Steve Thomson easily won the Kelowna-Mission seat for the B.C. Liberals Tuesday as his party swept the three Central Okanagan seats in the provincial election.

Thomson, the former executive director of the B.C. Agriculture Council, led from the start as he outpaced his closest challenger, Tisha Kalmanovich of the NDP, by a two to one margin early in the evening.

“It feels great,” said a smiling Thomson shortly after the national television networks projected him as the winner of the riding. “I’m really excited and humbled by the support given to me by the people of Kelowna-Mission.”

The seat, considered a stronghold for the Liberals, had been held by Liberal Sindi Hawkins for 13 years prior to yesterday’s election.

Thomson said he is looking forward to getting to work as the new MLA as quickly as possible and plans to work closely with the two other newly elected Liberal MLAs from this area, Ben Stewart in Westside-Kelowna and Norm Letnick in Kelowna-Lake Country.

The new Kelowna-Mission MLA said both his election and the Liberal majority across B.C. was a clear indication voters saw his party as the one to lead the province out of the current recession.

“The top issue (on the campaign trail) was the economy and job creation,” he said.

Kalmanovitch, who said she felt she ran a good campaign despite her distant second placing, said the Liberals may have won a third majority but a message was sent by voters.

“It’s clear that there are still issues that need to be addressed,” she told the Capital News.

Despite her disappointing showing, Kalmanovitch said she plans to run again in 2013. In the meantim,e she intends to watch how Thomson performs and get herself better known in the riding. Kalmanovitch wished Thomson well, praising him for running what she called a very a civil campaign that dwelled on issues and not personalities.

The four other candidates in the Kelowna-Mission race, Crystal Wariach of the Green Party, Mark Thompson of the B.C. Conservative Party, Daniel Thorburn of the B.C. Refederation Party and independent Silvarado Socrates all finished well back.

Thomson, whose victory party was held at the Hotel Eldorado, said despite his extensive background in the agriculture industry, he was not thinking ahead to any specific role he may play in the new Liberal government. “Tonight is about winning the election,” he said. “At this point I want to be a good representative for the people of Kelowna-Mission.

Looking at the provincial result, he said the electorate obviously bought into the message delivered by the Liberals.

“Clearly, the people saw the Liberal platform and the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell as the best to lead this province forward.”

Having said that, however, Thomson agreed with Kalmanovich that there are challenges ahead for the government and difficult decisions will have to be made.