1996 British Columbia general election
36th provincial election of British Columbia, Canada
The 1996 British Columbia general election was the 36th 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 30, 1996, and held on May 28, 1996. Voter turnout was 59.1 per cent of all eligible voters.
New Democratic Party leader and provincial premier Mike Harcourt had resigned as the result of a fundraising scandal involving one of the members of his caucus. Glen Clark was chosen by the party to replace Harcourt. While polling prior to Harcourt's resignation had shown the NDP to be on-track for a landslide defeat, Clark was able to turn their fortunes around and led the party to a second majority government, defeating the Liberal Party of Gordon Campbell, who had become leader of the Liberal Party after Gordon Wilson had been forced out of the position because of his relationship with another Liberal member of the legislature, Judi Tyabji.
After Wilson was defeated by Campbell in the convention to choose a new leader, he and Tyabji left the Liberal Party to establish the Progressive Democratic Alliance. Wilson was able to win re-election, but Tyabji was not, who went down to defeat with all of the other candidates fielded by the new party.
The once-dominant Social Credit Party collapsed.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “1996 British Columbia general election” is 36th provincial election of British Columbia, Canada. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through British, Columbia and general, not as a finished interpretation.
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