Legislature of British Columbia explained

Parliament of British Columbia
Legislature:	42nd Parliament of British Columbia
House Type:	Unicameral
Houses:	Legislative Assembly
Crown-In-Parl:	The lieutenant governor (representing the King of Canada)
Preceded By:	Governor-in-Council of the United Colony of British Columbia

The Parliament of British Columbia is made of two elements: the lieutenant governor (representing the King of Canada), and the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (which meets at the British Columbia Parliament Buildings). The Parliament of British Columbia has existed since the province joined Canada in 1871, before which it was preceded by the Parliament of the United Colony of British Columbia.

Like the Canadian federal government, British Columbia uses a Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which members are sent to the Legislative Assembly after general elections and from there the party with the most seats chooses a premier of British Columbia and the Executive Council of British Columbia. The premier is British Columbia's head of government, while the King of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the lieutenant governor. Before 1903, candidates in British Columbia elections were not affiliated with political parties.

List of parliaments

Following is a list of the 42 times the Parliament has been convened since 1871. This article only covers the time since 1871. For the governing body from 1867 to 1871, see Legislative Council of British Columbia.

width=11%	Assembly Sessions	width=8%	Election	width=9%	From To^[1] ^[2]	Governing Party	Premier^[3]	Official Opposition Party Leader^[4]	Other Official Party Leader^[5]	Speaker^[6]
1st Parliament 4 sessions	1st general	Nov. 20, 1871 Aug. 30, 1875	none^[7]	John Foster McCreight^[8] Amor De Cosmos^[9] George Anthony Walkem	none^[10]	none	James Trimble
2nd Parliament 3 sessions	2nd general	Jan. 10, 1876 Apr. 12, 1878	none	George Anthony Walkem^[11] Andrew Charles Elliott	none	none	James Trimble
3rd Parliament 5 sessions	3rd general	Jul. 29, 1878 June 13, 1882	none	George Anthony Walkem^[12] Robert Beaven	none	none	Frederick W. Williams
4th Parliament 4 sessions	4th general	Jan. 25, 1883 June 3, 1886	none	Robert Beaven^[13] William Smithe	none	none	John Andrew Mara
5th Parliament 4 sessions	5th general	Jan. 24, 1887 May 10, 1890	none	William Smithe^[14] Alexander Edmund Batson Davie^[15] John Robson	none	none	Charles Edward Pooley^[16] David Williams Higgins
6th Parliament 4 sessions	6th general	Jan. 15, 1891 June 2, 1894	none	John Robson^[17] Theodore Davie	none	none	David Williams Higgins
7th Parliament 4 sessions	7th general	Nov. 12, 1894 June 7, 1898	none	Theodore Davie^[18] John Herbert Turner	none	none	David Williams Higgins^[19] John Paton Booth
8th Parliament 2 sessions	8th general	Jan. 5, 1899 April 10, 1900	none	John Herbert Turner^[20] Charles Augustus Semlin^[21] Joseph Martin	none	none	William Thomas Forster
9th Parliament 4 sessions^[22]	9th general	July 19, 1900 June 16, 1903	none	James Dunsmuir^[23] Edward Gawler Prior^[24] Richard McBride	none	none	John Paton Booth^[25] Charles Edward Pooley
10th Parliament	10th general	Nov. 26, 1903 Dec. 24, 1906	Conservative	Richard McBride	Liberal James Alexander MacDonald	none	Charles Edward Pooley
11th Parliament	11th general	Mar. 7, 1907 Oct. 20, 1909	Conservative	Richard McBride	Liberal James Alexander MacDonald	none	David McEwen Eberts
12th Parliament	12th general	Jan. 20, 1910 Feb. 27, 1912	Conservative	Richard McBride	Liberal James Alexander MacDonald	none	David McEwen Eberts
13th Parliament	13th general	Jan. 16, 1913 May 31, 1916	Conservative	Richard McBride^[26] William John Bowser	Liberal Harlan Carey Brewster	none	David McEwen Eberts
14th Parliament	14th general	Mar. 1, 1917 Oct. 23, 1920	Liberal	Harlan Carey Brewster^[27] John Oliver	Conservative William John Bowser	none	John Walter Weart^[28] John Keen
15th Parliament	15th general	Feb. 8, 1921 May 10, 1924	Liberal	John Oliver	Conservative James Alexander MacDonald	none	Alexander Malcolm Manson^[29] Frederick Arthur Pauline
16th Parliament	16th general	Nov. 3, 1924 June 7, 1928	Liberal	John Oliver^[30] John Duncan MacLean	Conservative Robert Henry Pooley	Provincial Alexander Duncan McRae	John Andrew Buckham
17th Parliament	17th general	Jan. 22, 1929 Aug. 1, 1933	Conservative	Simon Fraser Tolmie	Liberal Thomas Dufferin Pattullo	none	James William Jones^[31] Cyril Francis Davie
18th Parliament	18th general	Feb. 20, 1934 Apr. 12, 1937	Liberal	Thomas Dufferin Pattullo	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Robert Connell^[32]	Unionist Simon Fraser Tolmie	Henry George Thomas Perry
19th Parliament	19th general	Oct. 26, 1937 Jul. 21, 1941	Liberal	Thomas Dufferin Pattullo	Conservative Frank Porter Patterson	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Harold Winch^[33]	Norman William Whittaker
20th Parliament	20th general	Dec. 4, 1941 Aug. 31, 1945	Liberal-Conservative coalition	John Hart	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Harold Winch	none	Norman William Whittaker
21st Parliament	21st general	Feb. 1, 1946 Apr. 16, 1949	Liberal-Conservative coalition	John Hart^[34] Byron Ingemar Johnson	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Harold Winch	none	Norman William Whittaker^[35] Robert Henry Carson^[36] John Hart
22nd Parliament	22nd general	Feb. 14, 1950 Apr. 10, 1952	Liberal-Conservative coalition	Byron Ingemar Johnson	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation^[37] Harold Winch Conservative Herbert Anscomb	none	Nancy Hodges
23rd Assembly	23rd general	Feb. 3, 1953 Mar. 27, 1953	Social Credit	W. A. C. Bennett	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Harold Winch	Liberal Arthur Laing Progressive Conservative Herbert Anscomb	Thomas James Irwin
24th Parliament	24th general	Sep. 15, 1953 Aug. 13, 1956	Social Credit	W. A. C. Bennett	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Arnold Webster	Liberal Arthur Laing Progressive Conservative Deane Finlayson	Thomas James Irwin
25th Parliament	25th general	Feb. 7, 1957 Aug. 3, 1960	Social Credit	W. A. C. Bennett	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Robert Strachan	Liberal Ray Perrault	Thomas James Irwin^[38] Lorne Shantz
26th Parliament	26th general	Jan. 26, 1961 Aug. 21, 1963	Social Credit	W. A. C. Bennett	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Robert Strachan	Liberal Ray Perrault	Lorne Shantz
27th Parliament	27th general	Jan. 23, 1964 Aug. 5, 1966	Social Credit	W. A. C. Bennett	New Democratic Party Robert Strachan	Liberal Ray Perrault	William Harvey Murray
28th Parliament	28th general	Jan. 24, 1967 Jul. 21, 1969	Social Credit	W. A. C. Bennett	New Democratic Party Robert Strachan	Liberal Ray Perrault	William Harvey Murray
29th Parliament 3 sessions	29th general	Jan. 22, 1970 Jul. 24, 1972	Social Credit	W. A. C. Bennett	New Democratic Party Dave Barrett	Liberal Pat McGeer	William Harvey Murray
30th Parliament 5 sessions	30th general	Oct. 17, 1972 Nov. 3, 1975	New Democratic Party	Dave Barrett	Social Credit W. A. C. Bennett^[39] Bill Bennett	Liberal David Anderson Progressive Conservative Derril Thomas Warren	Gordon Dowding
31st Parliament 4 sessions	31st general	Mar. 17, 1976 Apr. 3, 1979	Social Credit	Bill Bennett	New Democratic Party William Stewart King^[40] Dave Barrett	Liberal Gordon Gibson Progressive Conservative George Scott Wallace	Ed Smith^[41] Harvey Schroeder
32nd Parliament 4 sessions	32nd general	June 6, 1979 Apr. 7, 1983	Social Credit	Bill Bennett	New Democratic Party Dave Barrett	none	Harvey Schroeder^[42] Kenneth Walter Davidson
33rd Parliament 4 sessions	33rd general	June 23, 1983 Sep. 24, 1986	Social Credit	Bill Bennett^[43] Bill Vander Zalm	New Democratic Party Dave Barrett^[44] Bob Skelly	none	Kenneth Walter Davidson
34th Parliament 5 sessions	34th general	Mar. 9, 1987 Sep. 19, 1991	Social Credit	Bill Vander Zalm^[45] Rita Johnston	New Democratic Party Bob Skelly	none	John Douglas Reynolds^[46] Stephen Rogers
35th Parliament 5 sessions	35th general	Mar. 17, 1992 April 30, 1996	New Democratic Party	Mike Harcourt^[47] Glen Clark	Liberal Gordon Wilson	Social Credit Rita Johnston	Joan Sawicki^[48] Emery Barnes
36th Parliament 5 sessions	36th general	June 25, 1996 April 18, 2001^[49]	New Democratic Party	Glen Clark^[50] Dan Miller^[51] Ujjal Dosanjh	Liberal Gordon Campbell	Reform Jack Weisgerber Progressive Democrat Gordon Wilson	Dale Lovick^[52] Gretchen Brewin^[53] William James Hartley
37th Parliament 6 sessions	37th general	June 19, 2001 2005	Liberal	Gordon Campbell	New Democratic Party Joy MacPhail	none	Claude Richmond
38th Parliament 5 sessions	38th general	Sep. 12, 2005 2009	Liberal	Gordon Campbell	New Democratic Party Carole James	none	Bill Barisoff
39th Parliament 5 sessions^[54]	39th general	Aug. 29, 2009 April 16, 2013	Liberal	Gordon Campbell^[55] Christy Clark	New Democratic Party Adrian Dix	none	Bill Barisoff
40th Parliament	40th general	June 26, 2013 April 11, 2017	Liberal	Christy Clark	New Democratic Party Adrian Dix^[56] John Horgan	Green Andrew J. Weaver^[57]	Linda Reid
41st Parliament	41st general	June 26, 2017 Sep. 21, 2020	Liberal^[58] New Democratic Party	Christy Clark^[59] John Horgan	New Democratic Party John Horgan^[60] Liberal Christy Clark	Green Andrew J. Weaver^[61] Adam Olsen^[62] Sonia Furstenau	Steve Thomson^[63] Darryl Plecas
42nd Parliament	42nd general	Dec 7, 2020 present	New Democratic Party	John Horgan^[64] David Eby	Liberal BC United Andrew Wilkinson^[65] Shirley Bond^[66] Kevin Falcon	Green Sonia Furstenau	Raj Chouhan

Notes:

References

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Notes and References

Web site: Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871-1986 . Elections BC . 2011-07-16.
From opening day of legislature to the day that the legislature was dissolved.
Web site: Premiers of British Columbia 1871- . BC Legislature . 2011-07-20.
Web site: Leaders of the Opposition in British Columbia 1903- . https://web.archive.org/web/20110220035338/http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/reference/leaders_of_the_opposition.pdf . dead . 2011-02-20 . BC Legislature . 2011-07-20 .
Web site: Party Leaders in British Columbia 1900- . https://web.archive.org/web/20110220034808/http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/reference/partyleaders.pdf . dead . 2011-02-20 . BC Legislature . 2011-07-20 .
Web site: Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 1872- . BC Legislature . 2011-07-20.
Political parties did not exist in the British Columbia legislature before 1903
Until December 1872
Until February 1874
Did not exist until 1903
Until January 25, 1876
Until June, 1882
Until January, 1883
Until March, 1887
Until August, 1889
Until 1889
Until June, 1892
Until March, 1895
Until March, 1898
Until August, 1898
Until February, 1900
Book: Magurn, A J. Canadian Parliamentary Guide 1905 . 1905 .
Until November, 1902
Until June, 1902
Until February 26, 1902
Until December, 1915
Until March, 1918
Until February, 1918
Until January 28, 1922
Until August 17, 1927
Until 1930
After August 1936, following a split in the party, the Social Constructive Party led by Connell became the official opposition
From June, 1939
Until December 28, 1947
Until 1947
Until January, 1949
Until February, 1952
Until April, 1957
Until November, 1973
Until June, 1976
Until 1978
Until 1982
Until August 1986
Until May 1984
Until April 2, 1991
Until 1989
Until February 22, 1996
Until 1994
Web site: Electoral History of British Columbia, Supplement, 1987-2001 . Elections BC . 2011-08-04.
Until August 25, 1999
Until February 24, 2000
Until 1998
Until 2000
Web site: Previous Sessions Debates and Indexes . Legislative Assembly of British Columbia . Hansard Services . 2014-04-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110219054452/http://www.leg.bc.ca/documents/4-3-0.htm . 2011-02-19 .
Until March 14, 2011
Until May 4, 2014
From December 9, 2015
until July 18, 2017; government defeated in a non-confidence vote June 29, 2017
until July 18, 2017; government defeated in a non-confidence vote June 29, 2017
until July 18, 2017
until January 6, 2020
until September 14, 2020
until June 29, 2017
until November 18, 2022
until November 21, 2020
until May 16, 2022