Columbia—Kootenay—Southern Rockies

Columbia—Kootenay—Southern Rockies is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Until 2025, the riding was known as Kootenay-Columbia.^[2]

Columbia—Kootenay—Southern Rockies

British Columbia electoral district
Kootenay—Columbia from the 2015 federal election to 2025 Columbia—Kootenay—Southern Rockies from the 2025 federal election Interactive map of riding boundaries
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Rob Morrison Conservative
District created	1996
First contested	1997
Last contested	2025
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2011)[1]	107,589
Electors (2019)	91,652
Area (km²)[1]	64,336
Pop. density (per km²)	1.7
Census subdivision(s)	Cranbrook, Nelson, Kimberley, Trail, Fernie, Creston, Sparwood, Invermere, Elkford, Fruitvale

Geography

Consisting of:

• (a) the Regional District of East Kootenay;
• (b) that part of the Regional District of Central Kootenay comprising:
  • the villages of Kaslo and Salmo;
  • the Town of Creston;
  • the City of Nelson;
  • subdivisions A, B, C, D, E, F and G;
  • Creston Indian Reserve No. 1;
• (c) that part of the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District comprising:
  • the City of Revelstoke;
  • the Town of Golden;
  • subdivisions A and B; and
• (d) Tobacco Plains Indian Reserve No. 2.

^[3]

The riding borders the US states of Idaho, Montana and Washington, more than any other Canadian riding.

History

This district was created in 1996 from parts of Kootenay East and Kootenay West—Revelstoke ridings.

It was amended in 2003 to include a small part of Kootenay—Boundary—Okanagan.

The 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution concluded that the electoral boundaries of Kootenay—Columbia should be adjusted, and a modified electoral district of the same name will be contested in future elections.^[4] The redefined Kootenay—Columbia gains the communities of Nelson, Salmo and Kaslo and their respective surrounding areas from the current electoral district of British Columbia Southern Interior, while losing Nakusp and area to the new district of South Okanagan—West Kootenay and Needles and area to the new district of North Okanagan—Shuswap. These new boundaries were legally defined in the 2013 representation order, which came into effect upon the call of the 42nd Canadian federal election, scheduled for October 2015.^[5]

Demographics

Panethnic groups in Kootenay—Columbia (2011−2021)

Panethnic group	2021[6]		2016[7]		2011[8]
	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
European[a]	103,130	87.28%	98,250	89.24%	96,335	91.17%
Indigenous	9,040	7.65%	7,865	7.14%	6,305	5.97%
South Asian	1,570	1.33%	715	0.65%	705	0.67%
East Asian[b]	1,555	1.32%	1,290	1.17%	1,220	1.15%
Southeast Asian[c]	1,360	1.15%	890	0.81%	385	0.36%
African	630	0.53%	460	0.42%	255	0.24%
Latin American	455	0.39%	305	0.28%	165	0.16%
Middle Eastern[d]	145	0.12%	70	0.06%	25	0.02%
Other[e]	270	0.23%	255	0.23%	245	0.23%
Total responses	118,155	97.84%	110,095	97.99%	105,660	98.21%
Total population	120,759	100%	112,354	100%	107,589	100%
Notes: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses. Demographics based on 2012 Canadian federal electoral redistribution riding boundaries.

Members of Parliament

This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Kootenay—Columbia Riding created from Kootenay East and Kootenay West—Revelstoke
36th	1997–2000		Jim Abbott	Reform
	2000–2000			Alliance
37th	2000–2003
	2003–2004			Conservative
38th	2004–2006
39th	2006–2008
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–2015		David Wilks
42nd	2015–2019		Wayne Stetski	New Democratic
43rd	2019–2021		Rob Morrison	Conservative
44th	2021–2025
Columbia—Kootenay—Southern Rockies
45th	2025–present		Rob Morrison	Conservative

Current member of Parliament

Its member of Parliament (MP) is Rob Morrison, first elected in 2019 as a Conservative candidate.

Election results

Graph of election results in Kootenay—Columbia (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

Columbia—Kootenay—Southern Rockies

v t e 2025 Canadian federal election
** Preliminary results — Not yet official **
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rob Morrison	35,830	50.45	+6.83
	Liberal	Reggie Goldsbury	20,007	28.17	+19.23
	New Democratic	Kallee Lins	12,772	17.98	–18.66
	Green	Steven Maffioli	1,056	1.49	–2.22
	Independent	James Wiedrick	850	1.20	N/A
	People's	Laurie Baird	503	0.71	–6.38
Total valid votes/expense limit
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			71,018	72.96
Eligible voters			97,344
	Conservative notional hold		Swing		–6.20
Source: Elections Canada[9][10]

2021 federal election redistributed results[11]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	27,552	43.62
	New Democratic	23,143	36.64
	Liberal	5,648	8.94
	People's	4,480	7.09
	Green	2,341	3.71

Kootenay—Columbia

v t e 2021 Canadian federal election: Kootenay—Columbia
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rob Morrison	28,056	43.2	-1.6	$110,837.35
	New Democratic	Wayne Stetski	23,986	36.9	+2.5	$127,647.85
	Liberal	Robin Goldsbury	5,879	9.0	-0.1	$10,113.73
	People's	Sarah Bennett	4,467	6.9	+4.8	$0.00
	Green	Rana Nelson	2,577	4.0	-5.1	$6,932.17
Total valid votes/expense limit			64,965	99.5	–	$152,723.52
Total rejected ballots			317	0.5
Turnout			65,282	68.4
Eligible voters			95,518
	Conservative hold		Swing		-2.1
Source: Elections Canada[12]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election: Kootenay—Columbia
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rob Morrison	30,168	44.81	+8.03	$100,780.99
	New Democratic	Wayne Stetski	23,149	34.38	-2.84	$91,351.20
	Liberal	Robin Goldsbury	6,151	9.14	-10.35	none listed
	Green	Abra Brynne	6,145	9.13	+2.62	$17,085.86
	People's	Rick Stewart	1,378	2.05	-	none listed
	Animal Protection	Trev Miller	339	0.50	-	$1,850.63
Total valid votes/expense limit			67,330	99.61
Total rejected ballots			266	0.39	+0.08
Turnout			67,596	72.68	-0.28
Eligible voters			93,002
	Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		+5.44
Source: Elections Canada[13][14]

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election: Kootenay—Columbia
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Wayne Stetski	23,529	37.23	-1.62	$90,414.74
	Conservative	David Wilks	23,247	36.78	-13.31	$108,293.89
	Liberal	Don Johnston	12,315	19.48	+16.00	$11,677.75
	Green	Bill Green	4,115	6.51	+0.08	$43,921.84
Total valid votes/expense limit			63,206	99.69		$279,227.99
Total rejected ballots			197	0.31	–
Turnout			63,403	72.97	–
Eligible voters			86,895
	New Democratic gain from Conservative		Swing		+5.84
Source: Elections Canada[15][16]

2011 federal election redistributed results[17]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	26,447	50.09
	New Democratic	20,510	38.84
	Green	3,395	6.43
	Liberal	1,841	3.49
	Others	610	1.16

v t e 2011 Canadian federal election: Kootenay—Columbia
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Wilks	23,910	55.88	-3.71
	New Democratic	Mark Shmigelsky	14,199	33.18	+10.54
	Green	William Green	2,547	5.95	-4.06
	Liberal	Betty Aitchison	1,496	3.50	-4.25
	Independent	Brent Bush	636	1.49	–
Total valid votes			42,788	99.67
Total rejected ballots			142	0.33	-0.00
Turnout			42,930	63.45	+3.69
Eligible voters			67,663
	Conservative hold		Swing		-7.13

v t e 2008 Canadian federal election: Kootenay—Columbia
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Jim Abbott	23,402	59.59	+5.24	$53,536
	New Democratic	Leon R. Pendleton	8,892	22.64	-3.23
	Green	Ralph Moore	3,933	10.01	+3.91	$1,084
	Liberal	Betty Aitchison	3,044	7.75	-5.98	$1,960
Total valid votes/expense limit			39,271	100.0		$99,498
Total rejected ballots			131	0.3
Turnout			39,402	59.76
	Conservative hold		Swing		+4.24

v t e 2006 Canadian federal election: Kootenay—Columbia
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Jim Abbott	22,181	54.35	+2.33	$76,689
	New Democratic	Brent Bush	10,560	25.87	+2.05	$20,927
	Liberal	Jhim Burwell	5,443	13.33	-4.59	$8,240
	Green	Clements Verhoeven	2,490	6.10	-0.13	$3,632
	Canadian Action	Thomas Frederick Sima	132	0.32	–	$0
Total valid votes			40,806	100.0
Total rejected ballots			129	0.3
Turnout			40,935	64.39	-0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing		+0.14

2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Jim Abbott	21,336	52.02	-21.48	$89,327
	New Democratic	Brent Bush	9,772	23.82	+15.11	$32,311
	Liberal	Ross Priest	7,351	17.92	+3.18	$36,595
	Green	Carmen Gustafson	2,558	6.23	+3.17
Total valid votes			41,017	100.0
Total rejected ballots			130	0.3
Turnout			41,147	65.1
	Conservative hold		Swing		-18.30
Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Alliance	Jim Abbott	25,663	67.78	+5.87	$62,316
	Liberal	Delvin R. Chatterson	5,581	14.74	-2.89	$18,971
	New Democratic	Andrea Dunlop	3,297	8.71	-5.49	$3,732
	Progressive Conservative	Jerry Pirie	2,165	5.72	+1.63	$340
	Green	Jubilee Rose Cacaci	1,158	3.06	+0.89
Total valid votes			37,864	100.0
Total rejected ballots			139	0.4
Turnout			38,003	65.2	+0.3
	Alliance hold		Swing		+4.38
Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election.

1997 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Reform	Jim Abbott	22,387	61.91	$49,956
	Liberal	Mark Shmigelsky	6,373	17.63	$28,560
	New Democratic	Greg Edwards	5,133	14.20	$29,778
	Progressive Conservative	Mark Palmer	1,479	4.09	$322
	Green	Anna Rowe	786	2.17
Total valid votes			36,158	100.0
Total rejected ballots			131	0.4
Turnout			36,289	64.9
This riding was created from parts of Kootenay East and Kootenay West—Revelstoke, both of which elected Reform candidates in the previous election. Jim Abbott was the incumbent from Kootenay East.

Adjacent ridings

• British Columbia Southern Interior
• Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo
• Okanagan—Shuswap

See also

• List of Canadian electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada

Notes

1. Statistic includes all persons that did not make up part of a visible minority or an indigenous identity.
2. Statistic includes total responses of "Chinese", "Korean", and "Japanese" under visible minority section on census.
3. Statistic includes total responses of "Filipino" and "Southeast Asian" under visible minority section on census.
4. Statistic includes total responses of "West Asian" and "Arab" under visible minority section on census.
5. Statistic includes total responses of "Visible minority, n.i.e." and "Multiple visible minorities" under visible minority section on census.