It was not a secret that the family behind a massive new Lake Country winery and vineyard was a supporter of candidate Jeanette Lambert’s campaign to win the Carr’s Landing by-election earlier this summer.
Just how much support was revealed with the by-election financial contributions report released by Elections B.C. on Monday.
Lambert had the support of one donor to the tune of $1,000, that being Tom O’Rourke, the son of Carr’s Landing winery entrepreneur Dennis O’Rourke.
It was the largest single contribution by a supporter for the by-election candidates.
Lambert’s opponents Joanne de Vries received donations from Jocelyn Howery ($200) and Shirley McConaghy ($100) along with contributing $302.22 to her own campaign, while Oscar Barnes provided $1,881.43 of his own money for his campaign.
While Lambert’s encountered some negative pushback within the Carr’s Landing community for being associated with the controversial winery project’s proponents, that didn’t translate in the voting results.
Lambert topped the polls with 130 votes, finishing ahead of Barnes with 72 votes and de Vries with 28 votes. There were an estimated 927 eligible voters in Carr’s Landing.
Todd Mackenzie, who won the byelection in Oyama by acclamation, didn’t spend any money.