Boundary-Similkameen

Boundary-Similkameen is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia that has been represented in the Legislative Assembly from 1966 to 1991 and since 2009.

Boundary-Similkameen

British Columbia electoral district
Interactive map of riding boundaries
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
MLA	Donegal Wilson Conservative
District created	2008
First contested	2009
Last contested	2024
Demographics
Population (2021)	48,109
Area (km²)	15,619
Pop. density (per km²)	3.1
Census division(s)	Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, Regional District of Kootenay Boundary[1]
Census subdivision(s)	Grand Forks, Keremeos, Princeton, Oliver, Osoyoos

The riding was established during the 2008 British Columbia electoral redistribution and was first contested in the 2009 general election. It was created out of parts of Penticton-Okanagan Valley, West Kootenay-Boundary and Yale-Lillooet.^[2]

Geography

The electoral district mainly includes communities along BC-3 (Crowsnest Highway), including Keremeos, Oliver, Osoyoos, Grand Forks, and Big White. Its southern boundary is the Canada–United States border. To the west, its boundary follows that of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen; to the east, the boundary runs along that of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary Electoral Area C. Its northern boundary largely follows that of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary and of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and the southern limit of the city of Princeton.^[1]

History

The original riding of Boundary-Similkameen was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It spanned the Boundary Country, around the towns of Grand Forks and Rock Creek west including Oliver and Osoyoos to the Similkameen Valley towns of Keremeos and Princeton. The riding first appeared in the 1966 election as the result of a merger of the former ridings of Grand Forks-Greenwood (1924–1963) and Similkameen. Until the re-creation of Boundary-Similkameen, the former area was part of West Kootenay-Boundary; areas in the Similkameen had been part of Yale-Lillooet (which has been reconstituted as Fraser-Nicola).

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Due to the realignment of electoral boundaries, most incumbents did not represent the entirety of their listed district during the preceding legislative term. Bill Barisoff of the BC Liberals was elected during the 2001 and 2005 elections to the Penticton-Okanagan Valley riding, where the majority of the new riding's population resides. Katrine Conroy of the BC NDP was the MLA for West Kootenay-Boundary, while Harry Lali was the MLA for Yale-Lillooet. The areas of those ridings that were added to Boundary–Similkameen are less populated and were not the main population centres in their respective districts.

Single-member district

Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Boundary-Similkameen Riding created from Grand Forks-Greenwood, Similkameen and South Okanagan
28th	1966–1969		Frank Richter Jr.	Social Credit
29th	1969–1972
30th	1972–1975
31st	1975–1979		Jim Hewitt
32nd	1979–1983
33rd	1983–1986
Riding dissolved into Okanagan-Boundary and Okanagan-Penticton
Riding re-created from Penticton-Okanagan Valley, West Kootenay-Boundary and Yale-Lillooet
39th	2009–2013		John Slater	Liberal
40th	2013–2017		Linda Larson
41st	2017–2020
42nd	2020–2024		Roly Russell	New Democratic
43rd	2024–present		Donegal Wilson	Conservative

Dual-member district (1986-1991)

Parliament	Years	Member		Party	Member		Party
34th	1986–1988		Jim Hewitt	Social Credit		Ivan Messmer	Social Credit
	1988–1991		Bill Barlee	New Democratic

Electoral history

v t e 2024 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Donegal Wilson	11,935	48.39	+37.21	$33,102.59
	New Democratic	Roly Russell	10,497	42.56	−7.29	$60,076.63
	Green	Kevin Eastwood	1,454	5.89	–	$574.99
	Independent	Sean Taylor	779	3.16	–	$1,380.30
Total valid votes/expense limit			24,665	99.85	–	$71,700.08
Total rejected ballots			36	0.15	–
Turnout			24,701	62.74	+5.90
Registered voters			39,371
	Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		+22.25
Source: Elections BC[3][4]

v t e 2020 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Roly Russell	10,500	49.85	+17.12	$22,881.87
	Liberal	Petra Veintimilla	7,735	36.72	−6.08	$47,872.88
	Conservative	Darryl Seres	2,354	11.18	–	$2,932.14
	Wexit	Arlyn Greig	474	2.25	–	$4.00
Total valid votes			21,063	99.02	–
Total rejected ballots			208	0.99	+0.54
Turnout			21,271	56.84	–7.96
Registered voters			37,421
	New Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing		+11.60
Source: Elections BC[5][6]

v t e 2017 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Linda Larson	9,513	42.80	−3.79	$68,560.09
	New Democratic	Colleen Ross	7,275	32.73	−6.26	$60,024.28
	Independent	Peter Entwistle	3,165	14.24	–	$3,653.00
	Green	Vonnie Lavers	2,274	10.23	+1.45	$1,170.00
Total valid votes			22,227	100.00
Total rejected ballots			98	0.44
Turnout			22,325	64.80
Registered voters			34,450
Source: Elections BC[7][8]

v t e 2013 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Linda Larson	8,499	46.59	+9.14	$61,031
	New Democratic	Sam Hancheroff	7,113	38.99	+6.08	$70,135
	Green	John Kwasnica	1,602	8.78	−0.7	$1,334
	No Affiliation	Mischa Popoff	655	3.59	–	$3,725
	Independent	Doug Pederson	375	2.06	–	$0
Total valid votes			18,244	100.00
Total rejected ballots			113	0.62
Turnout			18,357	61.85
Source: Elections BC[9]

B.C. General Election 2009 Boundary-Similkameen

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Slater	6,681	37.45%	-8.25	$99,832
	NDP	Lakhvinder Jhaj	5,870	32.91%	-7.89	$52,629
	Conservative	Joe Cardoso	3,596	20.16%		$20,592
	Green	Bob Grieve	1,691	9.48%	-0.02	$2,025
Total valid votes			17,838	100%
Total rejected ballots			122	0.68%
Turnout			17,960	62.31%

Boundary-Similkameen Byelection, June 8, 1988
resignation of Jim Hewitt

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Bill Barlee	15,778	52.82%		unknown
	Social Credit	Russ Fox	10,515	35.44%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Judi Tyabji	3,144	10.53%	–	unknown
	Green	Rus Domer	361	1.21%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			29,868	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			218
Turnout			%
2 Seat increased to two members from one.

The 1988 byelection, which elected NDP member Bill Barlee, was the last appearance of the Boundary-Similkameen riding until its recreation in 2009. For the 1991 election, the area became represented by Okanagan-Boundary.

34th British Columbia election, 1986 ^2>

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Jim Hewitt	18,204	29.99%	–	unknown
	Social Credit	Ivan Messmer	16,150	26.61%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Eldon John Harrop	11,656	19.21%		unknown
	New Democratic	Wesley G. Nickel	11,427	18.83%		unknown
	Liberal	Anna Rita Lusier	1,729	2.85%	–	unknown
	Green	John Mercer Hughes	893	1.47%	–	unknown
	Green	David G. Cursons	634	1.04%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			60,693	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			758
Turnout			%
2 Seat increased to two members from one.

33rd British Columbia election, 1983

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Jim Hewitt	18,869	54.82%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Yvonne Joan Storey	14,468	42.03%		unknown
	Liberal	Kenneth Leslie Carig Hasanen	1,086	3.15%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			34,423	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			312
Turnout			%

32nd British Columbia election, 1979

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Jim Hewitt	13,739	47.56%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Bryan Patrick McIver	11,485	39.76%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	John Edwin Swales	3,662	12.68%		unknown
Total valid votes			28,886	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			324
Turnout			%

31st British Columbia election, 1975

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Jim Hewitt	10,784	48.31%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Yvonne Joan Storey	9,183	41.13%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Barry Donald Montgomery	1,778	7.96%		unknown
	Liberal	James Elder	580	2.60%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			22,325	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			161
Turnout			%

30th British Columbia election, 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Richter, Jr.	8,092	44.11%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Bill Barlee	6,850	37.34%		unknown
	Liberal	Ruth Schiller	1,855	10.11	–	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Donald James Ewart	1,550	8.45%		unknown
Total valid votes			18,347	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			122
Turnout			%

29th British Columbia election, 1969

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Richter, Jr.	8,944	54.29%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Bill Barlee	4,957	30.09%		unknown
	Liberal	Donald Grant MacDonald	2,575	15.63%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			16,476	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			122
Turnout			%

28th British Columbia election, 1966

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Richter, Jr.	6,547	55.44%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Lois Haggen	3,669	31.07%		unknown
	Liberal	John Victor Hyde Wilson	1,594	13.50%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			11,810	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			87
Turnout			%

See also

• List of British Columbia provincial electoral districts
• Canadian provincial electoral districts