1980s

The BC NDP in the 1990s

2000s
BC NDP sweeps in

BC NDP sweeps in

1991

A rancorous Social Credit leadership convention in spring 1991 saw Rita Johnston defeat Grace McCarthy to briefly become Premier. But the NDP was ready and focused on improving health care, restoring cuts to education, ensuring a woman’s right to choose, and working with industry, unions, environmentalists and communities to completely reform BC forest practices and protect BC’s natural heritage. As well, the NDP was now showing real strength in the South Asian Community with the election of Moe Sihota in 1986. And Harcourt’s strong civic connection to the Chinese community helped as well. The Social Credit vote began to unravel mid-campaign and some in the media began promoting Gordon Wilson’s Liberals as the alternative to the NDP. Harcourt stood firm, and the NDP message Time for a Change won the day. The NDP swept into office with a huge majority government, but just 40% of the vote. The Liberals finished second. After forty years, it was the effective end of Social Credit in BC.
A diverse Cabinet

A diverse Cabinet

1991

The new government was sworn in November 5, 1991. The Harcourt Cabinet included a then-record seven women in roles that Premier said “will be in charge of 80 per cent of the budget of B.C.” A separate ministry of women’s equality under newly elected Surrey MLA Penny Priddy was also established, following a promise that the NDP had made in 1988. With that, for the first time ever, gender-equity analysis became a requirement for all new government policies. Additionally, Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Elizabeth Cull was named BC’s first female health minister (and two years later was appointed BC’s first female finance minister). In all, Denise Helm of the Victoria Times Colonist summed things up nicely by writing that “B.C. women gained unprecedented political clout” in the Harcourt government. Finally, Harcourt appointed the first Indo-Canadian cabinet minister in Canada, Moe Sihota.
Getting stuff done

Getting stuff done

1992

The 1990s were a decade of amazing progress under the leadership of Premier Mike Harcourt and his successor Premier Glen Clark. Although the NDP was careful to present Harcourt as a moderate, mainstream, and definitely not scary leader for the 1990s, when you look at the government’s record during his five years in office it clearly rivals the 1972-75 government for innovation. The NDP reduced provincial debt and turned in some of the best job growth numbers in Canada while restoring the cuts the Socreds had made to health care, education and social services. There were major reforms in forestry management, a new relationship with First Nations, reduced class sizes and tuition fees, and new protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the Human Rights Code. There was the historic doubling of parks and protected areas (for example, the Tatshenshini-Alsek above) was doubled, new protections for workers, and so much more. All these programs and more were continued and expanded in the second half of the decade by Premier Glen Clark’s government.

Harcourt resigns

Harcourt resigns

1996

Politics in BC is not easy. While the Harcourt government was busy with its policy agenda the NDP provincial organization became embroiled in a scandal. Known as Bingogate, an NDP-oriented charity, the Nanaimo Commonwealth Holding Society, was accused of misusing funds. Harcourt, who was not in any way involved with the decades-old issue, ordered a forensic audit. NDP popularity began to slide, and the likelihood that the Harcourt government could be re-elected looked grim. So, Mike Harcourt made the tough decision to step down, saying at the time that he would ‘take one for the party’ and give a new leader a chance to rebuild popularity.
A new leader and premier

A new leader and premier

1999

Glen Clark won the leadership at the party’s 1996 convention, and set his sights or regaining the NDP’s base as a party of working people and the middle class. His campaign to freeze Hydro rates, ICBC rates, ferry fares and tuition fees, and to freeze other taxes and fees as well, set the stage. Meanwhile, the Liberals had been taken over by Gordon Campbell’s team of corporate backers who promised tax breaks for the most well off. It set the stage for a classic campaign of who is on whose side.

The 1996 election

The 1996 election

1996

Glen Clark is on your side, said the NDP campaign, but Gordon Campbell? Whose side is he on, anyway? It worked and in a tight race the NDP won 39 seats with 39.5% of the popular vote. The Liberals won 41.8% of the vote but only 33 seats, while the new Reform Party won 9% and 2 seats, and the Progressive Democrat Alliance took almost 6% of the vote and elected one MLA. As Campaign Manager Hans Brown explained, racking up his third provincial win, the Liberals piled up votes in safe seats that the NDP could never win, while the NDP vote ‘was more efficient’.
Fast ferries sink a premier

Fast ferries sink a premier

1999

The Clark government brought in major projects to improve BC’s infrastructure, including the new Island Highway and the opening of the WestCoast Express. The premier also signed BC’s first ever modern Indigenous treaty with the Nisga’a First Nation, giving the Nisga’a control over their land and resources. But controversy followed Glen Clark through his term. By now, the Liberal opposition was ruthless in their determination to take down the NDP. They accused the NDP of failing to meet its promise to balance the budget. They and even went so far as to claim Glen Clark inappropriately received help from a neighbour to build a deck on his east Vancouver home. But the insoluble problem for the NDP was the newly-built Fast Ferries, a project championed by Clark, with a new BC-designed technology that created local jobs. In the end though, the Fast Ferries had issues and had to be scrapped. It was a costly miscalculation. Glen Clark resigned.