The British Columbia Unity Party was a political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party was founded as an attempted union of five conservative parties: the Reform Party of British Columbia, the British Columbia Social Credit Party, the British Columbia Conservative Party, the British Columbia Party, and the Family Coalition Party of British Columbia. Members from the first four parties joined with the Family Coalition Party to refound the Family Coalition Party as the BC Unity Party on January 10, 2001. The party was formed to present a united conservative option to voters in opposition to the centre-right BC Liberals and the centre-left New Democratic Party (NDP).
The 2001 British Columbia general election was the 37th 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 18, 2001 and held on May 16, 2001. Voter turnout was 55.4 per cent of all eligible voters.
Gulzar Singh Cheema is an Indian-born Canadian physician and politician. Cheema was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1988 to 1993, and a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2001 to 2004, making him one of only a few Canadian politicians to sit in two provincial legislatures since Confederation. He is the first Indian-born person to be elected MLA in Canada. He was also a cabinet minister in the government of Premier of British Columbia Gordon Campbell from 2001 to 2004, and was a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada in the federal election of 2004.
The 2005 British Columbia general election was held on May 17, 2005, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of the Province of British Columbia (BC), Canada. The British Columbia Liberal Party formed the government of the province prior to this general election under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell. The main opposition was the British Columbia New Democratic Party, whose electoral representation was reduced to two MLAs in the previous provincial election in 2001.
Mary Ruth Polak is a Canadian politician, who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (MLA) for the riding of Langley from 2005 until her defeat in the 2020 provincial election. She was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in 2017, having represented the constituents of Langley since 2005 and was appointed Minister of Health on June 12, 2017 by Premier Christy Clark. Prior to her new cabinet post, she served as the Minister of the Environment, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, Minister of Children and Family Development and Minister Responsible for Child Care, Minister of Healthy Living and Sport, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health for the Conversation on Health. Before being elected to the legislative assembly, Polak served as a trustee and former chair of the Surrey School Board in Surrey, British Columbia. She currently resides in Langley, British Columbia.
Surrey Central was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, used in the 1997 and 2000 elections to elect a Member of Parliament for the 36th and 37th Parliaments, respectively. The electoral district was created, in 1996, as part of the expansion of the House of Commons of Canada from 295 to 301 seats, which gave British Columbia two additional seats. Gurmant Grewal won the 1997 election for the Reform Party of Canada which became the official opposition. After the Reform Party disbanded, Grewal joined the Canadian Alliance and won re-election in 2000, with his party again forming the official opposition. The electoral district was abolished when the House of Commons again expanded for the 2004 election.
Surrey-Panorama Ridge was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada from 2001 to 2009. The district was created in the 1999 redistribution from the southern half of Surrey-Newton, and the western portion of Surrey-Cloverdale. It was abolished following the 2008 redistribution, with a large portion going to the new Surrey-Panorama riding.
Gurmant Singh Grewal is an Indo-Canadian politician and former Conservative Member of Parliament. Gurmant and his wife, Nina Grewal, who represented Fleetwood—Port Kells from 2004 to 2015, were the first married couple to serve in the House of Commons of Canada at the same time. First elected to the Canadian House of Commons on June 2, 1997 for the riding of Surrey Central and re-elected there on November 27, 2000, he represented the riding of Newton—North Delta from 2004 until 2005. Grewal announced that he would not be running in the 2006 federal election over a dispute of alleged offer of patronage with the Liberal Party, which was governing at that time.
Patrick Wong is an accountant and a former politician in British Columbia, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2001 through 2005, representing the riding of Vancouver-Kensington. He served as the Minister of State for Immigration and Multicultural Services from September 2004 to June 2005. He is a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party.
Barry Penner, is a Canadian lawyer and former politician in the province of British Columbia. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (MLA), representing the riding of Chilliwack from 1996 to 2001, Chilliwack-Kent from 2001 to 2009, and Chilliwack-Hope from 2009 to 2012. A caucus member of the British Columbia Liberal Party, he served in several cabinet posts under premiers Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark, including as Minister of Environment, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, and Attorney General.
Jagrup Brar is a Canadian politician. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in British Columbia, representing the riding of Surrey-Panorama Ridge from 2004 to 2009, then Surrey-Fleetwood from 2009 to 2013 and since 2017. A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, he has served as the province's minister of State for Trade since 2022.
Bruce Ralston is a Canadian politician. He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia, representing the riding of Surrey-Whalley since 2005. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), he has served in the cabinets of Premiers John Horgan and David Eby since 2017, currently as Minister of Forests.
Gordon "Gordie" Hogg is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Surrey—White Rock in the House of Commons of Canada from 2017 to 2019, as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. He previously represented Surrey-White Rock in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1997 to 2017 as part of the British Columbia Liberal Party caucus, serving in several cabinet positions under Premier Gordon Campbell during that time, and was the mayor of White Rock, British Columbia, from 1984 to 1993.
Brenda Joy Locke is a Canadian politician, who served in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2001 to 2005 and is the current mayor of Surrey, British Columbia. She represented the electoral district of Surrey-Green Timbers as a member of the BC Liberal party. In 2022, Locke was elected as mayor of Surrey, defeating Doug McCallum.
Gary Collins, known as Gary Farrell-Collins until 2001, is a former Canadian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia, representing Fort Langley-Aldergrove from 1991 to 1996, Vancouver-Little Mountain from 1996 to 2001, and Vancouver-Fairview from 2001 to 2004. A caucus member of the British Columbia Liberal Party, he served in the cabinet of Premier Gordon Campbell as Minister of Finance from 2001 to 2004. He was also the chief executive officer of Vancouver-based Harmony Airways from 2004 to 2006.
Greg Halsey-Brandt is a Canadian politician and planning consultant from Richmond, British Columbia. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia from 2001 to 2005, representing the district of Richmond Centre, and as Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations from 2001 to 2004 in the cabinet of Premier Gordon Campbell. He was also mayor of Richmond from 1990 to 2001, and served as municipal councillor on two separate occasions.
The 2011 British Columbia Liberal Party leadership election was prompted by Gordon Campbell's announcement on November 3, 2010, that he would be resigning as Premier of British Columbia and had asked the BC Liberal Party to hold a leadership convention "at the earliest possible date". The convention elected Christy Clark as the new leader of the party on February 26, 2011.
Jinny Jogindera Sims is an Indian-born Canadian politician, who was elected as a New Democratic Party Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2017 provincial election in Surrey-Panorama. She previously was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2011 election. She represented the electoral district of Newton—North Delta as a member of the New Democratic Party. Sims was also a candidate for Mayor of Surrey in the October 2022 civic elections. She placed fourth with 12.58% of the vote.
Andrew Wilkinson is an Australian-born Canadian politician. He is the former leader of the British Columbia Liberal Party, and served as the leader of British Columbia's Official Opposition. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election and re-elected in 2017 and 2020. He represented the electoral district of Vancouver-Quilchena.
A British Columbia Liberal Party leadership election was held on February 3, 2018, due to the resignation of Christy Clark as Liberal leader on August 4, 2017. Rich Coleman was elected interim leader announcing that he has no intention of running for leader, but would resign as interim leader if he changed his mind, adding that he did not anticipate changing his mind.
