2005 British Columbia general election
The 38th British Columbia general election will be held on May 17, 2005. Under amendments to the B.C. Constitution Act passed in 2001, B.C. elections are now held on fixed dates: the second Tuesday in May every four years. An early election may be held should the government lose the confidence of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia; this is unlikely as the current Liberal administration of Premier Gordon Campbell enjoys a massive majority.
Held in conjunction with this election will be the British Columbia electoral reform referendum, which will ask voters whether or not they support the proposed electoral reforms of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. If approved, the new electoral system would be implemented for the British Columbia general election in 2009.
Political Parties
There are currently 45 political parties registered with Elections BC, the most of any jurisdiction in Canada. Many of these parties did not contest the 2001 election and are unlikely to contest this election.
Parties that currently have MLAs
Leader: Gordon Campbell
The BC Liberals won 77 of 79 seats in the 2001 election. The party currently holds 72 seats. One member elected as a Liberal now sit as a member of DRBC; one member elected as a Liberal now sit as an independent; the party lost one by-election to the opposition NDP; and two former Liberal seats are now vacant.
Leader: Carole James
The NDP was crushed in the 2001 election. Its legislative caucus was reduced from a majority to just two seats. Political newcomer Carole James now leads the party which is roughly tied with the Liberals in most opinion polls.
Leader: Tom Morino
DRBC is a new progressive party created in early 2005 by the merger of the British Columbia Democratic Coalition—a coalition of minor centrist parties— with the All Nations Party of British Columbia and key elements of the Reform Party of British Columbia. Independent MLA Elayne Brenzinger, a former Liberal, became DRBC's first MLA on January 19, 2005.
Smaller Parties
The three below parties each acquired more than 3% of the vote in the last election.
Leader: Adriane Carr
The Green Party ran 72 candidates in 2001, winning 12 percent of the vote but won no seats in the legislature. Some have argued that the Green Party support peaked in 2001, drawing on dissatisfied NDP voters, and they will remain incapable of winning a seat in 2005 under the First-Past-the-Post system; others believe that if there are four or more competitive parties in this election that they may elect a handful of members. The Greens stand to benefit if the 2009 election is conducted using the proposed BC-STV system.
Leader: vacant - Chris Delaney has resigned
BC Unity ran 56 candidates in 2001.
Leader: Marc Emery
The BC Marijuana Party was the only party other than the Liberals and NDP to run candidates in all 79 districts in 2001. Unless a major party openly backs marijuana legalization, they will attempt to match this feat in 2005. [1]
Other parties that have nominated candidates
- The Work Less Party of British Columbia's current leader is Conrad Schmidt. It has nominated 10 candidates thus far.
- The Your Political Party of British Columbia's current leader is James Filippelli, who is running in Port Moody - Westwood.
Other parties that contested the last election
- The People's Front ran 11 candidates in 2001. Its current leader is Charles Boylan.
- The Reform Party of British Columbia ran 9 candidates in 2001. It currently has no leader registered with Elections BC. Its president and a number of its members have joined the new Democratic Reform British Columbia party as of January 15, 2005.
- The British Columbia Conservative Party ran 6 candidates in 2001. Its current leader is Barry E. Chilton.
- The Communist Party of BC ran 4 candidates in 2001. Its current leader is George Gidora.
- The British Columbia Social Credit Party ran 2 candidates in 2001. It currently has no leader registered with Elections BC.
- The British Columbia Citizens Alliance Now ran 2 candidates in 2001. Its current leader is Bill P. Forsyth.
- The Freedom Party of British Columbia ran 2 candidates in 2001. Its current leader is Kenneth Montgomery Keillor.
- The Party of Citizens Who Have Decided to Think for Themselves and Be Their Own Politicians ran 2 candidates in 2001. Its current leader is Franklin Wayne Poley.
- The British Columbia Patriot Party ran 1 candidate in 2001. Its current leader is Andrew Nicholas Hokhold.
- The Citizens Commonwealth Federation ran 1 candidate in 2001. Its current leader is Laery Braaten.
- The Western Reform ran 1 candidate in 2001. Its current leader is Lisa Maskell.
Other parties
- The Alternative Party's current leader is James J. Strauss.
- The Annexation Party of British Columbia's current leader is R. Gordon Brosseuk.
- The BC Allegiance Party's current leader is Ross Parker.
- The BC Youth Coalition currently has no leader registered with Elections BC.
- The Bloc British Columbia Party's current leader is Paddy Roberts.
- The British Columbia Democratic Futures Party's current leader is Chad Bester.
- The British Columbia Labour Party's current leader is Gordon Henderson.
- The British Columbia Party's current leader is Grant Mitton.
- The Canadian Alliance Party of British Columbia's current leader is Fred J. Cavanagh.
- The Centre Democratic Party's current leader is Thomas E. Deak.
- The Citizens Action Party's current leader is Bill Savage.
- The Confederation Party of BC's current leader is Terry Milne.
- The Emerged Democracy Party of British Columbia's current leader is Tony Luck.
- The Enterprise Party of B.C. currently has no leader registered with Elections BC.
- The Free Canadian Party's current leader is Steven Kubby.
- The Idealists Party's current leader is George Mann.
- The Link BC's current leader is Harvey Maser.
- The Natural Law Party of British Columbia's current leader is John Cowhig.
- The None of the Above Party of BC's current leader is Sal Vetro.
- The People of British Columbia Millionaires Party's current leader is Terry Cooke.
- The Renewal Party of B.C.'s current leader is Eric Buckley.
- The United Peoples Action Party's current leader is Ernest Schmidt.
- The Western Canada Concept Party of British Columbia's current leader is Douglas Christie.
- The Western Refederation Party of British Columbia currently has no leader registered with Elections BC.
Deregistered parties that contested the 2001 election
- The All Nations Party of British Columbia ran 6 candidates in 2001. It merged into the new Democratic Reform British Columbia party on January 15, 2005.
- The B.C. Action Party ran 5 candidates in 2001. It is no longer registered with Elections BC.
- The Council of British Columbians ran 2 candidates in 2001. It is no longer registered with Elections BC.
- The Central Party ran 1 candidate in 2001. It is no longer registered with Elections BC.
- The Moderate Democratic Movement, created after the 2001 election, merged into the new Democratic Reform British Columbia party on January 15, 2005.
Timeline
- August 23, 2001 - Bill 7, Constitution Amendment Act is passed, fixing the date of the election at May 17, 2005.
- November 13, 2002 - Liberal MLA Paul Nettleton accuses the government of a secret plan to privatize the BC Hydro power utility. He is removed from caucus several days later and still sits as an Independent Liberal.
- January 9, 2003 - Premier Gordon Campbell is arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in Hawaii.
- November 23, 2003 - Carole James is elected as leader of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia.
- March 22, 2004 - Liberal MLA Elayne Brenzinger quits the caucus citing a "secret agenda" being understaken by Premier Campbell.
- October 22, 2004 - New Democrat Jagrup Brar wins a by-election in Surrey-Panorama Ridge with 53.6% of the vote, a swing of 33.7% to the NDP from the 2001 result. One of Brar's competitors was Green leader Adriane Carr who captured 8.4% of the vote.
- December 14, 2004 - Liberal Finance Minister Gary Collins abruptly resigns from cabinet and the legislature despite having been named co-chair of the Liberal re-election campaign a month earlier. The move requires Premier Campbell to undertake a minor cabinet shuffle.
- January 15, 2005 - The Democratic Reform British Columbia party is created out of a merger of the British Columbia Democratic Coalition and the All Nations Party of British Columbia. The party also boasts the support of key elements of the Reform Party of British Columbia. Prior to the official creation of this party, the Democratic Coalition and Reform BC jointly nominated a candidate for the Surrey-Panorama Ridge by-election.
- January 19, 2005 - Independent MLA Elayne Brenzinger joins DRBC, adding a third party to the Legislative Assembly for the first time since Gordon Wilson folded his Progressive Democratic Alliance party and joined the NDP.
- January 31, 2005 - Liberal MLA and former cabinet minister Sandy Santori resigns from his seat in the Legislature.
- February 15, 2005 - New Liberal Finance Minister Colin Hansen introduces what is widely viewed as an "election budget" which promised $1.3 billion in new spending, tax cuts and a surplus.
- March 11, 2005 - Attorney-General Geoff Plant announces that he will not seek re-election.
- March 15, 2005 - CBC board chair Carole Taylor announces that she will run for the Liberals in the riding of Vancouver-Langara. Premier Gordon Campbell endorses Taylor's candidacy.
Opinion polls
Below are the most recent polls from organizations polling in British Columbia
- Ipsos-Reid/Vancouver Sun, 2004-Nov 24 - Nov 30: Lib 44%, NDP 41%, Green 12%, Other 3% [3]
- Robbins SCE Research, 2004-Nov 10 - Nov 16: NDP 49%, Lib 41%, Green 7% [4]
Another source of predictions of the election outcome is the University of British Columbia's Election Stock Market [5]. Investors in the UBC-ESM trade on the outcome of the provincial election in separate markets for the seat share and popular vote share of individual parties. Two additional winner-take-all markets cover the formation of a majority government and the outcome of the electoral reform referendum.
Candidates
Names in bold indicate party leaders and cabinet ministers. Name in italics have yet to be formally nominated by their party. Incumbents denoted with a dagger (†) are not seeking re-election.
Northern British Columbia
Kootenay, Columbia and Boundary
| Electoral District | Candidates | Incumbent | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC Liberal | NDP | Green | DRBC | Other | ||
| Columbia River-Revelstoke | Wendy McMahon | Norm MacDonald | Wendy McMahon | |||
| East Kootenay | Bill Bennett | Erda Walsh | Bill Bennett | |||
| Nelson-Creston | Blair Suffredine | Corky Evans | Blair Suffredine | |||
| West Kootenay-Boundary | Pam Lewin | Katrine Conroy | vacant | |||
Okanagan and Shuswap
Thompson and Cariboo
Fraser Valley
Surrey
| Electoral District | Candidates | Incumbent | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC Liberal | NDP | Green | DRBC | Other | ||
| Surrey-Cloverdale | Kevin Falcon | Ted Allen | David Blair | Joseph Vollhoffer | Kevin Falcon | |
| Surrey-Green Timbers | Brenda Locke | Sue Hammell | Brenda Locke | |||
| Surrey-Newton | Daniel Igali | Harry Bains | Harry Grewal | Gordon Scott (WLP) | Tony Bhullar | |
| Surrey-Panorama Ridge | Tony Bhullar | Jagrup Brar | Jagrup Brar | |||
| Surrey-Tynehead | Dave Hayer | Barry Bell | Dave Hayer | |||
| Surrey-Whalley | Bruce Ralston | Elayne Brenzinger | Elayne Brenzinger | |||
| Surrey-White Rock | Gordon Hogg | Moh Chelali | Ashley Hughes | Gordon Hogg | ||
Richmond and Delta
| Electoral District | Candidates | Incumbent | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC Liberal | NDP | Green | DRBC | Other | ||
| Delta North | Jeannie Kanakos | Guy Gentner | John Hague | Reni Masi† | ||
| Delta South | Val Roddick | Dileep Athaide | Val Roddick | |||
| Richmond Centre | Olga Ilich | Dale Jackaman (tbd April 3) | Greg Halsey-Brandt† | |||
| Richmond East | Linda Reid | Sean Gosse or Gian Sihota (tbd April 3) | Linda Reid | |||
| Richmond-Steveston | Kay Hill or Neil Smith (tbd April 3) | Geoff Plant † | ||||
Vancouver's Eastern Suburbs
Vancouver
North Shore and Sunshine Coast
Vancouver Island
Greater Victoria
Results
Results by party
| Party | Party Leader | # of cands | Seats | Popular Vote | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | % Change | # | % | Change | |||
| BC Liberal | Gordon Campbell | 72 | ||||||
| New Democratic | Carole James | 3 | ||||||
| Democratic Reform | Tom Morino | 1 | ||||||
| Green | Adriane Carr | 0 | ||||||
| Unity | (vacant) | 0 | ||||||
| Marijuana | Marc Emery | 0 | ||||||
| Others | various | 0 | ||||||
| Independents | 1 | |||||||
| Vacant | 2 | |||||||
| Total | 79 | 79 | 100% | |||||
Results by region
| Party Name | Van. | Van. East Sub. |
North Shore/ S. Coast |
Rich./ Delta/ Surrey |
Van. Island |
Fraser Valley |
North | Interior | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC Liberal | Seats: |   | ||||||||
| Popular Vote: | ||||||||||
| N.D.P. | Seats: |   | ||||||||
| Popular Vote: | ||||||||||
| D.R.B.C. | Seats: |   | ||||||||
| Popular Vote: | ||||||||||
| Greens | Seats: |   | ||||||||
| Popular Vote: | ||||||||||
| Unity Party | Seats: |   | ||||||||
| Popular Vote: | ||||||||||
| Marijuana Party | Seats: |   | ||||||||
| Popular Vote: | ||||||||||
| Others | Seats: |   | ||||||||
| Popular Vote: | ||||||||||
| Independents | Seats: |   | ||||||||
| Popular Vote: | ||||||||||
External links
|
Preceded by: | List of British Columbia elections |
|