Town makes progress in zoning conflict page 2
SPOTL SPOT SPOTLIGHT LIGHT $1.10 Includes TAX
The Similkameen
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Volume 65 Issue 42
Proudly serving the community since 1948 • www.similkameenspotlight.com
Long drive New riding bucks to cast a national trend - barely ballot Andrea DeMeer Spotlight Staff
While the majority of the country was painted Liberal red Monday night, Conservative Dan Albas, running in his newly-created local riding, squeaked out a victory. Tara Bowie Spotlight Staff
The majority of the country may be red, but the new riding of Central Okanagan Similkameen-Nicola is blue – barely. Conservative Dan Albas earned his seat by a slim margin last night, bucking a national trend that saw the Liberals capturing 184 seats. Conservatives were elected in 100 ridings, NDP 42, Bloc Quebecois
10, the Green Party 1. “It was a lot tighter than we expected it to be,” Albas said about his fight to return to Ottawa. Early in the night Albas had a more than 15 per cent lead on his closest rival Liberal Karley Scott. Media outlets called the election within the first 90 minutes of the polls closing but in the remaining hours the gap narrowed to a mere 2.2 per cent difference.
Weather Watch Wednesday
High11/Low4
Thursday
High9/Low4
Friday
High9/Low5
Saturday
High13/Low4
Sunday
High12/Low4
The final result was Albas with 24,425 votes; Scott 23,028; NDP Angelique Wood 11,939 and Green Robert Mellalieu 2,428. Because results were so close, Albas put off interviews with the press until counting was almost complete. He spoke with The Spotlight only after 230 of the 231 ridings were counted. “We knew it was going to be a close continued page nine
You know it’s going to be an interesting election when people are angry before the votes are even counted. An unspecified number of voters from Princeton were directed Monday to Tulameen in order to cast their ballots. Barb Roccamatis, 66, called the experience “pathetic.” Roccamatis describes herself as “a religious voter” who has never missed her chance to exercise the franchise. And she’s always voted in the community where she lives. “I have lived here for 45 years and I’ve always voted at the Legion, or wherever downtown…we live behind the airport in city limits.” After standing in line, and using a walker to negotiate a path into the Princeton Legion Monday morning, she was told she had to drive more than 26 kilometers to Tulameen. The journey would take her and her husband along Coalmont Road, a steep and narrow incline. According to Google Maps the one-way drive from Princeton to Tulameen takes 31 minutes. “I hate that road and it’s not like it’s a hop, skip and a jump,” she said. Roccamatis said she made the journey with some misgivings, but was determined to mark her X. “I vote every election. I know one year I was so sick but I still voted.” She wants someone held accountable for an election day gone sideways. “I want to know what group of people sat down and said ‘all the people who live behind the airport have to go Tulameen’…did they get a map or go through the phone book and pick and choose?” Returning Officer for the newly-drawn riding of Central Okanagan Similkameen-Nicola, Basil continued page nine
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