After just one term in office, residents of Kelowna-Lake Country have voted former MP Stephen Fuhr off the island.
“As they say, the tribe has spoken,” said Fuhr in a consolation speech at BNA on Monday night.
“The good news is I started the journey with 40 friends and I have a lot more of them now and we have a Liberal government at the end of the day.”
But, what’s next for the man that shocked the polls in 2015 by unseating the incumbent — and heavily favoured — Conservative candidate Ron Cannan, isn’t all that surprising.
“A nap?” he quipped.
“I’ve obviously got to get back to Ottawa and roll up my apartment; wind down my office.”
And it’s that office that had Fuhr nearly in tears through the night.
“That staff needs to stay at that office,” he said, adding that he kept Cannan’s staff on when he got the job. “It was a big help to me. I’d recommend that Tracy really consider keeping them if they’d like to stay and they can get her all up and running.”
Fuhr tearing up talking about his former staff. (Michael Rodriguez – Kelowna Capital News)
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When asked if he would make another political endeavour, Fuhr’s answer was succinct: “I don’t know.”
“It might be a little early for me to answer that question,” Fuhr said as the final results still poured in on the bar’s TV screens.
“I don’t know what the future holds for me. I think I can add value. I’m not ready to throw in the towel on adding value to something.
“Whether that’s politics? I’m not sure if there’s an opportunity there or not.”
While the former MP doesn’t have a firm grasp on what his future looks like just yet, he does know where he’ll be.
“I’m staying here. I love it here,” said Fuhr.
“I’ve been trying to get back here for 20 odd years when I was in the military, just waiting for the day I was going to retire and move back here to B.C. I don’t plan on going anywhere.”
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