BC United

The Liberal Association of British Columbia, a formal provincial branch of the Liberal Party of Canada, held its first leadership convention in Vancouver in February 1902. That convention foreshadowed the decades of complex and delicate relations between the provincial party and the national party. Controversial Vancouver City MLA "Fighting Joe" Martin, briefly a non-partisan premier who also served as a Liberal MP and MLA in Manitoba, was elected leader on the first ballot against the wish of Clifford Sifton, Laurier's lieutenant for western Canada and an old foe of Martin (from their time as Manitoba MLAs and successive attorneys general, and from Martin's resentment for not having been invited to join Laurier's cabinet) after Sifton's ally Senator William Templeman, the provincial party chairman, lost control of the convention credentialing and was ousted by George Ritchie Maxwell, the MP for Burrard and a Martin ally. Far from a unifying figure, Martin would resign in June the following year before having led the party through an election. In anticipation of an imminent election call, the party brass opted not to call a leadership convention, leaving the leadership question for the post-election caucus to decide.^[26][27]

The divided Conservatives faced the Liberals in the election of 1916 and lost. The Liberals formed a government under Harlan Carey Brewster. Brewster had become leader of the Opposition and was elected party leader in March 1912. He lost his seat a few weeks later in the 1912 election, which returned no Liberals at all. In 1916, he won election to the legislature again through a by-election and led his party to victory in a general election later that year by campaigning on a reform platform. Brewster promised to end patronage in the civil service, end political machines, improve workman's compensation and labour laws, bring in votes for women, and other progressive reforms.

The government brought in women's suffrage, instituted prohibition, and combated political corruption before his unexpected death in 1918. He is interred in the Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia. John Oliver succeeded Brewster as premier when Brewster died in 1918. Oliver's government developed the produce industry in the Nanook Valley, and tried to persuade the federal government to lower the freight rate for rail transport. The party managed a bare majority win in the 1920 election and only managed to govern after the 1924 election with the support of the two Independent Liberals.

The Liberals managed to increase their vote in the 1928 election but lost close to half their seats. With the onset of the Great Depression and the implosion of the government of Simon Fraser Tolmie, the Liberals won the 1933 election.

The 1933 election brought into power Duff Pattullo and introduced into the legislature the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a new social-democratic and democratic socialist opposition party. Pattullo wanted an activist government to try to deal with the depression through social programs and support of the unemployed. Canada has been recognized as the hardest hit by the Great Depression, and western Canada the hardest hit within Canada. Pattullo's attempts were often at odds with the federal government in Ottawa. Pattullo was also an advocate for British Columbia, and suggested the annexation of Yukon by BC, and the construction of the Alaska Highway to reduce the power of eastern Canada over BC. In the 1937 general election, his government was re-elected running on the slogan of "socialized capitalism".^[28]

El gobierno alterno con los conservadores llegó a su fin con el ascenso del CCF, que logró ser la oposición oficial de 1933 a 1937 y obtuvo un escaño menos que los conservadores en las elecciones de 1937. En las elecciones de 1941 , el CCF quedó en segundo lugar. Las elecciones no dieron a los liberales la mayoría que esperaban. John Hart se convirtió en primer ministro y líder liberal en 1941 cuando Pattullo se negó a formar una coalición con los conservadores. Los miembros liberales destituyeron a Patullo como líder y Hart formó un gobierno de coalición liberal- conservador , conocido en la historia de la Columbia Británica como "la Coalición". De 1941 a 1945, Hart gobernó en un momento de escasez bélica, cuando todos los proyectos gubernamentales importantes fueron pospuestos. El gobierno de coalición fue reelegido en las elecciones de 1945. En esa contienda, liberales y conservadores se presentaron bajo la misma bandera.

Después de 1945, Hart emprendió un ambicioso programa de electrificación rural, construcción de centrales hidroeléctricas y carreteras. Sus proyectos más importantes fueron la construcción de la autopista 97 hacia el norte de la Columbia Británica (cuyo tramo Prince George - Dawson Creek lleva ahora su nombre) y el proyecto hidroeléctrico Bridge River , el primer gran desarrollo hidroeléctrico de la provincia. Creó la Comisión de Energía de la Columbia Británica, precursora de BC Hydro , para suministrar energía a las comunidades más pequeñas que no contaban con servicios de empresas privadas. En diciembre de 1947, Hart se retiró como primer ministro. El Partido Conservador presionó para que su líder, Herbert Anscomb , lo sucediera. Sin embargo, los liberales superaban en número a los conservadores en la coalición. Hart fue sucedido por otro liberal, Boss Johnson , con Anscomb como viceprimer ministro y ministro de finanzas .

Johnson's government introduced universal hospital insurance and a 3% provincial sales tax to pay for it. It expanded the highway system, extended the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, and negotiated the Alcan Agreement, which facilitated construction of the Kenny Dam. The government also coped with the 1948 flooding of the Fraser River, declaring a state of emergency and beginning a program of diking the river's banks through the Fraser Valley. Johnson is also noted for appointing Nancy Hodges as the first female Speaker in the Commonwealth. The Liberal-Conservative coalition government won the 1949 election – at 61% the greatest percentage of the popular vote in BC history. Tensions had grown between the coalition partners and within both parties. The Liberal Party executive voted to terminate the coalition and Johnson dropped his Conservative ministers in January 1952,^[29] resulting in a short-lived minority government which soon collapsed.

In order to prevent the CCF from winning in a three-party competition, the government introduced instant-runoff voting, with the expectation that Conservative voters would list the Liberals as their second choice and vice versa. Voters, however, were looking for alternatives. More voters chose British Columbia Social Credit League ahead of any other party as their second choice. Social Credit went on to emerge as the largest party when the ballots were counted in the 1952 general election. Social Credit's de facto leader during the election, W. A. C. Bennett, formerly a Conservative, was formally named party leader after the election.

At the 1953 general election, the Liberals were reduced to four seats, taking 23.36% of the vote. Arthur Laing defeated Tilly Rolston in Vancouver Point Grey. Although Social Credit won a majority of seats in the legislature, their finance minister Einar Gunderson was defeated in Oak Bay by Philip Archibald Gibbs of the Liberals. Gordon Gibson Sr, a millionaire timber baron, nicknamed the "Bull of the Woods",^[30] was elected for Lillooet as a Liberal.

During the early period of this time, the Liberals' most prominent member was Gordon Gibson Sr. He was a cigar-smoking and gregarious logging contractor who could have been premier but for a major political error. He was elected in 1953 for the Lillooet riding. In 1955, the Sommers scandal surfaced, and he was the only leader in the legislature to make an issue of it. W. A. C. Bennett and his attorney general tried many tactics to stop the information from coming out. In frustration, Gibson resigned his seat and forced a by-election, hoping to make the Sommers scandal the issue. The voting system had changed, and he came a close second after Social Credit.

In the 1956 election, with the Sommers scandal still not resolved, the Liberals fared worse than in 1953. Arthur Laing lost his seat, and the party was reduced to two MLAs and 20.9% of the vote. In the 1960 election, the party won four seats with the same 20.9% of the popular vote as in 1956. In the 1963 election, the party's caucus increased by one more MLA to five, but their share of the popular vote fell to 19.98%. In the 1966 election, the party won another seat, bringing its caucus to six, and had an increase in the vote to 20.24%. In the 1969 vote, the party lost one seat, and its share of the vote fell to 19.03%.

In 1972, the party was led into the election by a new leader, David Anderson, who had been elected in the 1968 federal election as an MP for the Liberal Party of Canada. He and four others managed to be elected to the legislature, but with the lowest vote in party history at 16.4%. After the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) won the 1972 election, many supporters of the Liberal and Conservative parties defected to the Social Credit League. This coalition was able to keep the New Democrats out of power from 1975 until the 1990s. MLAs Garde Gardom, Pat McGeer and Allan Williams left the Liberals for Social Credit along with Hugh Curtis of the suddenly rejuvenated Tories. All of them became members of Social Credit Cabinets after 1975. In the 1975 election, the only Liberal to be elected was Gordon Gibson Jr. as the party scored a dismal 7.24%. David Anderson was badly defeated in his Victoria riding, placing behind the New Democrats and Social Credit.

The 1979 election was the party's lowest point. For the second time in party history, it was shut out of the legislature. Only five candidates ran, none were elected, and the party got 0.5% of the vote. The 1983 election saw a small recovery as the party came close to a full slate of candidates, but won 2.69% of the vote. The 1986 vote was the third and last election in which the party was shut out. Its share of the popular vote improved to 6.74%.

In 1987, Gordon Wilson became the leader of the provincial Liberal Party when no one else was interested. Wilson severed formal links between the provincial Liberal party and its federal counterpart.^[23] Since the mid-1970s, most federal Liberals in BC had chosen to support the British Columbia Social Credit Party at the provincial level. For the provincial party, the intent of this separation was to reduce the influence of Social Credit members of federal party. From the federal party's perspective, this move was equally beneficial to them, as the provincial party was heavily in debt.

Wilson set about to rebuild the provincial party as a credible third party in British Columbia politics. During the same period, the ruling Social Credit party was beset by controversy under the leadership of Bill Vander Zalm. As a result, multiple Social Credit scandals caused many voters to look for an alternative. By the time of the 1991 election, Wilson lobbied to be included in the televised Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) debate between Vander Zalm's successor, Premier Rita Johnston and BC NDP leader Michael Harcourt. The CBC agreed, and Wilson impressed many voters with his performance. The Liberal campaign gained momentum and siphoned off much support from the Social Credit campaign. While the BC NDP won the election, the Liberals came in second with 17 seats. Wilson became leader of the Opposition.

Wilson's policies did not coincide with many other Liberals both in the legislature and in the party who wanted to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of Social Credit. The Liberals also proved themselves to be inexperienced, both in the legislature and in building a broad-based political movement. They had a difficult time to build a disciplined organization that could mount an effective opposition against the New Democratic Party provincial government.

En 1993, el liderazgo de Wilson se vio aún más perjudicado por las revelaciones de su romance con la también diputada liberal Judi Tyabji . Para entonces, la mayor parte del grupo parlamentario estaba abiertamente en rebelión contra su liderazgo. Wilson accedió a convocar una convención para la elección del líder, en la que se presentaría como candidato. El diputado por Delta South, Fred Gingell, se convirtió en líder de la oposición mientras se desarrollaba la contienda por el liderazgo del Partido Liberal.

Poco después, el exlíder del partido, Gordon Gibson , y el alcalde de Vancouver, Gordon Campbell, se unieron a la contienda por el liderazgo. Campbell ganó de forma contundente en la primera votación, con el exlíder del partido, Gordon Gibson, en segundo lugar y Wilson en tercero. La elección del líder se decidió mediante un sistema de un miembro, un voto, en el que los liberales votaron por sus candidatos por teléfono. Posteriormente, Wilson y Tyabji abandonaron el Partido Liberal y formaron su propio partido, la Alianza Democrática Progresista .

Una vez que Campbell asumió el liderazgo, los liberales adoptaron por primera vez el nombre de "Liberales de Columbia Británica" y pronto presentaron un nuevo logotipo y nuevos colores para el partido (rojo y azul, en lugar del habitual "rojo liberal" y la hoja de arce que lo acompañaba ). El cambio de nombre y logotipo buscaba diferenciarse más claramente del Partido Liberal federal de Canadá ante los votantes .

A principios de 1994, Campbell fue elegido miembro de la legislatura en una elección parcial. Bajo su liderazgo, el partido comenzó a inclinarse hacia la derecha, obteniendo el apoyo de miembros del antiguo Partido del Crédito Social y, posteriormente, del Partido Reformista provincial . ^{[ 11 ]} Algunos miembros moderados del Partido del Crédito Social habían comenzado a votar por el Partido Liberal ya en la época de Vander Zalm. Los liberales ganaron dos escaños que antes pertenecían al Partido del Crédito Social en elecciones parciales celebradas en la región del Valle del Fraser, consolidando su posición como la clara alternativa al gobierno vigente del NDP de la Columbia Británica. El Partido Liberal también llenó el vacío creado en el centro-derecha del espectro político de la Columbia Británica por el colapso del Partido del Crédito Social.

En las elecciones de 1996 , los liberales de Columbia Británica ganaron el voto popular. Sin embargo, gran parte de su ventaja se desperdició en amplias victorias en las regiones periféricas de la provincia; solo obtuvieron ocho escaños en Vancouver y la región del Lower Mainland. En las zonas rurales de Columbia Británica, especialmente en el interior , donde el ferrocarril era vital para la economía local, los liberales perdieron varias contiendas debido al descontento del electorado con algunas de las políticas de Campbell, principalmente su promesa de vender BC Rail . El resultado final fue que los liberales volvieron a la oposición, aunque lograron reducir la mayoría del NDP de 13 a 3 escaños.

Tras las elecciones, los liberales de la Columbia Británica se propusieron asegurarse de que no se repitiera lo ocurrido en 1996. Campbell desechó algunos de los puntos políticos menos populares de su programa de 1996, sobre todo la promesa de vender BC Rail, ya que la perspectiva de las consecuencias de la venta había alejado a sus partidarios en las circunscripciones del interior norte.

Tras un segundo mandato plagado de escándalos para el gobierno del NDP de Columbia Británica, los liberales de la provincia ganaron las elecciones de 2001 con la mayor victoria aplastante en la historia de la provincia, obteniendo 77 de los 79 escaños. Incluso lograron desbancar al primer ministro Ujjal Dosanjh en su propia circunscripción. Gordon Campbell se convirtió en el séptimo primer ministro en diez años y el primer primer ministro liberal en casi 50 años. Campbell introdujo una reducción del 25 % en todos los impuestos provinciales sobre la renta el primer día que asumió el cargo. Los liberales de Columbia Británica también redujeron el impuesto sobre la renta corporativa y abolieron el impuesto sobre el capital corporativo para la mayoría de las empresas (un impuesto sobre la inversión y el empleo que había sido introducido por los Nuevos Demócratas).

El primer mandato de Campbell también se caracterizó por la austeridad fiscal , incluyendo reducciones en las listas de beneficiarios de asistencia social y algunos servicios sociales , la desregulación y la venta de algunos activos gubernamentales (en particular, los transbordadores rápidos construidos por el gobierno anterior , que se vendieron por una fracción de su precio). Campbell también impulsó la privatización de BC Rail , que los liberales habían prometido no vender para ganar los distritos electorales del norte que habían rechazado al partido en 1996, pero revirtieron esta promesa después de las elecciones, con investigaciones criminales relacionadas con el proceso de licitación que resultaron en las redadas de la Legislatura de Columbia Británica en 2003 y el consiguiente caso judicial aún pendiente. Hubo varias disputas laborales importantes, algunas de las cuales se resolvieron mediante legislación gubernamental, pero que incluyeron enfrentamientos con los médicos de la provincia. Campbell también redujo el tamaño de la administración pública, con recortes de personal de más del 50 por ciento en algunos departamentos gubernamentales, y a pesar de las promesas de un gobierno más pequeño, el tamaño del gabinete casi se duplicó y los salarios parlamentarios aumentaron. También se reorganizó la gobernanza, de modo que los viceministros debían ahora reportar al jefe de gabinete en la oficina del primer ministro, en lugar de a sus respectivos ministros. Durante los recortes, se cerraron hospitales, juzgados y centros de atención a largo plazo en toda la provincia, especialmente en las comunidades más pequeñas, y el personal encargado de hacer cumplir la ley, como el Servicio de Conservación de la Columbia Británica, se redujo a niveles mínimos. Varios parques provinciales creados durante el anterior gobierno del NDP también fueron degradados a áreas protegidas, lo que significaba que podían abrirse a la explotación de recursos, y se aumentaron las tarifas de uso de los parques.

En 2003, una investigación sobre drogas conocida como Operación Everwhichway condujo a redadas en oficinas gubernamentales en los edificios del Parlamento de Columbia Británica en relación con negocios sospechosos relacionados con la venta de BC Rail a CN en un escándalo que se conoció como "Railgate" y el juicio de cuatro exasesores ministeriales por tráfico de influencias, abuso de confianza y aceptación de sobornos.

Los liberales fueron reelegidos en las elecciones de 2005 con una mayoría reducida de 7 escaños (46-33). Los liberales volvieron a ser reelegidos en las elecciones de 2009 .

Poco después de estas elecciones se anunció la introducción del HST, en contra de las promesas hechas durante la campaña electoral. ^{[ 32 ]}

On November 3, 2010, facing an imminent caucus revolt over his management style and the political backlash against the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) and the controversial end to the BC Rail corruption trial and with his approval rating as low as 9% in polls, Gordon Campbell announced his resignation.^[33]

The party's 2011 leadership convention was prompted by Gordon Campbell's request to the party to hold a leadership convention "at the earliest possible date".^[34] The convention elected Christy Clark as its new leader of the party on February 26, 2011.^[35] Clark and her new Cabinet were sworn in on March 14.^[36]

Under Clark, the party charted a more centrist outlook while continuing its recent tradition of being a coalition of federal Liberal and federal Conservative supporters. She immediately raised the minimum wage from $8/hour to $10.25/hour and introduced a province-wide Family Day similar to Ontario's. Clark became premier during the aftermath of the 2008–09 recession and continued to hold the line on government spending, introducing two deficit budgets before a balanced one for the 2013–14 fiscal year, which included a tax hike on high-income British Columbians. She also sought to take advantage of BC's liquified natural gas (LNG) reserves, positioning the budding LNG industry as a major economic development opportunity over the next decade. While the final years of Gordon Campbell's administration had seen far-reaching and progressive environmental legislation enacted, Clark was more measured in her approach to environmental policy. While continuing with BC's first-in-North-America carbon tax, she promised to freeze the rate during the 2013 election and her LNG development aspirations seemed to contradict greenhouse gas emissions targets set by the Campbell government in 2007. She also announced in 2012 that any future pipeline that crosses BC would have to meet five conditions that included environmental requirements and Indigenous consultation. Controversially, she indicated that one of her five conditions would be that BC receives its "fair share" of any revenues that accrue from increased pipeline and tanker traffic. This has put her in direct conflict with the province of Alberta, who sought increased market access for its bitumen through BC ports, yet adamantly refuse any arrangement which would see BC receive any royalties.

In 2011, Colin Hansen proposed the party change its name in order to avoid confusion with the unrelated Liberal Party of Canada and to better reflect its status as a coalition of many federal Conservative and Liberal voters.^[31] He did not propose an alternative name. Clark said she would consider a name change but was not in "any rush to do it".^[31] During the 2013 election, Clark entered the campaign low in public opinion polls and trailing her main rival, Adrian Dix of the NDP, by as much as 20 points. The BC Liberals campaign slogan was "Strong Economy, Secure Tomorrow" and highlighted a balanced budget and strong development opportunities in the LNG sector as a reason for voters to elect them for a fourth term in office. Clark brought in strategists affiliated with the Ontario Liberal Party, such as Don Guy and Laura Miller, and federal Liberal figures, such as Mike McDonald, to run her office and campaign. The BC Liberals came from behind to secure a fourth term in office; however, Clark was defeated in her Vancouver riding but won a subsequent by-election in the Okanagan riding of Westside-Kelowna. After the election, she sought a thawing of relations between BC and Alberta over future pipeline projects, signing onto former Alberta premier Alison Redford's National Energy Strategy. In early 2014, the Liberals brought down a second straight balanced budget and introduced legislation to change BC's liquor laws to allow liquor sales in some grocery stores and allow children to sit with adults in pubs and restaurants where liquor is served.

In the 2017 election, the BC Liberals' seat count was reduced to 43, one seat short of a majority.^[37] On May 29, 2017, after final vote counting had completed, the BC NDP and the BC Green Party agreed to a confidence and supply agreement to ensure a stable minority government.^[38] Their combined 44 seats give them an advantage over the BC Liberals' 43, which was sufficient to defeat Clark's government on a confidence vote on June 29, 2017, after which Clark resigned as premier (effective July 18, 2017) and the lieutenant governor asked NDP leader John Horgan to form a government.^[39]Rich Coleman became the party's interim leader following Clark's resignation.

Andrew Wilkinson fue elegido líder del partido el 3 de febrero de 2018. ^{[ 40 ]} Se desempeñó como líder de la oposición durante dos años. ^{[ 41 ]} Durante las elecciones generales de 2020 , Wilkinson fue criticado por miembros del partido, incluido el presidente de afiliación, por su demora en destituir a Laurie Throness , una candidata y exmiembro de la Asamblea Legislativa que había hecho declaraciones anti-LGBTQ. ^{[ 42 ]} Después de que el partido fue derrotado en las elecciones, renunció. ^{[ 43 ]} Shirley Bond se desempeñó como líder interina del partido hasta la contienda por el liderazgo de 2022. ^{[ 44 ]}

Kevin Falcon , viceprimer ministro bajo Clark, fue elegido líder de los liberales de Columbia Británica el 5 de febrero de 2022. ^{[ 25 ]} Durante su campaña de liderazgo, Falcon se comprometió a cambiar el nombre y la imagen del partido, para desvincularlo completamente del Partido Liberal de Canadá . ^{[ 45 ]} En la convención del partido de 2022, los delegados aprobaron una resolución para avanzar con el proceso de cambio de nombre, comenzando con consultas con los miembros del partido antes de someterlo a votación a finales de año. ^{[ 46 ] [ 47 ]} Después de una encuesta en toda la provincia, "BC United" fue propuesto como el posible nuevo nombre para el partido. ^{[ 48 ]} El nombre fue luego presentado a los miembros del partido el 13 de noviembre, ^{[ 49 ]} y el 16 de noviembre, se anunció que el cambio de nombre había sido aprobado por aproximadamente el 80 por ciento. ^{[ 50 ]} El cambio de nombre fue ratificado posteriormente y entró en vigor el 12 de abril de 2023. ^{[ 24 ] [ 51 ]}

The name change preceded a significant drop in polling numbers for the party, with the BC Conservatives – led by former Liberal MLA John Rustad, who defected shortly before the name change was finalized – surpassing them as the second most popular party in the province according to polls. After polling at 33 per cent in the immediate aftermath of the name change, BC United suffered a further MLA defection as BC United MLA Bruce Banman crossed the floor to the Conservatives, as the party dropped to 19 per cent in the polls, 6 points behind the Conservatives by that September. In 2024, two more BC United MLAs, Lorne Doerkson and Elenore Sturko, defected to the BC Conservatives. In the second quarter of 2024, the BC Conservatives surpassed United in terms of money gained from donations.^[52] In the lead-up to the 2024 election, BC United suffered further defections from members and candidates.^[53] Some thought that the name change led to voters not knowing that BC United was a continuation of the BC Liberals;^[54] a Léger poll released in October 2023 found that a third of voters did not know about the name change.^[55] Another poll by Léger in August 2024 suggested that the party was primarily losing its traditional faction of voters who support the Conservative Party of Canada federally to the BC Conservatives.^[56]

On August 28, 2024, Falcon announced that BC United would suspend its political campaigning, with Falcon endorsing the BC Conservatives, saying "John Rustad and I haven't always agreed on everything, but one thing is clear: our province cannot take another four years of the NDP." Falcon said this was done to prevent vote splitting in competitive ridings.^[57][58] While 18 nominated BC United candidates, including five incumbent BC United MLAs, ran for re-election as independent or unaffiliated candidates in the 2024 British Columbia general election, none were successful.^[59] Falcon remained as leader following the election. In February 2025, former BC United MLA Karin Kirkpatrick called for him to resign, saying that his continued presence was preventing the party from rebuilding and raising funds to pay its debts.^[60] Falcon refused to resign, however, stating that a leadership contest would further drain the party's financial resources. Consequently, Kirkpatrick left the party and founded the CentreBC party with several other former BC United MLAs.^[61]