Dyas easily tops Basran to take mayor's chair in Kelowna

Tom Dyas has handily defeated incumbent Colin Basran to become Kelowna’s next mayor.

The businessman, who billed himself as a populist and ran a grassroots campaign, soared to a resounding victory against Basran with 21,110 votes to 10,821, or 62 per cent to 31.

“The community this time had a louder voice. They truly had a louder voice. There’s certain things that were concerning with regards to crime, with respect to housing, with respect to homelessness, with respect to traffic,” Dyas told media at his campaign headquarters Saturday night.

“And I know, the biggest part of it that the community was missing was communication. They wanted to be heard.”

This was Dyas’s second run at the mayor’s chair.

It was a two-horse race for the top spot, with challengers David Habib earning just 1,518 votes, while Silverado Socrates and Charles Glendon Smedley won 278 and 226, respectively.

During the campaign, Dyas lambasted the current mayor for not doing enough to tackle a multitude of issues facing the city – crime, affordability, and development – and simply not listening to residents. He played into the rampant discontent about a perceived decline in the quality of life in Kelowna during Basran’s time in office.

Basran ran a more muted campaign, relying on his 11 years of experience around the council table to stand for itself. He pitched a message of stability to voters, highlighting his achievements so far and maintaining that the progress underway needs to continue and he should be the one to lead it.

The two clashed often throughout the campaign, as Dyas hammered Basran specifically on how dangerous people feel the city has become. The two locked horns during debates over Kelowna’s nation-leading crime severity.

The pair also battled over what problems the city can and can’t solve, with Basran accusing Dyas of not understanding what’s within his control, while Dyas charged Basran with not doing enough with his establishment connections.

"The residents here wanted change, and I absolutely respect that," Basran told reporters. "I want to congratulate our new council. They have some really great things to look forward to, and some really big challenges that they are going to have to face, and I wish them all success."

He said he can rest easy at night, knowing he "made decisions, I believed, in my heart, that were the best thing for this community as a whole."

Basran was first elected to city council in 2011. He won his first term as mayor in 2014 at the age of 37 – the youngest ever - and easily soared to victory in 2018. He’s a former journalist and realtor.

Dyas is a former president of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and owns an insurance brokerage. He earned just 30 per cent of the vote when he ran in 2018.

And while the appetite for change was fulfilled at the top, nearly every incumbent councillor was re-elected. Gail Given is the lone incumbent to lose her seat.

Based on unofficial results, here’s who is elected to city council:

* = incumbent

Ron Cannan

Loyal Wooldridge*

Gord Lovegrove

Rock Webber

Luke Stack*

Mohini Singh*

Charlie Hodge*

Maxime DeHart*