Gordon Campbell - [ Liberal Party of B.C. ]
By Duncan Speight | April 6, 2005

Four years after winning a landslide victory that reduced the NDP to two seats, B.C. Liberal leader Gordon Campbell is back on the campaign trail seeking a second term in office.

He is the first B.C. premier in more than 20 years to lead his party into two consecutive elections.

Campbell won 77 of the 79 seats in 2001 in the largest majority in B.C. history, as voters turned their backs on the NDP, which had been in power for a decade.

But B.C. politics can be a rough business, especially on premiers who win big majorities. And three premiers have been forced out by scandals in the past two decades.

Bill Vander Zalm led Social Credit to victory in 1986, but he stepped down in a conflict-of-interest controversy over the sale of his Fantasy Gardens theme park. He was later acquitted of criminal breach of trust.

The NDP's Mike Harcourt, who won the 1991 election, stepped aside in 1996 because of the scandal over the Nanaimo Commonwealth Society's channelling of charity gaming money to the NDP.

While Harcourt wasn't implicated, he was faulted for not taking tougher action against those involved in what was dubbed "Bingogate."

The NDP replaced Harcourt with Glen Clark, himself forced to resign in 1999 when he came under police investigation over a constituent's casino licence application. He was later cleared in court of all charges.

Campbell has survived his own personal scandal. Two years ago, he was arrested and charged with drunk driving while in Hawaii. He apologized and pleaded guilty.

Campbell background

Campbell grew up in Vancouver. When he was 13, his father – the assistant dean of medicine at UBC – committed suicide.

His mother then took a secretarial job, and moved her young family into a small apartrment.

Campbell won a scholarship to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where he received his B.A. Later, he earned an MBA from Simon Fraser University.

In the early 1970s, Campbell and his wife Nancy spent two years with CUSO teaching school in Nigeria.

When they returned to B.C., Campbell began his political career as an aide to then-Vancouver mayor Art Phillips.When Phillips left city hall in 1976, Campbell went into the development business in Vancouver.

In 1984, he won a seat on Vancouver city council. He served one term, and then ran successfully for mayor in 1986 – serving three terms until 1993.

He has also served as chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and as president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

In 1993, Campbell became the leader of the B.C. Liberal Party, after former leader Gordon Wilson was forced to resign over a love affair with then-MLA Judy Tyabji.

Campbell's Liberals had a big lead in the polls going into the 1996 election, but the NDP still managed to eke out more seats despite winning fewer total votes.

But by 2001, the NDP were on their third premier in five years, and were well down in the polls. And Campbell, who campaigned on a promise of a "new era of hope and prosperity" won easily.

His government announced major tax cuts on its first day in office. Then in early 2002, the government announced plans to slash spending and eliminate thousand of civil service jobs.

The government froze budgets for health care and education, announced deep cuts in other ministries and raised MSP premiums. The government also lifted the NDP freeze on post-secondary tuition fees.

Polls at the time showed the Liberals losing support, with Campbell's popularity trailing his party's.

In 2004, then-finance minister Gary Collins brought in the Liberals' first balanced budget, which included a modest surplus. And there was another balanced budget in 2005.

And as the province's 's fortunes economic have improved, so has Liberal support.

Campbell and his wife, Nancy, have been married for 34 years. She is a vice-principal in the Vancouver School District.

They have two grown sons. And in 1999, the Campbell family was part of a group that climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to help raise money for Alzheimer's disease.