Photo: Brendan Kergin

Todd Stone

UPDATE: 10:27 p.m.

With 92 of 97 ballot boxes counted it appears Stone won Kamloops-South Thompson with more than half of all votes.

So far 15,140 votes have been counted; 7,964 were cast for Stone. That's over 52 per cent. Stone won the riding in 2017 with around 56 per cent. The final count from mail-in ballots won't be in for awhile.

UPDATE: 9:42 p.m.

Out of 97 ballot boxes, 72 have been counted so far.

Todd Stone, who has been declared the winner by Canadian Press, has received 5,172 votes, followed by Anna Thomas (2,924) and Dan Hines (1,679).

"It is the greatest honour of my professional career," Stone said moments after finding out he was the winner. "This is the ultimate job performance review and I'm really excited and very grateful the people of South-Thompson have decided to place their trust in me again, for another four-year term."

UPDATE: 9:18 p.m.

Canadian Press has declared Todd Stone as the winner in the Kamloops-South Thompson riding.

This will be Stone's third term representing the constituency in Victoria.

Major media outlets have called an NDP majority government.

UPDATE: 9 p.m.

BC Liberal incumbent Todd Stone is in the lead, with 1,188 votes, followed by Anna Thomas (638 votes) and Dan Hines (375 votes).

At this hour, just 21 of 97 ballot boxes have been counted, according to Elections BC.

National media, including CBC and CTV, have called an NDP government.

ORIGINAL: 7 p.m.

It's a three-way race in the Kamloops-South Thompson riding.

Todd Stone is seeking a third term for the BC Liberals. Challenging him for the seat are Anna Thomas with the BC NDP and Dan Hines with the BC Green Party. 

Hines is no stranger to running for office. He threw his hat in the ring for the 2017 provincial election (he ran in Kamloops-North Thompson). He received 21 per cent of the vote and lost to BC Liberal Peter Milobar.

In a phone interview with Castanet this evening, Hines says he's feeling great.

"I think we got our message out in way that was very effective this time, even though it was a short time frame," he says, applauding BC Green leader Sonia Furstenau.

"She’s a very effective leader and communicator, and I think she’s been heard in a way that we haven’t been heard before. It’s different than it was with Andrew Weaver. She’s able to reach more people because it’s a more rounded platform that really touches on some key social issues," Hines continues.

"Greens in the past, we’ve been known as the environmental party, but I don’t think people have understood how much we have looked at economics, how much we’ve looked at mental health, at education, child care, etc. All those components of our platform were always there but I think we got the word out this time. People have seen us as much a more well-rounded, kind of an all-inclusive party."

Hines would be happy with a minority government again, he adds, noting that while there were some bumps in the road over the last three-and-a-half years, it worked well.

"What happens in majority governments is that they become lazy. ...I think they get sloppy and they can also very quickly become more corrupted just because they have a sort of an absolute power," he says.

Thomas, meanwhile, is the first Indigenous woman to run in the riding. While this is the first time her name's been on a provincial ballot, her resume does include analogous experience. She used to be president of the BC Native Women's Association and the second vice-president of the Native Women's Association of Canada.

"I think it (the campaign) went as good as can be," Thomas says. "I have amazing volunteers and they did as much as they could."

Thomas has a few words for whoever wins Kamloops-South Thompson.

"I know from lots of people that I've talked to is that they're not being heard, so they really need to make that connection and listen to community at all levels," she says.

"Thank you for everybody for all the support. Keep an eye out for me because there's probably going to be some more adventures soon," she adds. 

Castanet has reached out to Stone for comment and is waiting to hear back.

In 2017, Stone won re-election by about 9,400 votes, or 56 per cent of the vote. The NDP's Nancy Bepple came in second with 22 per cent of the vote. In 2013, Stone received almost 15,000 votes, compared to the NDP's Tom Friedman, who got 9,204.

Kamloops-South Thompson has been a BC Liberal stronghold for more than two decades. The last time the riding was represented by a party other than the BC Liberals was in 1996, when New Democrat Cathy McGregor won with over 10,000 votes. It was a close one, though. BC Liberal Gur Singh trailed behind with 9,273 votes.

The riding covers Kamloops on the south side of the river, as well as Westwold, Monte Creek, Pritchard and Chase. This story will be updated with riding-specific results Saturday night.

Photo: Elections BC.

The Kamloops-South Thompson riding.