BC NDP candidate for MLA in Kelowna Centre, a two-term Kelowna city councillor who lost the district by 40 votes in 2024.
Loyal Wooldridge is the BC NDP candidate in Kelowna Centre. He has been a Kelowna city councillor since 2018 and chairs the Regional District of Central Okanagan board. In 2024 he ran in the same district and lost to Conservative Kristina Loewen by 40 votes. In 2026 he has said he wants to address street disorder, the cost of living and the Bennett Bridge, and build a stronger local economy.
Researched by voche.me · Not a campaign-authored page
A researched record of what Loyal Wooldridge has said in 2026, his public roles in Kelowna and the region, and the coverage of his second run in Kelowna Centre.
No public appearance by the candidate was confirmed on 2026-09-30. A chamber forum for all Kelowna candidates is listed for October 20. The voting dates come from Elections BC.
Checked September 30, 2026 · All event times are Pacific time. Recheck the organizer before travelling.
Attendance is identified for each event. Unconfirmed listings are not confirmed candidate appearances.
Kelowna
The listing covers all candidates in the three Kelowna districts. No source confirms that he will attend.
iNFOnews lists a Kelowna Chamber of Commerce forum for candidates in Kelowna Centre, Kelowna-Mission and Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream on October 20, with pre-registration required.
At official British Columbia voting places. These dates apply to every voter and are not candidate appearances. Find your voting place
On dates without a confirmed appearance the public schedule is unknown; the candidate may still have activities that day. This static page changes only when its research is updated.
Elections BC lists Loyal Wooldridge as the BC NDP candidate in Kelowna Centre. The party named him on September 27, 2026, according to the Kelowna Capital News and The Kelowna Courier.
He was first elected to Kelowna city council in 2018, taking the eighth and last seat with 12,495 votes, according to The Kelowna Courier. The City of Kelowna's 2022 results show he was re-elected with 14,700 votes, the second-highest total among council candidates. The Regional District of Central Okanagan says its board re-elected him as chair on November 20, 2025, and that he was chair before that from November 2021 to May 2024 and from November 2024.
In the 2024 provincial election he ran for the BC NDP in Kelowna Centre. The statement of votes gives him 10,993 votes (42.69 percent), against 11,033 (42.85 percent) for Kristina Loewen of the Conservative Party. AM 1150 reports that the result followed a judicial recount.
In June 2026 he said he would not run again for city council and would study emergency management at Royal Roads University, according to The Kelowna Courier. After the provincial election was called, he told Castanet that he would keep living in Kelowna if elected. The Courier reports that he owned a hair salon before his election to council and that he was once a member of BC United before he joined the NDP campaign in 2024.
The campaign says he is a community volunteer with the YMCA, the BC SPCA and the KGH Foundation, and that his communication work during the 2023 Grouse Complex fires kept evacuees informed. voche.me has not checked these claims with the organizations named. voche.me has not contacted the campaign.
Published positions and selected commitments, separated by election cycle. Status labels describe the evidence reviewed, not a numerical score or a complete audit of the platform. Council approval is different from delivery.
9 commitments shown · Checked Sep 30
Said there is work to do on community safety and street disorder in Kelowna.
Named the Bennett Bridge as one of the issues that need work.
Said there is work to do to build a local economy that can recover from shocks. In a campaign video reported by the Kelowna Capital News, he linked this to United States tariffs.
Said people want politicians to work together on real solutions, especially for the cost of living.
Said voters want elected officials who work with other parties, and that he would bring that approach to the legislature.
His campaign page says he will work to build more housing that is affordable.
His campaign page says he will work to improve health care services.
His campaign page says he will work to make the area better able to withstand fires and drought.
Said, as a city councillor, that he opposed the provincial law that removed short-term rental use from units in Kelowna's tourism zones, and that the city is asking the Province to restore it.
His roles come from the City of Kelowna and the regional district. No council vote from the official minutes could be opened, so none earns a score.
The board of the Regional District of Central Okanagan re-elected him as chair by secret ballot.
A role is a job title and earns no score.
The Kelowna Courier names him among the five members of council who voted for a raise in councillor pay from $43,000 to $58,000.
The Courier article of April 9, 2024 says the vote took place on the Monday. voche.me did not open the council minutes. This is a city decision and falls outside the provincial issues scored here.
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
As a councillor, he defended short-term rentals in tourism zones, spoke against party slates in city politics, and said repeat offenders show the need for reform by senior governments.
In an email to The Kelowna Courier he said he would leave council to put family first and study emergency management.
The Kelowna Courier quotes his release on community safety, street disorder, the Bennett Bridge, the economy and the cost of living.
Told Castanet that crime, safety and public disorder in downtown Kelowna are provincial matters, and that he would stay in Kelowna if elected.
The Kelowna Capital News reports a video in which he named street disorder and the economy, and listed public safety, housing, health care and potholes as issues without party colours.
Said he will attend candidate forums and debates, as he did in 2024.
Records are labelled by type, including official findings, civil proceedings and political disputes where applicable. Each entry identifies the response found in the sources and the latest status verified for this page.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
A dated reading list from independent publishers. The headings below are voche.me summaries; follow each link for the original article, context and any corrections.
Reports his candidacy and quotes his release.
Reports the party announcement and quotes his campaign video.
Reports his candidacy and the 2024 result after a judicial recount.
Interviews both him and Kristina Loewen about the 2026 race.
Reports his decision to leave council and his record as he described it.
Sources checked September 30, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
Elections BC
Elections BC
Elections BC
City of Kelowna
Regional District of Central Okanagan · November 20, 2025
Kelowna Capital News · November 20, 2025
The Kelowna Courier · April 9, 2024
The Kelowna Courier · Ron Seymour · June 18, 2026
The Kelowna Courier · Ron Seymour · September 27, 2026
Kelowna Capital News · Jordy Cunningham · September 28, 2026
AM 1150 · Kolten Bezooyen · September 28, 2026
KelownaNow · February 23, 2026
Castanet
iNFOnews · Jesse Tomas · September 28, 2026
iNFOnews · September 29, 2026
City of Kelowna council minutes on kelownapublishing.escribemeetings.com and the 2018 results returned HTTP 403, so no council motion or vote is taken from the official record; his 2018 vote count comes from The Kelowna Courier. His Facebook and Instagram pages and his X account (@loyalkelowna) could not be read without signing in, so no post from them is used; his campaign video is known only from the Kelowna Capital News report. The campaign page names no specific plan, cost or date for housing, health care or wildfire. The BC NDP platform page does not name him. The campaign's claims about his volunteer work and his role during the 2023 Grouse Complex fires, and his claim that he helped bring back short-term rentals in Kelowna sooner, were not checked with the organizations or records involved. Reports of his past BC United membership come from The Kelowna Courier only. The Kelowna Chamber forum page did not show its details to a direct read, so the forum date comes from iNFOnews. Campaign finances and endorsements were not found on this date.
Evidence reviewed on 2026-09-30: the Elections BC candidate list, the 2024 statement of votes, the campaign page, the BC NDP platform page, the City of Kelowna 2022 election results (through an Internet Archive copy), a Regional District of Central Okanagan release, and reporting from the Kelowna Capital News, The Kelowna Courier, AM 1150, Castanet, iNFOnews and KelownaNow.
The commitments below are short statements from his 2026 campaign and interviews. None names a cost, a number or a date. City council minutes could not be opened, so no council vote is credited to him from the official record. An empty section records what voche.me did not find on this date.
Elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 with 14,700 votes. He is not running for council in October 2026.
City of Kelowna 2022 results (archived copy)Chair from November 2021 to May 2024 and again from November 2024, re-elected by the board on November 20, 2025, according to the regional district.
Regional District of Central OkanaganReceived 10,993 votes (42.69 percent) and finished second, 40 votes behind Kristina Loewen.
Elections BC statement of votesOwned a salon he started at age 21 and sold it in 2021, according to The Kelowna Courier.
The Kelowna CourierProposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.
No response has been submitted.
No response has been submitted.
No response has been submitted.
Ask Loyal Wooldridge directly. We send it to the campaign, and publish the reply here if we get one.
Facts voche.me can state about Loyal Wooldridge's page itself, answered directly rather than left blank.
No. This page is researched by voche.me from public sources, listed below, and is separate from Loyal Wooldridge's own campaign.
Loyal Wooldridge is running for MLA with BC NDP.
Yes. Loyal Wooldridge currently serves as Kelowna city councillor; chair of the Regional District of Central Okanagan board.
This profile lists 9 sourced references, each with the date voche.me checked it, in the Sources section below.
The "Questions & answers" section on this page lists questions voche.me would put to Loyal Wooldridge in a future interview. They have not been sent yet, so the page says plainly that no answer has been supplied instead of leaving the section blank.
The 2026 British Columbia election, including the MLA race, is decided on October 24, 2026.
Announcements, event details and messages can be added here, with their source and publication date. No campaign submission has been added.
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