The BC NDP in the 2010s

Campbell’s replacement was Christy Clark, and she built a campaign around LNG development that promised economic growth, jobs and prosperity.  Her campaign promised a ‘debt-free BC’ and had no problem with negative campaigning.  They attacked Dix from start to finish.  Once again, on election day May 14, 2013, the Liberals repeated their 2005 and 2009 result, winning by four percent.  It was Groundhog Day for the NDP. The Orange Wave many had hoped for, failed to materialize again.  Dix stepped down.

The leadership of the NDP was now taken up by John Horgan, the MLA from the suburban Victoria constituency of Juan de Fuca.  Horgan was acclaimed leader in 2014. His folksy manner and focus on kitchen-table issues like child care costs and bridge tolls proved to be just what the NDP needed. In the 2017 provincial election the BC Liberals dropped four percent while the NDP held steady – both parties won 40% of the popular vote, while the Green Party increased their share to 17%.  The NDP’s 41 seats, together with the three Green MLAs, was one more seat that the 43 seats won by the Liberals.  Christy Clark tried to form a government, but failed.  The NDP negotiated an agreement with the Green Party.  The Liberals were out, and John Horgan became the NDP’s sixth BC Premier.

The Horgan Cabinet was the most representative in BC’s history. Half the Ministers were women and the ethnic mix more closely reflected the make up of the provincial than ever before. Throughout his five years as NDP Premier, the Horgan government delivered on their campaign promises to make life more affordable and government more representative. And they began building a completely new relationship with BC First Nations, becoming the first government in Canada to sign on to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Looking back over 60-plus years of NDP history brings to mind a comment by former federal NDP Alexa McDonough, who noted that while the NDP hasn’t always been in government, ‘we have always made a difference.’ It is almost difficult to imagine that when the NDP was formed there was no publicly-funded Medicare-for-all, no Canada Pension Plan, and social services were often seen as money wasted on deadbeats and welfare cheats. Corporations faced little regulation and a much freer hand taking advantage of workers and consumers. Women’s equality, human rights and gender equity were barely discussed. Concern for the environment took a back seat. And fairness for Indigenous Canadians was not considered. Our social democratic movement not only challenged that, but changed it. And while we have not won every battle or every election, we have moved public attitudes and frequently seen our policies adopted as common sense by others. Our determination to build a more fair and just society is now so much more accepted than it was sixty years ago. As social democrats in British Columbia we continue our movement’s mission to represent, not the people at the top, but ordinary people, and to apply the principles of democratic socialism to make life better for all. It’s struggle we invite everyone to join.