The politics of British Columbia involve not only the governance of British Columbia, Canada, and the various political factions that have held or vied for legislative power, but also a number of experiments or attempts at political and electoral reform.
A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the Crown-in-Council; the legislature, as the Crown-in-Parliament; and the courts, as the Crown-on-the-Bench. Three institutions—the Executive Council (Cabinet); the Legislative Assembly; and the judiciary, respectively—exercise the powers of the Crown.
Legislature
The Parliament of British Columbia consists of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and the Crown in Parliament. As government power is vested in the Crown, the role of the lieutenant governor is to grant royal assent on behalf of the monarch to legislation passed by the Legislature. The Crown does not participate in the legislative process save for signifying approval to a bill passed by the Assembly.
Government The Legislature plays a role in the election of governments, as the premier and Cabinet hold office by virtue of commanding the body's confidence. Per the tenants of responsible government, Cabinet ministers are almost always elected MLAs, and account to the Legislative Assembly.
Opposition The second-largest party of parliamentary caucus is known as the Official Opposition, who typically appoint MLAs as shadow ministers who critique and scrutinize the work of the government.
The Official Opposition is formally termed Majesty's Loyal Opposition to signify that, though they may be opposed to the premier and Cabinet of the day's policies, they remain loyal to Canada, which is personified and represented by the .
History
From British Columbia's start as a province, it used a mixture of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system in single-member districts and multi-member districts where voters cast multiple votes (plurality block voting). This was in use until 1990 (except for a small break in the 1950s when instant-runoff voting for each seat was used). In 1990, single-member districts were instituted across the province. After that, three referendums on electoral reform and adoption of proportional representation have been held, with the most recent in 2018. Despite a majority voting in favour of change in 2005, the province still uses FPTP.
Prior to the 1903 British Columbia general election, provincial politics were non-partisan. One exception to this was the Nationalist Party, BC's first labour party founded in 1894. It elected an MLA in the 1894 and 1898 provincial electionRobert Macpherson.Encyclopedia of BC, p. 486
The first partisan government of BC was that of Richard McBride's Conservative Party. The Liberal Party would serve as the Opposition until 1916, when Harlan Carey Brewster became the first non-Conservative premier of the province.Encyclopedia of BC, p. 486
During the 1940s, the Assembly was dominated by a coalition of Liberals and Conservatives. Neither party had enough seats to form a majority, so they formed a coalition to hold majority power and prevent the BC Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) (the forerunner of the BC NDP) from taking power. During this time, BC politics were dominated by the three parties. This situation continued until 1952, when the Social Credit ("Socred") government of W.A.C. Bennett was elected. It stayed in power until 1972, when the BC NDP were elected to their first government under Dave Barrett. During this period, Socreds and the BCNDP became the dominant forces in the Legislative Assembly, with Conservatives and Liberals entering the political wilderness. Socreds returned to government in 1975 under Bill Bennett before being routed by Mike Harcourt's BC NDP in 1991. The second run of the BC NDP was chaotic, with the party suffering a landslide defeat by a rejuvenated BC Liberal Party under Gordon Campbell in 2001. The BC Liberal Party is neutral federally and derives its membership from the centre to the centre right, and describes itself as a "free enterprise coalition". Gordon Wilson led the party from effective oblivion to Official Opposition status in the 1991 general election; some consider it to be effectively a rebirth of the defunct Socreds.
In 2017, Liberals under Premier Christy Clark took the most seats and formed a minority government, but they were soon replaced by the BC NDP who had signed a confidence-and-supply deal with the BC Green Party. In 2020, Premier John Horgan was the first leader in the history of the BC NDP to win a second consecutive term as premier.
After the Liberals' defeat in 2020, the party renamed itself to BC United. Between 2020 and 2024, the popularity of the BC United dropped in the opinion polls, while a rejuvenated BC Conservative Party led by John Rustad placed second in popularity after the BC NDP. Before the 2024 election, BC United withdrew from the campaign, and in the election the Conservatives narrowly lost to the BC NDP under Premier David Eby but took enough seats to form the Opposition.
Throughout BC political history, several third parties have emerged. They include: the BC Greens, BC Socialists, Labour Party, the Provincial Party of British Columbia, and the Progressive Democratic Alliance. Socred Premier Rita Johnston was the first female first minister in Canadian history, and Ujjal Dosanjh of the BC NDP was the first visible minority Premier in BC history.
BC also has municipal political parties. Almost all municipalities in British Columbia use "at-large" districting, rather than wards.
Conservative–Liberal era (1903–1952) + Elections to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1903–1949) – seats won by party (An italicized number indicates a minority government.) GovernmentConservativeLiberalConservativeLiberalCoalitionParty 1903 1907 1909 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1933 1937 1941 1945 1949 Conservative 22 26 38 39 9 15 17 35 8 12 Liberal 17 13 2 36 25 23 12 34 31 21 Liberal-Conservative coalition 37 39 Cooperative Commonwealth Federation 7 7 14 10 7 Socialist 2 3 2 1 Labour 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 Provincial Party 3 Non-Partisan Independent Group 2 Unionist 1 Social Democratic 1 People's Party 1 Independent Conservative 1 Independent Liberal 2 Independent Socialist 1 Independent 1 3 2 1 1Total 42 42 42 42 47 47 48 48 47 48 48 48 48
Social Credit era (1952–1991)
+ Elections to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1952–1986) – seats won by party (An italicized number indicates a minority government.) GovernmentSocial CreditNDPSocial CreditParty 1952 1953 1956 1960 1963 1966 1969 1972 1975 1979 1983 1986 Social Credit 19 28 39 32 33 33 38 10 35 31 35 47 Cooperative Commonwealth Federation 18 14 10 16 New Democratic 14 16 12 38 18 26 22 22 Liberal 6 4 2 4 5 7 5 5 1 Progressive Conservative 4 1 2 1 Labour 1 1 1 Independent Total 48 48 52 52 52 55 55 55 55 57 57 69
Liberal–NDP era (1991–2024)
+ Elections to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1991–2020) – seats won by party (An italicized number indicates a minority government.) GovernmentNDPLiberalNDPParty 1991 1996 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2020 Liberal 17 33 77 46 49 49 43 28 New Democratic 51 39 2 33 35 34 41 57 Green 1 3 2 Social Credit 7 Reform 2 Progressive Democratic Alliance 1 Independent 1 1 Total 75 75 79 79 85 85 87 87
Conservative–NDP era (2024–present) +Elections to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2024) – seats won by party GovernmentNDPParty 202447442
Electoral reform
Recall and initiative
British Columbia adopted recall-election and initiative legislation in the 1990s. These measures applied following the 1991 referendum.
Only one recall petition was ever successful: that compelling MLA Paul Reitsma to resign his seat in 1998 hours before he would have been removed from office.
Fixed election dates
British Columbia was the first province in Canada to institute fixed election dates. In 2001 four year terms were institutionalized although exceptions are allowed. Previously, British Columbia elections were like most parliamentary jurisdictions, which only require an election within a specified period of time (being five years in all jurisdictions of Canada). Later, elections were changed from a spring date to an autumn date.
Alternative voting systems
1870 to 1990
From its start as a province, British Columbia used a mixture of single-member districts and multi-member districts. The SMDs used first-past-the post voting to decide the winner in each district; the multi-member districts used plurality block voting to decide the winners. This mixture of multiple-member districts using plurality block voting election system and single-member districts using the first-past-the-post election system was abolished before the 1952 election.
In 1951, the Liberal-Conservative coalition governing BC was falling apart. One of the last acts of the coalition government was to adopt the instant-runoff election system, which was implemented for the 1952 general election.
To make the instant-runoff voting system work, single-member contests were used for each seat (even in multi-seat districts). Preferential ballots were used -- rather than marking just one vote for one candidate by marking an X on their ballot, as was done under first past the post, under IRV an elector marked their choices of candidates by placing numbers next to the names of the candidates on the ballot. (However the vote used to help elect just one candidate, at most.) If a candidate received a majority of votes in the first count, that candidate was elected. If not, the candidate with the fewest votes was dropped and the second choice marked on each ballot held by that candidate was used to transfer the vote to one of the remaining candidates. This procedure was repeated until a candidate received a majority of votes, or the majority of votes still in play.
The coalition suffered a defeat due to receiving relatively few votes. Enough members of the Social Credit party were elected to form a Socred minority government, with the CCF forming the official opposition. The Liberals were reduced to four members in the Legislature. The Conservatives (who had changed their name to “Progressive Conservative” in tandem with their federal counterparts) elected only three.
The Socred minority government lasted only nine months. The IRV election system was again employed for the ensuing general election. The result this time was a Socred majority. During this term of office, the Socreds abolished the alternative voting system and returned the province to the traditional election system that used both single-member districts where first-past-the-post was used, and multi-member districts where the plurality block voting election system was used.Government of BC. ELECTORAL HISTORY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 1871-1986. Page 15 https://elections.bc.ca/docs/rpt/1871-1986_ElectoralHistoryofBC.pdf
This mixture of multiple-member districts using plurality block voting election system and single-member districts using the first-past-the-post election system was abolished before the 1991 election, bringing single-member districts and FPTP into use universally.
2000s