2001 British Columbia general election

May 16, 2001
79 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 40 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	55.44%[1] 3.67 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Gordon Campbell Ujjal Dosanjh Adriane Carr Party Liberal New Democratic Green Leader since September 11, 1993 February 20, 2000 September 23, 2000 Leader's seat Vancouver-Point Grey Vancouver-Kensington (lost re-election) Ran in Powell River-Sunshine Coast (lost) Last election 33 seats 39 seats 0 seats Seats won 77 2 0 Seat change 44 37 0 Popular vote 916,888 343,156 197,231 Percentage 57.62 21.56 12.39 Swing 15.80 17.89 10.40
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Click the map for more details.
Premier before election Ujjal Dosanjh New Democratic Premier after election Gordon Campbell Liberal

The 2001 British Columbia general election was the 37th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 18, 2001 and held on May 16, 2001. Voter turnout was 55.4 per cent of all eligible voters.

The incumbent British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP), in office since 1991, had been rocked by two major scandals—the Fast Ferries Scandal and a bribery scandal involving Premier Glen Clark. With the NDP's ratings flatlining, Clark resigned in August 1999, and Deputy Premier Dan Miller took over as caretaker premier until Ujjal Dosanjh was elected his permanent successor in February. Dosanjh was not, however, able to restore the party's public image, and the BC NDP suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the British Columbia Liberal Party (BC Liberals), led by former Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell. The BC Liberals won over 57% of the popular vote, and an unprecedented 77 of the 79 seats in the provincial legislature—the largest victory in the province's electoral history.

The BC NDP, on the other hand, suffered a near-total political collapse. The party lost almost half of the share of the popular vote that it had won in the 1996 election, while its seat count fell from 39 seats to only two—those of Deputy Premier and Education Minister Joy MacPhail and Community Development Minister Jenny Kwan. It was easily the worst defeat of a sitting government in British Columbia history. It was also the second-worst defeat of a sitting provincial government in Canada, eclipsed only by the New Brunswick election of 1987, the Alberta election of 1935, and the Prince Edward Island election of 1935. In those elections, the governing party–the New Brunswick Tories, the United Farmers of Alberta and the PEI Tories–was completely wiped off the map. Dosanjh resigned as party leader soon after the election; he had actually conceded defeat a week before voters went to the polls. Despite being the only other party in the Assembly, the BC NDP lacked the four seats required for official party status.^[2]

The British Columbia Unity Party had been created as a union of conservative parties. Initially, Reform BC, the Social Credit, the British Columbia Party, and the Family Coalition Party had joined under the "BC Unity" umbrella. By the time the election was called, however, only the Family Coalition Party and a large majority of Reform BC segments had remained in the BC Unity coalition. The other parties had withdrawn to continue independently. Ron Gamble, sometime leader and sometime president of the renewed Reform BC continued his opposition to conservative mergers, consistently proclaiming a "Say No to Chris Delaney & BC Unity" policy, until Unity's eventual collapse in 2004 after a failed second attempt at a merger with BC Conservatives.

Opinion polls

During 36th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level

Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	BCLP	BCNDP	BCG	BCUP	BCMP	RPBC	Other	ME	Sample
COMPAS	April 1, 2001	[9]	66	17	7	3	2	2[10]	—	4.1[11]	—
Ipsos-Reid	March 12, 2001	[12]	63	20	7	7	—	—	3	3.5	800
McIntyre & Mustel	February 2001	[13]	59	20	5	—	—	12	—	—	—
COMPAS	February 5, 2001	[14]	59	18	8	—	—	12	—	3.5	800
McIntyre & Mustel	January 12, 2001	[15]	51	27	—	—	—	—	—	5.0	—
Ipsos-Reid	December 10, 2000	[16]	51	17	9	—	—	19	4	4.0	600
MarkTrend	November 2000	[17]	58	18	—	—	—	22	—	4.5	500
McIntyre & Mustel	October 21, 2000	[18]	67	17	—	—	—	10	—	4.5	500
MarkTrend	September 2000	[19]	55	19	—	—	—	25	—	4.5	500
Ipsos-Reid	September 11, 2000	[20]	48	19	8	—	—	22	3	4.0	600
McIntyre & Mustel	August 2000	[18]	53	21	—	—	—	19	—	—	—

Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	BCLP	BCNDP	BCG	RPBC	PDA	Other	ME	Sample
PDA unregistered as official party (June 2000)
Ipsos-Reid	June 13, 2000	[21]	57	16	6	15	5	1	4.0	600
MarkTrend	April 2000	[22]	58	16	—	21	—	5	—	503[23]
Ipsos-Reid	March 2000	[24]	50	24	6	16	3	1	3.5	800
MarkTrend	February 2000	[25]	53	27	—	17[22]	—	—	—	500
McIntyre & Mustel	February 27, 2000	[26]	52	25	5[27]	15[27]	—	—	4.3	511
Ujjal Dosanjh becomes leader of the NDP and premier (February 24, 2000)[28]
Angus Reid	December 15, 1999	[29]	55	17	—	18	—	10	4.0	600
MarkTrend	October 1999	[30]	53	19	—	22	—	5	5.0	500
Angus Reid	September 10, 1999	[31]	57	15	—	16	—	11	4.0	620
Angus Reid	August 24, 1999	[32]	56	16	8	17	2	—	4.1	601
MarkTrend	August 1999	[30]	61	15	—	22	—	—	—	—
Premier Glen Clark resigns (August 21, 1999)[33]
Angus Reid	June 8, 1998	[34]	58	16	3	14	3	2	4.1	600
MarkTrend	April 11, 1999	[35]	59	18	—	20	—	—	4.0	501
Angus Reid	March 10, 1999	[36]	52	18	6	18	4	2	4.1	600
Angus Reid	December 1998	[36]	46	18	5	18	10	—	—	—
Angus Reid	September 1998	[37]	46	18	—	—	—	—	—	—
Angus Reid	June 12, 1998	[38]	42	23	6	20	8	—	4.1	610
McIntyre & Mustel	March 1998	[39]	48	25	—	—	—	—	—	—
Angus Reid	March 1998	[40]	47	20	—	17	—	—	—	—
Angus Reid	December 12, 1997	[41]	43	24	5	18	8	—	4	600
Pollara	December 1997	[42]	41	20	—	31	—	—	—	—
Angus Reid	September 15, 1997	[43]	33	30	2[41]	24	9	2[41]	4.0	600
Angus Reid	June 16, 1997	[44]	34	27	3	28	6	2	4	600
Angus Reid	March 10, 1997	[45]	44	24	2[41]	18	9	2	4.0	601
Angus Reid	December 1996	[41]	52	29	2	11	3	4	—	—
Angus Reid	September 15, 1996	[46]	45	37	1	12	3	3	4.0	600
Angus Reid	June 1996	[41]	39	42	2	9	6	3	—	—
Election 1996	May 28, 1996		41.82	39.45	1.99	9.27	5.74	1.73

Results

Notes

x – less than 0.005% of the popular vote.

* The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Unity Party results are calculated relative to Family Coalition Party results.

Riding results

Names in bold indicate party leaders, cabinet ministers and former premiers. Incumbents denoted with a dagger (†) did not seek re-election.

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties

References

Further reading

• Mutimer, David, ed. (2007). Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs, 2001. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442684126.

External links

• Elections BC 2001 Election