Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleKelowna voters have returned Tom Dyas for a second term as mayor, with the City’s official results recording 19,454 votes for him and 18,485 for challenger Ron Cannan. The 969-vote margin was one of the closest mayoral races in the Okanagan, and Dyas is due to be sworn in with eight councillors at 7 p.m. Monday, November 2.
Official count confirms a 969-vote win
The City confirmed the results on October 21 after the final count. Dyas received 19,454 votes, compared with 18,485 for Cannan and 556 for Andrew Mark Uitvlugt. The official margin between the two leading candidates was 969 votes.
Kelowna reported 38,976 people voted, representing 31.4 per cent of approximately 124,000 eligible voters. The final count included six mail-in ballots that arrived by the October 17 deadline and were counted afterward with a candidate scrutineer present. The City said the final totals therefore differ slightly from election-night figures.
Who was elected to Kelowna council?
Eight councillors were elected for the 2026–2030 term:
- Gord Lovegrove — 15,466 votes (re-elected)
- Davis Kyle — 14,824 votes
- Kevin Aaron Kraft — 13,509 votes
- Brady Rogers — 12,637 votes
- Rick Webber — 12,514 votes (re-elected)
- Mohini Singh — 11,969 votes (re-elected)
- Laura Thurnheer — 11,950 votes
- Les Bellamy — 11,472 votes
Lovegrove, Webber and Singh are returning councillors. Kyle, Kraft, Rogers, Thurnheer and Bellamy are new to the council table.
From family business to City Hall
Dyas’s campaign biography says he spent nearly four decades building a family business before entering public service. It describes him as a community volunteer and former president of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce. He was first elected mayor in 2022 and is now beginning a second term.
His campaign has framed the next four years as a continuation of work on public safety, housing, infrastructure and financial accountability. Those are campaign claims and priorities; the new council will be responsible for deciding what to fund and implement.
Treatment, public safety and housing remain central issues
Dyas’s 2026 platform put a “treatment first” approach near the centre of its public-safety agenda. It calls for expanded detox, treatment and recovery capacity, a regional treatment and recovery centre, and a permanent 24-hour public-safety presence in downtown Kelowna and Rutland. The campaign also proposed more frontline public-safety positions and stronger neighbourhood protections around social-service facilities.
Housing and growth were also prominent. The platform called for more attainable homeownership, family-sized housing and continued work with senior governments on housing and infrastructure. Dyas also proposed an economic corridor around Kelowna International Airport, a “Kelowna First Jobs & Careers” initiative targeting 1,000 first-job and early-career opportunities over four years, and continued investment in major road connections.
On municipal finances, the campaign promised to keep taxes among the lowest in B.C., continue four value-for-money audits annually and publish quarterly financial reporting. These are proposed commitments, not policies adopted by the new council.
New council begins work November 2
The mayor and councillors are scheduled to take the oath of office at 7 p.m. November 2 at the Mary Irwin Theatre inside the Rotary Centre for the Arts. The public is invited. The City says the first regular council meeting will take place November 9.
The new council will face decisions on public safety, treatment and recovery services, housing, transportation projects, growth-related infrastructure and the balance between property taxes and service levels as Kelowna continues to expand.
Sources
- City of Kelowna: Official 2026 election results and inauguration details
- City of Kelowna: Full official mayoral and council vote totals
- Tom Dyas campaign: biography and platform
- Tom Dyas campaign: 2026 platform details
- Vernon Matters: Dyas outlines his re-election platform
Harnaik Singh Rathor is the Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of StudioX News Canada, Canada's multilingual digital news network serving multilingual diaspora communities across Canada. With a background in media production, public relations, and multicultural communications, he founded StudioX Film and TV Corporation to bridge the gap between mainstream Canadian media and the country's diverse immigrant communities. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), RTDNA Canada, CPRS Vancouver, NEPMCC, and the Canadian Freelance Union (Unifor). Based in Surrey, British Columbia. | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harnaiksinghrathor/ | Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/harnaiksinghrathor | Email: editor@studioxnews.ca
