Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies

Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies is a newly created riding for the 2025 election, stretching from the eastern portions of the city of Kamloops all the way to the Alberta border. The riding encompasses a vast expanse of British Columbia’s interior, following Highway 1 and Highway 97 through communities including Chase, Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Revelstoke, and Golden, as well as the northern half of Spallumcheen and the municipalities of Armstrong and Enderby. The riding was carved from portions of the former Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, North Okanagan—Shuswap, and Kootenay—Columbia ridings. Its geography ranges from the dry grasslands east of Kamloops through the lake-dotted Shuswap region to the towering peaks of the Columbia and Rocky Mountain ranges.

Candidates

Mel Arnold (Conservative) is the incumbent, having represented the former riding of North Okanagan—Shuswap since his first election in 2015. Raised on a family dairy farm in Notch Hill near Shuswap Lake, Arnold was a long-time business owner in Salmon Arm before entering politics. He served on Salmon Arm’s environmental advisory council for eight years and held the role of president of the BC Wildlife Federation and the Canadian Wildlife Federation for two terms each. In Parliament, he has served on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans since 2016.

Ken Robertson (Liberal) is a Secwépemc man raised on the Neskonlith First Nation west of Chase. He ran his campaign out of Chase, drawing on deep community roots in the region and a family background in the forestry sector. Robertson was acclaimed as the Liberal candidate.

Phaedra Idzan (NDP) was born and raised in the Shuswap and has worked for both the BC provincial government and the territorial government of Yukon. She has also led a seniors’ housing society in Sicamous. Her campaign focused on housing affordability in the riding’s rural communities.

Owen Madden (Green Party) ran as the Green Party candidate, emphasizing environmental stewardship and sustainable resource management in the riding’s ecologically sensitive mountain and lake environments.

John Michael Henry (People’s Party) stood as the PPC candidate in the riding.

About the Riding

The sheer geographic scale of Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies—stretching from urban Kamloops to the mountain town of Golden near the Alberta border—makes it one of British Columbia’s most logistically challenging ridings. The Trans-Canada Highway serves as the riding’s spine, and transportation infrastructure, including highway safety, avalanche control through Rogers Pass, and rail service, is a constant concern.

The Shuswap region, centred on Salmon Arm and the shores of Shuswap Lake, is a popular retirement and recreation destination whose economy blends agriculture, tourism, and forestry. Revelstoke has transformed from a railway and forestry town into a year-round tourism destination anchored by Revelstoke Mountain Resort, while Golden serves a similar function at the gateway to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and the national parks beyond.

In 2025, the riding’s resource-dependent communities faced multiple pressures. Wildfire risk, which devastated parts of the BC interior in 2023, remained a serious concern for residents and local governments. Forestry sector contraction—driven by the mountain pine beetle epidemic, mill closures, and US softwood lumber tariffs—continued to erode traditional employment. Housing affordability had worsened even in smaller centres like Salmon Arm and Revelstoke, where tourism-driven demand pushed prices beyond the reach of local workers. Health-care access in rural communities, particularly physician and specialist shortages, was a recurring theme across this far-flung riding.