Kelowna mayor Tom Dyas says remaining consistent with federal funding asks is important/City of Kelowna

By Glenn Hicks

big infrastructure dollars

Kelowna mayor preaches ‘consistent asks’ to Ottawa amid nation-building talk

Jun 4, 2025 | 4:00 PM

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised to “build, baby, build” and the nation’s premiers have high hopes about their big project wish lists.

But the mayor of Kelowna says now is not the time to change tack on what’s important and achievable for his community.

Speaking to Vernon Matters, Tom Dyas welcomed the initial talks among first ministers this week, but added, when it comes to Kelowna, he wants the priorities and action items set by his council to remain consistent with a genuine hope of them becoming a reality in the short-term.

“Knowing that Kelowna is one of the fastest growing communities in the country and the pressures and opportunities that come with that … and seeing the federal government with a renewed focus on infrastructure, it’s extremely welcoming,” he said.

But given the massive dollars that could flow from Ottawa for so-called nation-building projects, is there a temptation to want to think bigger? Some people in Kelowna may think now is the time to advocate for a second bridge linking the city with the Westside.

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“Those may be long term requests that really are not going to come to light at this particular point time,” he said. “What we are focusing on is items that we feel have the potential of coming about within this [political] term.

“Our action items set in 2022 are still consistent,” Dyas said, in highlighting what Kelowna needs immediately. “A new Transit Operations Centre is required. We’re currently using Hardy St. yards which has the capacity of about 70 buses and we have about 115 buses using that facility.”

Another transit element needing federal funding would be the electrification of the bus fleet.

Additionally, he said expansion of the Kelowna International Airport, infrastructure upgrades for the East lands to enable economic development, and the Clement Avenue extension were also shorter-term projects that will need federal and provincial support.

“We don’t want to be inconsistent with our [funding] requests,” Dyas said. “We want to lay them out straight forwardly and communicate them with our MP, Stephen Fuhr, and continue on that path.”