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| Current Leader: | Carole James |
| Founded: | 1961 |
| Headquarters: | 3110 Boundary Road Burnaby, BC V5M 4A2 |
| Colours: | Orange |
| Political ideology: | social-democratic |
The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is the provincial arm of the social democratic New Democratic Party of Canada. Unlike other parties in Canada, where provincial and federal politics are strictly separated and members of one are not necessarily members of the other, the NDP fuses the memberships. Officially, every member of the NDP of BC is also a member of the NDP of Canada.
The party was formed in 1933 as the British Columbia section of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation by a coalition of the Socialist Party of Canada (BC) the League for Social Reconstruction and affiliated organizations. In August 1933, the latter two organizations merged to become the Associated CCF Clubs. A further merger with the SPC(BC) took place in 1935. In 1960 the name was changed nationally to New Party, then in 1961 to New Democratic Party.
The party first won election in 1975 under Dave Barrett who served as Premier for two years until 1977 when Social Credit won a snap election. The NDP next took power in 1991 under Mike Harcourt and ruled the province for the next ten years with a succession of leaders at the helm.
Today, the main opponents of the NDP of BC are the Green Party of British Columbia (which challenges it especially for the votes of ecologists and environmentally concerned citizens), and the BC Liberal Party, the present majority party.
Despite serving as the government throughout the 1990s, the NDP of BC was plagued by a series of leadership scandals which forced the resignations of premiers Harcourt in 1996 and Glen Clark in 1999. One of the many blunders the NDP government embarked on were the construction of the PacifiCats, which would later become part of the FastCat Fiasco. In the May, 2001, British Columbia election the New Democrats only elected two MLAs and were therefore reduced below official party status. BC Premier Gordon Campbell of the BC Liberal Party refused to grant this status to the NDP itself, nor to any coalition or combination of the NDP, Greens, Unity, or other small parties. Taken together, the support for these parties is significant, giving rise to calls for electoral reform in the province of BC.
Carole James was elected leader of the NDP in 2003.
See also: New Democratic Party of Canada, BC Liberal Party, Green Party of British Columbia