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The quick read: Kelowna's new council barely got started before the first fight broke out. At Monday's first regular meeting, Coun. Gord Lovegrove, the top vote-getter in October's election, challenged Mayor Tom Dyas over being left off the mayor's recommended slate for the Regional District of Central Okanagan board. Lovegrove says the snub breaks tradition and suspects political payback for backing Dyas's mayoral rival. Dyas denies it, saying his recommendations were based on skills, and that council, not the mayor, makes the final call.

The new council was sworn in on November 2, and its first regular meeting came on Monday, November 9.

It did not take long for the tension to show.

Lovegrove, a two-term councillor who finished first among council candidates in the October 17 municipal election, questioned why he was not among those the mayor recommended for the regional district board.

"You're breaking with tradition and putting that trust at risk again," he told the mayor at the meeting.

He said he had seen no precedent for the top vote-getter in a new council being denied a seat on one of the city's most consequential boards.

Payback, or just process?

Lovegrove backed Ron Cannan, Dyas's rival, in the mayoral race.

He told Global News he believes that played a role in the snub.

"I think there is political payback involved," he said.

Dyas rejected that, saying his recommendations came out of one-on-one meetings with each councillor and were based on the skills each brought to the table.

He stressed that the mayor only recommends, and "council ultimately approves the appointments."

Why the board matters

The regional district board is the only one of more than a dozen boards for which councillors receive compensation.

That makes its seats among the most sought-after appointments in city hall.

Lovegrove also argued the deck is stacked against a challenge, saying that with five new councillors on the job, few are going to vote down the mayor's recommendation on their first day.

He now plans a motion to change how future appointments are made, tying them to the election vote count.

"Let's just remove the politics from this," he said.

What voters decided should count

Here is the common-sense point at the heart of this fight.

Kelowna voters ranked Lovegrove first among all council candidates.

When a paid seat on the region's most powerful board is handed out, the voters' ranking ought to carry real weight, not just the mayor's preferences after closed-door chats.

That is especially true when the mayor's own rival is the one who backed the councillor left out.

Even the appearance of payback erodes trust, and trust is the currency a new council cannot afford to spend in its first week.

The meeting also handled other board appointments.

Dyas put himself back on the Uptown Rutland Business Association board, and downtown business owner Brady Rogers was named to the Downtown Kelowna Association board.

Todd Daniels, owner of Gallery Streetwear, said Rogers, who has worked downtown for more than 20 years, is the right person for the job.

Global News's report did not name the councillors recommended for the regional district board, so this article does not list them either.

The first meeting is over, but the argument is not.

Lovegrove's motion will test whether this council wants appointments decided by the vote count, out in the open, or by the mayor's recommendation behind the scenes.

Sources: Global News, Klaudia Van Emmerik, November 10, 2026.