British Columbia Liberal Party
British Columbia Liberal Party | |
---|---|
Party leader | Rich Coleman (interim) |
founding | 1903 |
Headquarters | Vancouver |
Alignment |
Conservatism Liberalism |
Parliament seats |
42/87 |
Website | www.bcliberals.com |
The British Columbia Liberal Party (French Parti libéral de la Colombie-Britannique ), also known as BC Liberals for short , is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of British Columbia . It is organizationally independent of the federal party, the Liberal Party of Canada , and covers a broader political spectrum to the right, as there is no conservative party worth mentioning in the province. Party leader is Christy Clark , the incumbent Prime Minister of the province. After the election on May 9, 2017, the Liberals made 43 out of 87 MPs in theBritish Columbia Legislative Assembly .
history
After British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation in 1871, the province's political system was free of political parties for over three decades. That changed in 1903 when the newly elected Prime Minister Richard McBride founded the British Columbia Conservative Party . In the same year the British Columbia Liberal Party was founded. This was initially in the opposition and in 1912 did not have a single seat in parliament, despite more than a quarter of the vote.
In 1916, after an overwhelming election victory under Harlan Carey Brewster , the Liberals formed the government for the first time. Brewster introduced women's suffrage and prohibition , and fought corruption. After his death in 1918, John Oliver took over the office. Oliver lost his own parliamentary seat in 1924, but remained in office until 1927 and was replaced by John Duncan MacLean . MacLean was defeated in the 1928 election.
The Conservatives could not cope with the social problems of the Great Depression and fell into several groups. Thomas Dufferin Pattullo led the Liberals to an overwhelming election victory in 1933. During his tenure, Pattullo operated a partially social democratic policy, which often led to conflicts with the federal party and the federal government under William Lyon Mackenzie King . He refused to enter into a coalition with the Conservatives in 1941 and was replaced by John Hart . Hart was followed by Byron Ingemar Johnson in 1947 .
When the Conservatives left the coalition in 1952, the government fell apart. In the election that followed, both parties suffered a major defeat. The Liberals' share of the vote initially leveled off around 20%, which is why the party was only able to win a few more seats. Rapid decay began in the mid-1970s; In 1979 the Liberal Party reached its all-time low with a share of 0.47% and was about to be dissolved.
Under Gordon Wilson , the rise began in 1987, favored by numerous scandals of the ruling British Columbia Social Credit Party . Many liberal and reform-minded voters turned away from the Social Credit Party and now supported the Liberal Party. After a break of twelve years, the Liberals were again represented in parliament from 1991 and established themselves as competition to the social democratic British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP).
In 1993, Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell assumed the office of party chairman, and under his leadership the Liberals continued their ascent. In the 1996 election, the Liberal Party was again the party with the largest number of voters after almost 50 years, but it won fewer seats than the NDP due to distortions in the majority vote . After the NDP government was shaken by several scandals, the Liberal Party achieved the biggest election victory in the history of the province in 2001; with 57.62% of the vote, it won 77 out of 79 constituencies. The liberal government was confirmed in 2005 and 2008 with a significantly reduced majority. In March 2011 Christy Clark replaced Campbell as head of government and party leader.
In the election on May 9, 2017, the Liberals missed a majority by one seat and formed a minority government. This was overthrown on June 29, 2017 by a vote of no confidence by the coalition of the NDP and the Green Party of British Columbia .
Election results
British Columbia Liberal Party results in the legislative assembly elections:
|
|
1 electoral alliance with the British Columbia Conservative Party
Party leader
Surname | Chair | premier |
---|---|---|
James Alexander MacDonald | October 1903 - October 1909 | |
John Oliver | October 1909 - March 1912 | |
Harlan Carey Brewster | March 1912 - March 1, 1918 | November 23, 1916 - March 1, 1918 |
John Oliver | March 1, 1918 - August 17, 1927 | March 6, 1918 - August 17, 1927 |
John Duncan MacLean | August 17, 1927 - October 1928 | August 20, 1927 - August 20, 1928 |
Thomas Dufferin Pattullo | January 1929 - December 9, 1941 | June 15, 1933 - December 9, 1941 |
John Hart | December 9, 1941 - December 29, 1947 | December 9, 1941 - December 29, 1947 |
Byron Ingemar Johnson | December 29, 1947 - April 1953 | December 29, 1947 - August 1, 1952 |
Arthur Laing | April 1953 - April 1959 | |
Raymond Perrault | May 1959 - May 1968 | |
Patrick McGeer | October 1968 - May 22, 1972 | |
David Anderson | May 22, 1972 - September 28, 1975 | |
Gordon Gibson | September 28, 1975 - February 19, 1979 | |
Jev Tothill | February 19, 1979 - April 1981 | |
Shirley McLoughlin | May 25, 1981 - August 1984 | |
Kind Lee | March 31, 1984 - February 1987 | |
Gordon Wilson | October 30, 1987 - September 11, 1993 | |
Gordon Campbell | September 11, 1993 - February 26, 2011 | June 5, 2001 - March 14, 2011 |
Christy Clark | since February 26, 2011 | since March 14, 2011 |
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Elections in British Columbia - Elections BC