The incumbent did not win, but people in the Kelowna riding will still have a second-term MP representing them in the House of Commons.

Liberal Stephen Fuhr is claiming victory after preliminary results from Elections Canada show him defeating Conservative Tracy Gray by 1,077 votes. Fuhr received 28,702 votes to Gray's 27,625.

“The election is now behind us and I represent everyone – the people that voted for me and the people that didn’t,” said Fuhr on Tuesday afternoon.

He held the formerly-named Kelowna-Lake Country seat between 2015 and 2019, before losing to Gray. She issued a statement congratulating her Liberal rival, stating it had been an honour to represent the riding and “stand up for issues important to people in the community”.

“I’m proud of the tireless efforts made on this campaign in reaching out to people across our community to hear what is most important to them - over 80,000 doorsteps collectively - and for the gains in support we saw,” said Gray.

“Thank you also to my valued office team members for their work every day as we focused on serving our community together.”

Fuhr is now ready to get to work in Mark Carney’s new government, which will likely be just shy of forming a majority.

“I was on the phone this morning with David Lametti and Bill Blair and a couple of other folks. We’ll probably hear in the coming days what the plan is with constituting the caucus together in Ottawa to see what the immediate future looks like,” said Fuhr.

He plans to meet with the City of Kelowna, UBC Okanagan and other major stakeholders in the community in the next few days before he heads to the nation’s capital.

"I'm going to facilitate those conversations. I already know what to do because I've done this before, so I'll just get on my feet and get going," he said.

As for the possibility of a cabinet post for the only Liberal in the BC Southern Interior?

“If Mr. Carney calls me in the coming days and says, 'get to Ottawa and I want to (talk) about a position,' I would certainly get on a plane and talk to him,” said Fuhr.

He wouldn’t specify if there was a particular portfolio he would be interested in.

“If he chooses me for a position he probably has one in mind and I could either say 'yes' or 'no'.”

Fuhr said he worked in the past with Conservative MP Dan Albas, who will again represent the neighbouring riding of Okanagan Lake West-South Kelowna, and is ready to be “non-partisan and move forward together for the Okanagan”.