This page lists the results of leadership conventions of the British Columbia Liberal Party, known since 2023 as BC United.
Winners are listed first, in bold, and prefaced by .
1902 leadership convention Held February 6, 1902. Joseph Martin 47 William Wallace Burns McInnes 17 John Cunningham Brown 8 George Ritchie Maxwell 4 Scattering 14
(Source: "Canadian Annual Review 1902", p. 85)
1903 election by party caucus Joseph Martin resigned as Liberal leader on June 2, 1903. Following his personal defeat in the 1903 general election, the first on a partisan basis, James Alexander MacDonald was elected leader by a party caucus on October 19, 1903.
First ballot:
Stuart Alexander Henderson 5 James Alexander MacDonald 5 William Wallace Burns McInnes 5
Second ballot: William Wallace Burns McInnes 6 MacDONALD, James Alexander 5 Stuart Alexander Henderson 4
Third ballot (Runoff between McInnes and MacDonald): James Alexander MacDonald 11 William Wallace Burns McInnes 4
Fourth ballot (McInnes eliminated): James Alexander MacDonald 10 Stuart Alexander Henderson 4
(Source: "Canadian Annual Review 1903", pgs. 222–223)
Developments 1909–1912 John Oliver was elected leader by a meeting of the caucus and provincial executive October 10, 1909.
1912 leadership convention Held March 1, 1912 Harlan Carey Brewster (acclaimed)
1918 election by party caucus On March 5, 1918, John Oliver was elected leader on the fourth ballot, defeating James Horace King and John Wallace de Beque Farris. William Sloan and John Duncan MacLean were eliminated on previous ballots.
John Oliver James Horace King John Wallace de Begue Farris William Sloan John Duncan MacLean
Source: "Morning Leader", March 6, 1918
Developments 1927–1930 At a party caucus on July 18, 1927, John Oliver resigned as premier and party leader due to ill health. This was refused and John Duncan MacLean was chosen to be his successor as leader and premier and was made acting premier while Oliver remained nominal premier. Oliver died on August 17, 1927, and MacLean became premier on August 20.
Source: "Morning Leader", July 19, 1927
Following John Duncan MacLean's personal defeat in the 1928 general election Thomas Dufferin Pattullo was unanimously chosen House leader by the Liberal caucus on January 19, 1929. This was confirmed by the party executive on January 21, 1929. He was confirmed as permanent leader at a subsequent convention.
Source: "Vancouver Sun", January 21, 1929
1930 leadership convention Held May 30, 1930 Thomas Dufferin Pattullo (acclaimed)
Source: "Montreal Gazette", May 31, 1930
1941 leadership convention Held December 2, 1941 John Hart (acclaimed)
Source: "The Leader Post", December 3, 1941
1947 leadership convention Held December 10, 1947 Byron Ingemar Johnson 475 Gordon Sylvester Wismer 467
Source: "Saskatoon Star-Phoenix", December 11, 1947
1953 leadership convention Held April 8, 1953 Arthur Laing (acclaimed)
Source: "Vancouver Sun", April 9, 1953
1959 leadership convention Held on May 16, 1959 Ray Perrault 494 George Frederick Thompson Gregory 162
Source: "Montreal Gazette", May 19, 1959
1968 leadership convention Held on October 5, 1968 Pat McGeer 686 Garde Gardom 316
Source: The Leader-Post, October 7, 1968)
1972 leadership convention Held on May 22, 1972 David Anderson 388 Bill Vander Zalm 177
1975 leadership convention Held on September 28, 1975, in Burnaby, British Columbia
Gordon Gibson (acclaimed)
1979 leadership convention Held on February 19, 1979
Jev Tothill 250 Hugh Chesley 51
(Source: Globe and Mail, February 19, 1979)
1981 leadership convention Held on May 25, 1981
Shirley McLoughlin 195 Tom Finkelstein 146 Roland Bouwman 48
(Note: There were six spoiled ballots.)
1984 leadership convention Held on March 31, 1984, in Richmond, British Columbia
Art Lee 319 Stan Roberts 126 William Pryhitko 43 Ron Biggs 36
1987 leadership convention Held on October 30, 1987, in Richmond, British Columbia
Gordon Wilson (acclaimed)
One other candidate, Clive Tanner, had been in the race through the spring and summer, but withdrew in August after sustaining a leg injury which affected his ability to campaign."Leadership may be one-man race". The Globe and Mail, August 27, 1987.
1993 leadership challenge Held on September 11, 1993. Gordon Campbell 4141 Gordon Gibson 1600 Gordon Wilson 531 Linda Reid 166 Wilf Hurd 62 Allan Warnke 36 Charles McKinney 4
2011 leadership election
Held on February 26, 2011
The rounds were counted in terms of points, with 100 points allocated per electoral district.Clark leading after 1st ballot in BC Liberal vote
Candidate First round Second round Third round Points % Points % Points % Christy Clark 3,209 37.75 3,575 42.06 4,420 52.0 Kevin Falcon 2,411 28.36 2,564 30.16 4,080 48.0 George Abbott 2,091 24.60 2,361 27.78 Eliminated Mike de Jong 789 9.28 Eliminated Total 8,500 100.00 8,500 100.00 8,500 100.0
2018 leadership election
Held February 3, 2018
= Eliminated from next round = Winner
Candidate Ballot 1Ballot 2Ballot 3Ballot 4Ballot 5 Name Points Points +/− (pp) Points +/− (pp) Points +/− (pp) Points +/− (pp) Andrew Wilkinson 1,59118.29% 1,63118.74% +40+0.45 2,20125.29% +570+6.55 2,86232.89% +661+7.60 4,62153.11% +1,759+20.22 Dianne Watts 2,13524.54% 2,16924.93% +34+0.39 2,46928.38% +300+3.45 3,00634.55% +537+6.17 4,07946.89% +1,073+12.34 Michael Lee 1,91622.03% 1,96022.53% +54+0.50 2,26426.03% +304+3.50 2,83232.56% +568+6.53 Eliminated Todd Stone 1,48317.05% 1,50517.30% +22+0.25 1,76620.29% +261+2.99 Eliminated Mike de Jong 1,41516.27% 1,43616.51% +21+0.24 Eliminated Sam Sullivan 1581.82% Eliminated
2022 leadership election
A leadership election was held on February 5, 2022 to elect a new party leader following the resignation of Andrew Wilkinson after the 2020 British Columbia general election.
= Eliminated from next round = Winner
CandidateBallot 1Ballot 2Ballot 3Ballot 4Ballot 5 NamePointsPercentPointsPercentPointsPercentPointsPercentPointsPercent Kevin Falcon 412147%414347.6%4202.3648.3%4318.1449.63%4541.3552.19% Ellis Ross 232526.7%2355.927.1%2493.128.66%2714.5031.2%2928.3333.65% Michael Lee 89910.3%912.410.5%938.4310.8%1039.3711.94%1230.3114.14% Val Litwin 5045.8%517.95.95%536.176.16%627.977.21% Eliminated Gavin Dew 4665.4%481.45.5%429.936.01% Eliminated Renee Merrifield 2783.2%2893.3% Eliminated Stan Sipos 104.61.2% Eliminated
References