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. The party chose Grace McCarthy as its leader in 1993, but she was unable to make a bid to get into the legislature until 1994, when she lost a by-election in the longtime Socred stronghold of Matsqui. Soon afterward, four of its remaining six members defected to Reform BC, leaving Social Credit without official status in the legislature. One more seat was lost in a by-election, reducing the party's representation to one MLA, Cliff Serwa. Serwa retired before the election, however, leaving the party with no incumbents. Party leader Larry Gillanders withdrew from the race while the campaign was in progress, saying that all right-wing parties should unite to topple the ruling NDP. The Socreds won only 0.4% of the vote and were completely shut out of the legislature. While the party still nominally existed until 2023 (with a hiatus from 2013 to 2016), it never elected another MLA.
Reform BC held on to two of its four seats.
Although the Liberals won the largest share of the popular vote, most of their votes were wasted in the outer regions of the province, and it won only 8 seats in the Vancouver area. Additionally, they suffered from vote-splitting with Reform, the Progressive Democrats, and what little remained of the Socreds. These factors allowed the NDP to win 6 more seats than the opposition Liberals, eking out a majority government. This was the last election to return an NDP majority until 2020, 24 years later.
This was also the first provincial election held in BC since the voting age was lowered from 19 to 18 in 1992.
Opinion polls + Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level Polling firmLast day of survey Source BCNDP BCLP RPBC PDA BCSC Other SampleElection 1996May 28, 199639.4541.829.275.740.403.32McIntyre & MustelMay 23, 199643.340.99.90Angus ReidMay 14, 1996404112McIntyre & MustelMay 11, 19964535.414.71.70.5Angus ReidMay 2, 1996453317McIntyre & MustelMay 1, 19964436161.61.4Election called (April 30, 1996)
+ Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level Polling firmLast day of survey Source BCNDP BCLP RPBC PDA BCSC Other SampleMarktrendApril 14, 1996383221Angus ReidMarch 12, 199640381631McIntyre & MustelMarch 199638382013MarkTrendFebruary 23, 1996293827ViewpointsJanuary 17, 199634.940.620MarkTrendJanuary 1996283727 Glen Clark becomes leader of the NDP and Premier (February 22, 1996)Angus ReidDecember 12, 1995354022 Mike Harcourt announces resignation as Premier and leader of the NDP (November 15, 1995)|Angus ReidNovember 8, 1995244922McIntyre & MustelMarch 199528472123 Jack Weisgerber becomes leader of the BC Reform Party (January 15, 1995)MarkTrendDecember 1994254128McIntyre & MustelDecember 1994314220ViewpointsNovember 1994304222McIntyre & MustelSeptember 199425412653Angus ReidSeptember 19943044197McIntyre & MustelJune 5, 199421392875ViewpointsJune 19943039243MarktrendJune 19942338343Angus ReidMarch 1994255370.410March 199425382110Angus ReidDecember 1993214714McIntyre & MustelDecember 1993204918 PDA founded (December 5, 1993)Angus ReidSeptember 1993264814 Gordon Campbell becomes leader of the BC Liberals (September 11, 1993)McIntyre & MustelSeptember 1993275019Angus ReidJune 1993274222Angus ReidMarch 10, 1993423217Angus ReidNovember 19923147Angus Reid-Southam NewsAugust 31, 1992334616Angus Reid-Southam NewsJuly 1992483211Election 1991October 17, 199140.7133.250.18-24.271.59
Results
+Elections to the 36th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1996)PartyLeaderCandidatesVotesSeats # ± % Change (pp) 1991 1996 ±Glen Clark75 624,395 29,004 39.45 5112Gordon Campbell75 661,929 175,721 41.82 1716Jack Weisgerber75 146,734 143,701 9.27 –2Gordon Wilson66 90,797 90,797 5.74 –1Larry Gillanders38 6,276 345,384 0.40 77Stuart Parker71 31,511 18,861 1.99 23 10,067 214 0.64 −0.0714 4,150 2,840 0.26 0.1738 2,919 2,919 0.18New17 2,041 1,181 0.13 0.07Peter B. Macdonald8 1,002 576 0.06 0.03Doug Christie5 374 277 0.02 −0.02Ross Ellis5 291 291 0.02New3 218 126 0.01 0.01Total 5131,582,704 100.00% Rejected ballots 9,951 20,782 Turnout1,592,655 99,45571.50% 3.57 Registered voters2,227,424 238,370
Vote and seat summaries
MLAs elected
Synopsis of results