Change a constant on Penticton council as councillor leaves to run for Conservatives

In the past year, two Penticton city councillors have been away from city hall, and now a third is set to leave as well. Councillor Helena Konanz has taken a leave of absence from council until federal election day to run for the Conservative party in the Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay electoral district. Her unpaid leave until April 29 was granted by council in an unanimous decision, April 1. Konanz ran for a federal seat back in 2019 and 2021 when she was defeated twice in a row by the NDP's Richard Cannings. This time around Konanz is polling far ahead of her opponents with 46 per cent support, and the vote on the lift is split with Liberal Gloria Morgan polling at 27 per cent and the NDP’s Linda Sankey in last at 22 per cent, according to 338 Canada. She's taking her leave as the byelection to replace Amelia Boultbee wrapped up over the weekend. Boultbee need to be replaced after she won the seat as Conservative MLA for the Penticton-Summerland https://infotel.ca/newsitem/conservative-amelia-boultbee-wins-in-penticton-summerland/it106862 riding in the fall provincial election. Jason Rynen won the byelection https://infotel.ca/newsitem/clean-streets-penticton-founder-running-for-council-seat-in-byelection/it107899  on the weekend in a landslide with 1,839 votes and Juliana Buitenhuis was the runner up with 783 votes, according to preliminary results posted by the City of Penticton. Reynen ran for mayor back in 2022 but was narrowly defeated by the current mayor Julius Bloomfield. Councillor James Miller https://infotel.ca/newsitem/penticton-city-councillor-commits-to-finishing-term-despite-sex-crime-charges/it107722 is also on paid leave pending his trial for sex crime charges that stem from his time as a basketball coach in Ontario. Miller has committed to staying on for his full term even though a petition calling for his resignation has more than 1,000 signatures. The council chamber has some empty seats, and time will tell whether more byelections are coming in order to fill them. To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas mailto:jtomas@infonews.ca  or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. Find our Journalism Ethics policy here. https://infotel.ca/newsitem/code-of-ethics/it106782 We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .