Amelia Boultbeesa国际传媒 meteoric rise in politics continues as she was elected the new MLA for Penticton-Summerland in Saturdaysa国际传媒 provincial election.
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Just two years ago, Boultbee was virtually unknown but ran a strong campaign to earn the most votes in the municipal election and win a seat on Penticton council.
The Penticton-based lawyer and Conservative Party candidate eked out a close victory over NDP candidate Tina Lee Saturday evening.
Boultbee becomes the first female to represent the riding and, at 36, the youngest since Bernard Webber who was 27 when he was elected MLA in 1941. In those days, Penticton was part of a riding known as Similkameen.
On Saturday, Boultbee was a rollercoaster of emotions as election results rolled in starting just past 8 p.m. at her election party headquarters in the upper hall at the Barley Mill pub.
She appeared overwhelmed with emotion and was holding back tears when early results showed Lee slightly ahead, but those numbers quickly changed around 8:45 p.m. She grabbed a slight lead and never trailed again.
She was all smiles the rest of the evening as a large gathering of friends, family and supporters kept reading out results showing her ahead.
She only declared victory after Lee called her to concede just past 10 p.m.
Boultbee then raised a glass of wine in victory and a large crowd of supporters erupted in applause and cheers.
鈥淚 just received an extremely gracious phone call from Tina Lee,鈥 she said. 鈥淪he was incredibly gracious and conceded the race to us. I congratulated her on a campaign very well run. Tina has done a lot of really good work in this community and over this campaign, I鈥檝e come to really respect her.
鈥淚 told her in the days and weeks and years to come, that I鈥檓 going to need her because we鈥檙e all going to have to work together.鈥
Boultbee thanked her father Steve for his tremendous support throughout her life and throughout this election campaign.
鈥淚 want to thank, first of all, my Dad,鈥 she said. 鈥淗e raised three kids as a single father.鈥
Her brother and brother-in-law were also in attendance at the victory party and she thanked them as well for their support.
She also thanked her campaign managers Steve Brown and Brian Menzies, who couldn鈥檛 attend the victory party because they were at the local electoral office watching results pour in.
鈥淲e could not have had this win without them,鈥 she said.
Gary Johal, a local businessman, was also singled out for his great work during the campaign.
鈥淚鈥檓 so lucky for him (as a supporter) and all the support I have from the Indo-Canadian community,鈥 she said. 鈥淕ary Johal is going to be our next Conservative MP.鈥
Other well wishers in attendance included former MLA Jane Thornthwaite, RDOS director Subrina Monteith and city councillor Ryan Graham.
Boultbee also thanked the small army of volunteers who worked tirelessly throughout the campaign.
鈥淎 candidate is nothing without everybody in this room,鈥 she said. 鈥淎ll my friends, all my donors, all my supporters. We won an important victory, but we did it with humility because it was so close. I want to say to those people out there who didn鈥檛 vote for me, that I will still be just as much your MLA as anyone who voted for me.鈥
Boultbee said shesa国际传媒 also proud to be the first woman to ever represent Penticton-Summerland.
The large group of supporters burst out into loud cheers of 鈥淎my, Amy, Amy鈥 at the end of her speech.
Leesa国际传媒 campaign headquarters on Backstreet Boulevard was far more subdued.
A gracious Lee said she felt the election results would be very close between she and Boultbee and wasn鈥檛 surprised they were within 470 votes of each other all evening.
鈥淚t ended up very close, just as most people thought it would be,鈥 Lee said.
鈥淭his is the closest our riding has been in many years. Itsa国际传媒 a bit more bittersweet when itsa国际传媒 this close and you come up just short, but our heads are held high tonight. Itsa国际传媒 still a very good showing and shows theresa国际传媒 a lot of NDP support here in the Interior.鈥
Lee wouldn鈥檛 commit on whether she would run again for political office.
鈥淚鈥檝e been around politics long enough to know you never say never,鈥 she said.
Lee said she was proud to run against a strong candidate like Boultbee and pleased they never engaged in nasty politics at any time during the campaign.
鈥淎ny time women go into politics, they have to contend with a lot more than men do,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t was actually lovely to be in the race with other strong women running this time around. Honestly, this was a very clean race.
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Everyone stayed on note and above the dirt and stuck to the issues.
鈥淎 lot of the critique was on policy, not personal, so kudos to Amelia for sticking to that as well. She worked really hard. I think everyone did this election. I鈥檓 super proud of my team and the job they did, even though itsa国际传媒 not the result we wanted.鈥
鈥淎 lot of the critique was on policy, not personal, so kudos to Amelia for sticking to that as well. She worked really hard. I think everyone did this election. I鈥檓 super proud of my team and the job they did, even though itsa国际传媒 not the result we wanted.鈥
Unofficial results have Boultbee at 11,425 (41.7%), Lee at 10,955 (39.9%) and unaffiliated candidate Tracy St. Claire with 2,661 (9.7%).
Green candidate Bradly Bartsch collected 1,438 (5.2%), independent Roger Harrington 812 (3%) and independent Anna Paddon 137 votes (0.5%).
