Stephen Fuhr won the Kelowna riding by just 235 votes/ Stephen Fuhr campaign

By Glenn Hicks

close call

Fuhr confirmed as winner of Kelowna riding by over 1,000 votes

Apr 29, 2025 | 4:08 PM

Liberal Stephen Fuhr is destined to become a local MP again.

With all 203 polls reporting and special ballots counted in the Kelowna riding, Fuhr now leads Conservative Tracy Gray by over 1,077 votes in preliminary results.

Fuhr secured 47.8 per cent of the votes cast at 28,702, compared to Gray’s 47.3 per cent at 27,625.

The final preliminary tally was confirmed by Elections Canada Tuesday afternoon.

Fuhr last held the position of MP for Kelowna – Lake Country from 2015 to 2019. He then lost in 2019 before getting back into federal politics this time around.

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He said Liberal leader Mark Carney is uniquely qualified for the moment the nation faces.

“The country is in crisis. We stopped talking about it during the campaign but the crisis we had with the United States, it’s still there,” he said. “Mark Carney is uniquely qualified to help us get through this.”

Fuhr does not believe being an MP as part of government will mean more funding from Ottawa for Kelowna but said being in Ottawa does give better access to ministers.

The Carney Liberals have pointed to the need to tighten the belt on some programs and before the election the NDP certainly feared there may be unpleasant austerity in some areas, but Fuhr does not think Kelowna will be overlooked when it comes to infrastructure dollars.

“Mark Carney was pretty direct when he said Canada would be built out in a way it’s never been built out before,” he said. “It’s because we have to.”

Fuhr pointed to his riding win being the 169th seat secured by the Liberals in this federal election and said he was confident the party would find an ally in the NDP and their seven seats in order ” to deliver for Canadians.

“Progressive parties tend to see the future. They may squabble over the direction and the rate by which we get to the destination, but at least we want to go in the same way.”

The confirmation of Fuhr’s plus-1,000 vote win Tuesday is in stark contrast to the nerves on Election Day. At one stage on Monday his lead over Gray had dwindled from over 1,000 to just 66 with two polling stations remaining. He was unable to declare victory on the night, telling supporters a recount seemed certain. That is no longer the case.