Liberal Party of B.C. [ Leader: Gordon Campbell ]
By Duncan Speight | April 5, 2005

The history of B.C.'s Liberal party goes back a long way.

Liberals, who had governed B.C. for most of the 1930s during the Great Depression, formed a coalition government with their rivals the Conservatives, in 1941 to stave off the challenge posed by the growing popularity of the left-wing Cooperative Commonweath Federation.

The CCF had been created in 1932, and would later become the NDP.

The Liberal-Conservative coalition fell apart 10 years later in 1951, and the minority Liberal government called an election for 1952 that would change the face of B.C. politics.

Kelowna hardware store owner W.A.C. Bennett, who had formed the fledgling B.C. Social Credit party, defeated the older parties and swept into power, leaving the Liberals with just six seats.

Social Credit was a coalition of its own, and it managed a remarkable 20-year stretch in power under Bennett's leadership – while the Liberals were reduced to minor party status. In 1956 they won only two seats.

But by 1972, Social Credit was running out of steam, and the Liberals and Conservatives had new young leaders. Kelowna lawyer Derrill Warren headed the resurgent Conservatives and Victoria's David Anderson was the Liberal leader.

They attracted enough votes away from the governing Socreds to allow Dave Barrett to become B.C.'s first NDP premier. There was a Social Credit opposition, the Liberals had five seats and the Conservatives elected two MLAs.

Bennett soon retired, and his son took over the Social Credit party. Bill Bennett recognized that a continued split in the anti-NDP vote could jeopardize his effort to defeat the NDP, and made overtures to the Liberal and Conservative MLAs before the 1975 election.

Three Liberal members – Pat McGeer, Alan Williams and Garde Gardom – and two Conservatives accepted Bennett's offer, won their ridings as Socreds in the 1975 election and became members of Bennett's cabinet.

The Liberals were walloped again in that 1975 election: the leader Anderson lost his seat, leaving only one Liberal MLA: Gordon Gibson Jr.

Things got worse for the party in 1979 when it was completely shut out, and it was the same story in the 1983 and 1986 provincial elections.

Then in 1987, Capilano College instructor Gordon Wilson took over and began a rebuilding program.

Wilson proved to be an accomplished debater, and scored well with TV viewers during the 1991 election leadership debate.

When the votes were counted, the NDP were back in power, the Liberals were the new Opposition with 17 seats while the Socreds were reduced to seven seats.

But there was dissension within Liberal ranks over Wilson's leadership, and it came to a head with the disclosure that the married Wilson was having an affair with MLA Judy Tyabji, who was also married.

The Liberals, unhappy with Wilson, forced a leadership race that was won by former Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell in 1993.

Wilson and Tyabji then left the party to form their own party, the Progressive Democratic Alliance. They both ran in the 1996 election. Wilson won and Tyabji lost. Wilson soon joined the NDP government and later became a cabinet minister.

Meanwhile, Campbell was working to rebuild the anti-NDP coalition – attracting supporters from the federal Liberals, Conservatives, Reform and provincial Socreds to the party.

As a result, the B.C. Liberal party is not affiliated with the federal Liberal party or any other provincial Liberal parties across the country.

In 1996, it appeared that Campbell's work to build an anti-NDP coalition would pay off with a Liberal win. Campbell began the campaign with a comfortable lead in the polls and won a plurality of votes, but still lost the election to the NDP's Glen Clark.

But five years later in 2001, Campbell led the Liberals to a landslide victory, winning 77 of the 79 seats.