Ward Stamer and Maddi Genn (image credit- CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

BC ELECTION 2024

Kamloops-North Thompson riding a two horse race between NDP and Conservatives

Sep 25, 2024 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — After the last provincial election, the electoral map of British Columbia was redrawn, adding six new ridings and making boundary changes for others. In Kamloops, that means the creation of Kamloops Centre and a newly configured Kamloops-North Thompson riding which will include communities like Clearwater and Barriere to the north, Valleyview and Chase to the east, and to Stump Lake along Highway 5A.

Kamloops North Thompson Electoral Map (image credit – Elections BC)

Kamloops-North Thompson will be a two horse race with the retirement of Todd Stone following the demise of the BC United Party. Barriere mayor Ward Stamer will face Maddi Genn for a ticket to Victoria.

“I just hope that people will give me a chance,” Genn told CFJC News. “I get it. I understand that, for a lot of people, I seem really young, I seem really inexperienced but it’s time to have somebody who can bring a new set of eyes and ears, more innovative and creative solutions. And bring somebody into the field with experience working in the systems that we are having some of the biggest challenges with.”

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Genn, a human services professional and union activist, will be flying the NDP banner in her first run at provincial politics. While the riding includes Kamloops and a vast swath of rural area, Genn noted the issues are similar throughout.

“There are lot of the same issues that I have had with our community — more housing, better access to health care, especially in our more rural communities, and then tackling this opioid crisis and our unhoused population,” said Genn.

Stamer is no stranger to politics, but moving up to the provincial level does provide new challenges for the Barriere mayor, representing the BC Conservatives on the ballot.

“The top three always come to mind — health care or lack thereof, housing and affordability, and to the other extent, depending if you are on the north it’s going to be highway improvements, down [in Kamloops] it’s going to be mental health and addiction,” said Stamer.

While the NDP have easy name recognition as the governing party, the BC Conservatives are working to ensure voters see them as the true right-of-centre option.

“Even though we are not tied to the federal Conservatives, we have fairly similar policies from federal and provincial,” noted Stamer. “Also, when you look at the dynamics in British Columbia, it’s always been left and right — whether it’s the Socreds or the BC Liberals or the BC United and now the Conservative Party are the big tent. And that is going to be everybody from the centre to the right, but also from the centre to the left.”

Election day in British Columbia is Saturday, October 19.