagan. For other electoral districts please see Okanagan (electoral districts).

Okanagan South was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia beginning with the election of 1979 and lasting until the 1986 election. The riding is similar to, but not the same as, its main predecessor, South Okanagan, which expired in 1975 but had been the longtime seat of Okanagan South's first member's father W.A.C. Bennett. The area of the riding was originally part of the Yale riding until 1890, and when first that riding was broken up the Okanagan was in Yale-East (1894–1900), and then in Okanagan (1903–1912), and then since that time until 1975 in South Okanagan.

Notable MLAs

The most famous MLA from this riding was indubitably William Richards Bennett, Premier of BC 1975-1986.

Political geography

Election results

Note: Winners of each election are in bold.

32nd British Columbia election, 1979
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Social Credit	William Richards Bennett	20,552	62.45%		unknown
	New Democrat	Hugh Duncan Dendy	10,881	33.06%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Ernest Garedner Arthur	1,479	4.49%		unknown
Total valid votes			32,912	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			324
Turnout			%

33rd British Columbia election, 1983
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Independent	Frederick L. Bartell	165	0.39%		unknown
	Social Credit	William Richards Bennett	27,647	66.05%		unknown
	Independent	Peter C.L. Griffiths	338	0.81%		unknown
	Liberal	Robert N, McKee	848	2.03%		unknown
	New Democrat	Brian Christopher Taylor	12,859	30.72%		unknown
Total valid votes			41,857	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			476
Turnout			%

33rd British Columbia election, 1986 1
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Republic Party	Frederick L. Bartell	245	0.31%		unknown
	Social Credit	Larry Chalmers	23,380	29.25%		unknown
	New Democrat	Hugh Duncan Dendy	13,035	16.31%		unknown
	Liberal	William Henry Gow	3,225	4.03%		unknown
	Liberal	David G. King	3,651	4.57%		unknown
	New Democrat	Eileen M. Robertson	12,111	15.15%		unknown
	Social Credit	Clifford Jack Serwa	24,287	30.38%		unknown
Total valid votes			79,934	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			1,094
Turnout			%
1 Seat increased to two members from one.

Redistribution of the riding following the 1986 election saw the seat broken into two, Okanagan West and Okanagan East.

Sources

Elections BC website - historical election data