Boundary-Similkameen

The electoral district mainly includes communities along BC-3 (Crowsnest Highway), including Keremeos, Oliver, Osoyoos, Grand Forks, and Big White. Its southern boundary is the Canada–United States border. To the west, its boundary follows that of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen; to the east, the boundary runs along that of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary Electoral Area C. Its northern boundary largely follows that of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary and of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and the southern limit of the city of Princeton.^[1]

The original riding of Boundary-Similkameen was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It spanned the Boundary Country, around the towns of Grand Forks and Rock Creek west including Oliver and Osoyoos to the Similkameen Valley towns of Keremeos and Princeton. The riding first appeared in the 1966 election as the result of a merger of the former ridings of Grand Forks-Greenwood (1924–1963) and Similkameen. Until the re-creation of Boundary-Similkameen, the former area was part of West Kootenay-Boundary; areas in the Similkameen had been part of Yale-Lillooet (which has been reconstituted as Fraser-Nicola).

Due to the realignment of electoral boundaries, most incumbents did not represent the entirety of their listed district during the preceding legislative term. Bill Barisoff of the BC Liberals was elected during the 2001 and 2005 elections to the Penticton-Okanagan Valley riding, where the majority of the new riding's population resides. Katrine Conroy of the BC NDP was the MLA for West Kootenay-Boundary, while Harry Lali was the MLA for Yale-Lillooet. The areas of those ridings that were added to Boundary–Similkameen are less populated and were not the main population centres in their respective districts.