British Columbia New Democratic Party
| British Columbia New Democratic Party | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Party leader | John Horgan |
| founding | 1933 |
| Headquarters | Burnaby |
| Alignment | Social democracy |
| Parliament seats |
41/87 |
| Website | www.bcndp.ca |
The British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP; French Nouveau Parti démocratique de la Colombie-Britannique ) is a social democratic political party in the Canadian province of British Columbia . Unlike most other Canadian parties, it is an integral part of the parent party at the federal level, the New Democratic Party . This means that members of the provincial party automatically also belong to the federal party, which is usually not the case in the Canadian political system. Since the May 9, 2017 election, the NDP has 41 out of 87 MPs in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly .
history
The party was founded in 1933 as a section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). The CCF won seven seats in the election in the same year, making it the second strongest party right away. In 1935 it merged with the Socialist Party of Canada. In 1936, the Christian Social Party leader Robert Connell was expelled because of political differences. Together with three other MPs, he founded the Social Constructive Party , but it soon disappeared.
In order to prevent the CCF from winning the majority of the seats with its increased share of the vote, the British Columbia Liberal Party and the British Columbia Conservative Party formed a coalition government from 1941 onwards. This coalition lasted ten years and successfully kept the CCF out of the government.
After the coalition broke up in 1951, the government introduced instant runoff voting as an electoral system, in the expectation that conservative voters would give liberals as a second preference, and vice versa. This was to prevent the CCF from winning the election. But neither the ruling parties nor the CCF won the election, but the British Columbia Social Credit Party , which was to dominate provincial politics for the next 40 years. Long-time Prime Minister WAC Bennett described the CCF as a “red threat” and its members even as “socialist hordes”.
In 1960 the CCF changed its name to the New Party , and finally to the New Democratic Party in 1961 , after the Federal Party had formed an alliance with the Canadian Labor Congress . In the 1972 election, the NDP won a majority of the seats and David Barrett became British Columbia's first Social Democratic Prime Minister. In 1975 Barrett lost an early election against Bill Bennett , son of WAC Bennett. In 1979, the NDP achieved the highest voter share in party's history with 45.99%, but this was barely enough for the majority of the seats.
Michael Harcourt moved the party closer to the middle of the political spectrum from 1987 onwards. In 1991, after twelve years in the opposition, the NDP was able to return to power. In 1996, Prime Minister Harcourt took responsibility for the "Bingogate" affair and resigned, although he was not involved in the scandal in which a party member poured the proceeds from a charity bingo into the party coffers. Glen Clark led the party to another election victory in 1996. But Clark was also involved in a scandal and resigned in 1999. Clark's successors Dan Miller and Ujjal Dosanjh could not stop the decline of the NDP. The party suffered a heavy defeat by the Liberals in the 2001 election, losing 37 of its 39 seats. In 2003 Carole James was elected as the new party leader. Under her leadership, the NDP was able to almost make up for the losses in the 2005 elections, but four years later it did not achieve its intended victory.
In the election on May 9, 2017, the NDP won 41 out of 87 seats, just behind the Liberals. However, together with the Green Party of British Columbia , which had won three seats, it provided the majority and overthrew Christy Clark's liberal minority government on June 29, 2017 . NDP chairman John Horgan was elected provincial prime minister shortly afterwards.
Election results
British Columbia New Democratic Party results in the legislative assembly election:
|
|
Party leader
| Surname | Chair | premier |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Connell | 1933-1936 | |
| Harold Winch | 1939-1953 | |
| Arnold Webster | 1953-1956 | |
| Robert Strachan | 1936-1969 | |
| Thomas Berger | 1969 | |
| David Barrett | 1969-1984 | 1972-1975 |
| Bob Skelly | 1984-1987 | |
| Michael Harcourt | 1987-1996 | 1991-1996 |
| Glen Clark | 1996-1999 | 1996-1999 |
| Dan Miller | 1999-2000 | 1999-2000 |
| Ujjal Dosanjh | 2000-2001 | 2000-2001 |
| Joy MacPhail | 2001-2003 (interim) | |
| Carole James | 2003-2011 | |
| Dawn Black | 2011 (interim) | |
| Adrian Dix | 2011-2014 | |
| John Horgan | 2014– | 2014– |
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Elections in British Columbia - Elections BC