A renowned natural historian, Richard Cannings was elected in 2015 as Member of Parliament for South Okanagan – West Kootenay. Cannings has worked tirelessly to protect B.C.’s great outdoors. He served for over a decade on the B.C Environmental Appeal Board and for eight years as co-chair on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Until his election, Cannings served as a director on the board of the Nature Conservancy of Canada and worked with Bird Studies Canada, coordinating surveys on the status of Canada’s bird populations.

Author of a dozen award-winning books on the natural history of British Columbia, Cannings was named B.C.’s Biologist of the Year by the Association of Professional Biologists in 1996. In 2008, he was named an Honorary Fellow at Okanagan College. Cannings’ local roots run deep; like his father, he was born in Penticton, and grew up on a small orchard there. After working in the University of British Columbia’s Zoology Department for 15 years, Cannings and his wife Margret moved back to the Okanagan Valley in 1995. They are the proud parents of two adult children, Russell and Julia.