Kootenay-Rockies

Not to be confused with Kootenay East (1917–1968, 1979–1997), or East Kootenay (provincial electoral district) (1890–1898).

Kootenay-Rockies (formerly Kootenay from 1966 to 2001; East Kootenay from 2001 to 2009; Kootenay East from 2009 to 2024) is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.

Kootenay-Rockies

British Columbia electoral district
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
MLA	Pete Davis Conservative
District created	1966
First contested	1966
Last contested	2024
Demographics
Population (2001)	38,503
Area (km²)	10,275
Pop. density (per km²)	3.7
Census division(s)	Regional District of East Kootenay
Census subdivision(s)	Cranbrook, Fernie, Sparwood, Elkford

The district was created before the 1966 election by the merger of Cranbrook and Fernie ridings, and despite its long period under the "Kootenay" moniker, never extended to cover more than a fraction of the whole "Kootenay" region. Post-2001, broadly similar territory was included under the successive names East Kootenay, Kootenay East and Kootenay-Rockies. The riding adopted its current name and had minor boundary changes from the 2024 election, which implemented the results of the 2021 redistribution.^[1]

For other historical or current ridings in the Kootenay region, please see Kootenay (electoral districts).

Demographics

Population, 2001	38,503
Population change, 1996–2001	0.7%
Area (km2)	10,275
Population density (people per km2)	3.7

Geography

As of the 2020 provincial election, Kootenay East comprised the southern portion of the Regional District of East Kootenay. It is located in southeastern British Columbia and is bordered by Alberta to the east and Montana, United States to the south. Communities in the electoral district consist of Cranbrook, Fernie, Sparwood, and Elkford.^[2]

History

2008 redistribution

Addition of St. Mary's Indian Reserve. Change name from East Kootenay to Kootenay East

1999 redistribution

Small addition to western border. Change name from Kootenay to East Kootenay

Member of the Legislative Assembly

Its MLA is Tom Shypitka. He was first elected in 2017. This riding has elected the following MLAs:

Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Kootenay Riding created from Cranbrook and Fernie
28th	1966–1969		Leo Nimsick	New Democratic
29th	1969–1972
30th	1972–1975
31st	1975–1979		George Wayne Haddad	Social Credit
32nd	1979–1983		Terry Segarty
33rd	1983–1986
34th	1986–1991		Anne Edwards	New Democratic
35th	1991–1996
36th	1996–2001		Erda Walsh
East Kootenay
37th	2001–2005		Bill Bennett	Liberal
38th	2005–2009
Kootenay East
39th	2009–2013		Bill Bennett	Liberal
40th	2013–2017
41st	2017–2020		Tom Shypitka	Liberal
42nd	2020–2023
	2023–2024			United
Kootenay-Rockies
43rd	2024–present		Pete Davis	Conservative

Election results

Graph of provincial election results in Kootenay East (minor parties are summed up as "Others")

Kootenay-Rockies

v t e 2024 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Pete Davis	8,216	42.7	42.7
	Independent	Tom Shypitka	5,844	30.4	-15.2
	New Democratic	Sam Atwal	4,184	21.7	-10.47
	Green	Kerri Wall	996	5.2	-4.73
Total valid votes			19,241	–
Total rejected ballots
Turnout
Registered voters
Source: Elections BC[3]

Kootenay East

v t e 2020 British Columbia general election: Kootenay East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Tom Shypitka	9,897	57.90	+1.33	$38,182.15
	New Democratic	Wayne Stetski	5,499	32.17	+2.5	$19,605.32
	Green	Kerri Wall	1,697	9.93	−1.34	$3,805.90
Total valid votes			17,093	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots
Turnout
Registered voters
Source: Elections BC[4][5]

v t e 2017 British Columbia general election: Kootenay East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Tom Shypitka	9,666	56.57	−6.42	$53,655
	New Democratic	Randal Macnair	5,070	29.67	−7.34	$34,336
	Green	Yvonne Marie Prest	1,926	11.27	–	$2,412
	Libertarian	Keith D. Komar	425	2.49	–	$2,027
Total valid votes			17,087	100.00
Total rejected ballots			101	0.59
Turnout			17,188	55.71
Source: Elections BC[6]

v t e 2013 British Columbia general election: Kootenay East
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Bill Bennett	10,252	62.99	+11.78	$126,532
	New Democratic	Norma Blissett	6,023	37.01	+1.39	$74,121
Total valid votes			16,275	100.00
Total rejected ballots			138	0.84
Turnout			16,413	53.41
Source: Elections BC[7]

2009 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Bill Bennett	8,404	51.21%	+3.2	$159,218
	New Democratic	Troy Sebastian	5,844	35.62%	−8.1	$92,272
	Conservative	Wilf Hanni	1,612	9.82%	–	$24,562
	Green	Jen Tsuida	549	3.35%	−4.92	$850
Total Valid Votes			16,409	100%
Total Rejected Ballots			53	0.32%
Turnout			16,462	55.87%

2005 British Columbia general election East Kootenay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Bill Bennett	8,060	48.01%		$98,363
	NDP	Erda Walsh	7,339	43.72%		$54,902
	Green	Luke Gurbin	1,389	8.27%	–	$200
Total Valid Votes			16,788	100%
Total Rejected Ballots			111	0.66%
Turnout			16,899	60.03%

2001 British Columbia general election: East Kootenay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Bill Bennett	10,206	61.85%		$41,778
	NDP	Erda Walsh	3,638	22.05%		$41,196
	Unity	Bruce Parke	651	3.95%		$100
	Green	Joni Krats	1,287	7.80%	–	$509
	Marijuana	Fred Sima	718	4.35%		$844
Total valid votes			16,500	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			59	0.36%
Turnout			16,559	68.76%

1996 British Columbia general election: Kootenay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	NDP	Erda Walsh	6,398	38.59%		$50,043
	Liberal	Ron Tarr	5,887	35.50%		$43,761
	Reform	Wilf Hanni	3,718	22.42%		$27,845
	Green	Casey Brennan	363	2.19%	–	$100
	Independent	Marko Makar	215	1.30%		$2,707
Total valid votes			16,581	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			62	0.37%
Turnout			16,643	68.15%

1991 British Columbia general election: Kootenay

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	NDP	Anne Edwards	7,352	46.49%		$44,609
	Social Credit	Terry Segarty	5,014	31.70%	–	$69,607
	Liberal	William (Bill) G. Hills	3,450	21.81%		$2,581
Total valid votes			15,816	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			296	1.84%
Turnout			16,112	73.94%

1986 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Anne Edwards	8,000	47.94%		unknown
	Social Credit	Terry Segarty	7,649	45.85%		unknown
	Liberal	Paul R. Kershaw	539	3.23%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	James G. Smith	499	2.99%		unknown
Total valid votes			16,687	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			271
Turnout			%

1983 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Terry Segarty	8,819	50.65%		unknown
	New Democratic	Harry Edwin Mathias	8,245	47.36%		unknown
	Liberal	Kory Palmer	347	1.99%		unknown
Total valid votes			17,411	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			208
Turnout			%

1979 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Terry Segarty	6,167	49.37%		unknown
	New Democratic	Douglas Wayne Wright	5,350	42.83%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Roy Wilburn Paul	975	7.80%		unknown
Total valid votes			12,492	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			102
Turnout			%

1975 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	George Wayne Haddad	7,915	52.29%		unknown
	New Democratic	James Patterson	7,223	47.71%		unknown
Total valid votes			15,138	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			180
Turnout			%

1972 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Leo Nimsick	6,065	44.20%		unknown
	Liberal	Harry Edwards Caldwell	4,267	38.26%		unknown
	Conservative	David John Reeves	4,169	30.38%		unknown
	Social Credit	Ronald Powell	1,615	11.77%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			13,721	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			180
Turnout			%

1969 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Leo Nimsick	4,282	38.39%		unknown
	Social Credit	Harry J. Broadhurst	4,267	38.26%		unknown
	Liberal	Henry Nelson	2,604	23.55%		unknown
Total valid votes			11,153	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			173
Turnout			%

1966 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Leo Nimsick	3,605	40.98%		unknown
	Social Credit	Robert Owen Jones	3,070	34.89%		unknown
	Liberal	Harry McKay	2,123	24.13%		unknown
Total valid votes			8,798	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			54
Turnout			%

References

1. Henderson, Wylie. "Kootenay East name and boundary changes proposed". Wild 104.7 - East Kootenay's New Country. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
2. "Kootenay East Electoral District" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
3. https://globalnews.ca/news/10779021/bc-election-2024-results-kootenay-rockies/
4. "2020 Provincial General Election Final Voting Results". electionsbcenr.blob.core.windows.net. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
5. "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
6. "Statement of Votes – 41st Provincial General Election – May 9, 2017" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
7. "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved May 17, 2017.

External links

• BC Stats Profile 2001
• Results of 2001 election (pdf)
• 2001 Expenditures
• Results of 1996 election
• 1996 Expenditures
• Results of 1991 election
• 1991 Expenditures
• Website of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
• Elections British Columbia historical returns