Milobar wins Centre riding

UPDATE: 8:34 p.m.

Peter Milobar has been declared MLA for the Kamloops Centre riding.

The B.C. Conservative candidate, who is also the incumbent, had captured a little more than 50 per cent of the vote as of 8:30 p.m. — up more than 10 points over the BC NDP’s Kamal Grewal.

Big cheers went up from the crowd gathered at Match Eatery at Cascades Casino, the B.C. Conservatives election night event in Kamloops, when Milobar’s results were displayed.

UPDATE: 8:16 p.m.

Early results show the B.C. Conservatives leading in the Kamloops Centre riding.

Not long after polls closed, initial results showed B.C. Conservative candidate Peter Milobar leading by a comfortable 18-point margin over the BC NDP’s Kamal Grewal — with only 1,650 votes counted.

UPDATE: 7:58 p.m.

B.C. Conservative candidate Peter Milobar says he spend election day going door to door reminding people to vote, and now he’s ready to watch the results roll in.

“We’re certainly very confident where we may land tonight, but you never do know truly until those votes get counted,” said Milobar, a BC United incumbent MLA who joined the B.C. Conservatives shortly before the campaign began.

"You take nothing for granted. I was blessed to have a lot of great volunteers to help with the door-knocking, the phoning and getting the vote out, so we hope that will help."

Milobar is predicting a 58-seat Conservative majority.

UPDATE: 7:02 p.m.

Kamloops Centre BC NDP candidate Kamal Grewal says she’s feeling a bit of everything with only an hour left until the polls close.

Grewal said she’ll be knocking on doors of potential voters alongside fellow Kamloops-North Thompson candidate Maddi Genn up until 8 p.m.

“I’m doing everything I can do that's within my ability until 7:59 p.m. — reaching people, talking to them, making sure they come out and vote, and hope for the best,” she said.

With the results expected in just a few hours, she said she’s optimistic but feeling a mix of emotions.

No matter the result, Grewal said she feels like she’s already won by earning the “love of the respect of so many people in this town” — and she said she won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

“If I am not to be the successful candidate tonight, I will still find ways to do that work within our community,” she said.

“Whether it's working through different organizations, whether it's working with different people, finding ways to to make that impact in the community, because that's what I enjoy and love the most.”

ORIGINAL STORY: 5:20 p.m.

The first race for the Kamloops Centre riding is about to be decided.

The new riding replaced the former north-south split of Kamloops along the Thompson Rivers in favour of a more east-west configuration that combines both urban centres of the downtown and Tranquille corridors, which were previously in separate ridings.

Peter Milobar, 54, BC United MLA for the Kamloops-North Thompson riding, is the only incumbent in the Kamloops race.

He made headlines in August when he joined the upstart B.C. Conservatives after BC United collapsed its campaign and opted to back the Tories.

Milobar had previously said the party, and it’s leader, John Rustad, were too “extreme” for him, but he opted to switch sides when it became the only centre-right option left in the campaign. He said he also felt he could be an experienced and moderate voice in the party.

Challenging Milobar in Kamloops Centre is BC NDP candidate Kamal Grewal, 37, who most recently worked for a private insurance company, and was managing the International Student Services Department at Thompson Rivers University up until last year.

She made headlines ahead of the campaign when she issued a statement saying a "municipal failure" was to blame for the community’s lack of day spaces for the homeless, despite those facilities being under provincial jurisdiction.

Local economist Randy Sunderman, 62, of the BC Greens, who has sat on myriad boards and committees, will also be running off in Kamloops Centre.

Sunderman also ran a failed bid for Kamloops city council in 2022.

On the campaign trail, Grewal has largely defended the NDP’s track record in debates in Kamloops and across the province, while also promising to do more, while Milobar has been focused on criticizing the NDP’s governance.

Sunderman has not minced words with his party's low chances of forming government, but has said he hopes they can pick up a few seats and possibly hold the power of kingmaker to get some of their policies passed, as was the case in 2017.

The Kamloops area has long been a conservative stronghold, having been won for years by the centre-right former BC Liberals.

In the 2020 provincial election, Milobar held on to the Kamloops-North Thompson riding by a slim 196-vote margin over the NDP’s Sadie Hunter, who was a city councillor at the time.

In that election, the NDP came out on top at numerous polling stations in North Kamloops, Brocklehurst and downtown Kamloops — all of which are now grouped together in the Kamloops Centre riding.

Pollster 338 Canada is predicting Milobar will take the victory in 2024 with 51 per cent of the vote, Kamal Grewal of the NDP with 38 per cent and BC Greens Randy Sunderman at a projected 10 per cent.

Voters have until 8 p.m. to cast their ballot. There are 12 polling stations across the Kamloops centre riding.

This story will be updated throughout the evening, including results and reaction after the polls close. Check back for updates.