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25-568: The party was founded in January 2001. Five months after the party was founded, it nominated 56 candidates across the province for the May 16, 2001 provincial elections . During the election campaign, BC Unity positioned itself as a solidly conservative party, in contrast to the BC Liberals. Despite being included in the leaders debate, along with Premier Dosanjh and Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell

50-599: A bachelor's degree from Simon Fraser University and a master's degree from the University of British Columbia . Before entering politics, he was part of the labour movement and worked as a natural resource policy consultant. Clark was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 1986 provincial election . He served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations and then as

75-811: A bribery scandal involving Premier Glen Clark . With the NDP's ratings flatlining, Clark resigned in August 1999, and Deputy Premier Dan Miller took over as caretaker premier until Ujjal Dosanjh was elected his permanent successor in February. Dosanjh was not, however, able to restore the party's public image, and the BC NDP suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the British Columbia Liberal Party (BC Liberals), led by former Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell . The BC Liberals won over 57% of

100-480: A deficit." Clark undertook the B.C. fast ferries initiative, which was designed to upgrade the existing BC Ferries fleet as well as jump start the shipbuilding industry in Vancouver. Although the ferries were eventually produced, the project had massive cost overruns and long delays, and the ferries were never able to function up to expectations. The ferries were later sold by the incoming Liberal government, for

125-476: A failed second attempt at a merger with BC Conservatives . An Act was passed in 2000 providing for an increase of seats from 75 to 79, upon the next election. The following changes were made: Notes x – less than 0.005% of the popular vote. * The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election. Unity Party results are calculated relative to Family Coalition Party results. Glen Clark Glen David Clark (born November 22, 1957)

150-643: A fraction of their original price, to the American owned Washington Marine Group . In March 1999, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police executed a search warrant and searched the Clark household. The media was tipped off about the raid, and BCTV showed live, primetime coverage of the premier pacing inside his house while the search was conducted. Two weeks later the RCMP conducted a search of

175-935: A merger with the BC Conservative Party, and the General Meeting confirmed this motion. The BC Conservative Party accepted the former BC Unity Party memberships at their April 19, 2008 executive meeting in Abbotsford. The BC Unity Party de-registered five registered constituency associations, and planned to complete the merger and de-registration process before the BC Conservative Party AGM in Kamloops on Saturday June 7, 2008. 2001 British Columbia general election Ujjal Dosanjh New Democratic Gordon Campbell Liberal The 2001 British Columbia general election

200-643: A news release to announce that it was looking for a new leader and for candidates for the 2009 provincial election . On January 26, 2008, the BC Unity Party Board decided to poll the membership regarding the merger of the Party with the BC Conservatives or its de-registration. A General Meeting was called for Saturday March 29, 2008 in Surrey. The poll returns indicated 4:1 ratio in favour of

225-667: Is a Canadian retail executive and former politician who served as the 31st premier of British Columbia from 1996 to 1999. Clark attended independent Roman Catholic schools, namely St. Jude’s Elementary and Notre Dame Secondary in East Vancouver . At Notre Dame, Clark was known as a small, fearless linebacker for the football team. He was also student council president and played the lead male role in The Sound of Music and later performed in South Pacific . Clark earned

250-536: The PEI Tories –was completely wiped off the map. Dosanjh resigned as party leader soon after the election; he had actually conceded defeat a week before voters went to the polls. Despite being the only other party in the Assembly, the BC NDP lacked the four seats then required for official party status. The British Columbia Unity Party had been created as a union of conservative parties. Initially, Reform BC ,

275-741: The Social Credit , the British Columbia Party , and the Family Coalition Party had joined under the "BC Unity" umbrella. By the time the election was called, however, only the Family Coalition Party and a large majority of Reform BC segments had remained in the BC Unity coalition. The other parties had withdrawn to continue independently. The parties would collectively only earn around 4% of

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300-543: The Supreme Court of British Columbia on August 29, 2002, with Justice Elizabeth Bennett ruling that while Clark had unwisely left himself open to a perception of unethical behaviour, there was no solid evidence that he had actually done anything illegal. Upon Clark's resignation, Deputy Premier Dan Miller acceded to the interim leadership of the New Democratic Party and the premiership. Miller

325-531: The Minister of Employment and Investment in the government of Mike Harcourt . When Harcourt resigned as a result of the Bingogate scandal, Clark stood for and won the leadership of the BC NDP and therefore became BC's 31st premier . Clark called an election in 1996 in which his party narrowly held onto its majority. Although it received fewer votes across the province than the second-place BC Liberal Party ,

350-631: The NDP was able to hold on to power by winning all but eight seats in Vancouver. Clark largely continued the policies of the Harcourt government, particularly its implementation of the B.C. Benefits welfare reform package, similar to reforms carried out by Ralph Klein in Alberta and Mike Harris in Ontario . When the 1997 party convention adopted a motion condemning the reforms and calling for an increase in welfare rates, Clark responded, "No. We have

375-582: The Nanaimo-Parksville electoral district in the 2001 election. In 2005, Stelmacker was the party's sole nominated candidate for the 2005 provincial election , running in the Skeena riding. He won 224 votes, 1.74% of the total for the riding. The party held its last annual general meeting on Saturday, October 29, 2005, in Maple Ridge, British Columbia . On November 29, 2006, the party issued

400-465: The Premier's Office. The subsequent investigation spawned intense coverage by the media. However, subsequent coverage also exposed numerous inaccuracies in the way the story was initially portrayed, with some critics alleging a media or RCMP conspiracy to smear him for ideological reasons. Clark resigned suddenly on the night of August 21, 1999, following allegations that he had accepted favours (in

425-639: The Unity annual general meeting held on September 24 and 25, 2004 in Coquitlam , the BC Unity Party was presented with another proposal of merger by the Conservatives. The Unity delegates did not accept this proposal and instead, affirmed the original agreement-in-principle. This action was not accepted by the BC Conservatives and the merger failed. BC Unity leader Chris Delaney blamed himself for

450-477: The failure of the merger and resigned. Many BC Unity members left the party prior to the September 2004 annual general meeting in order to join the Conservatives and to influence them into accepting the agreement-in-principle. When the merger failed, these former members did not return to the Unity party. In 2005, BC Unity named Daniel Stelmacker as its interim leader. Stelmacker had been a party candidate for

475-498: The form of free renovations worth $ 10,000, which he had actually paid for) from Dimitrios Pilarinos in return for approving a casino application. He was later formally charged with committing breach of trust , a criminal offence. Conflict of interest commissioner H.A.D. Oliver concluded in 2001 that Clark had violated conflict of interest laws in British Columbia. However, Clark was acquitted of all criminal charges by

500-485: The popular vote, and an unprecedented 77 of the 79 seats in the provincial legislature—the largest victory in the province's electoral history. The BC NDP, on the other hand, suffered a near-total political collapse. The party lost almost half of the share of the popular vote that it had won in the 1996 election , while its seat count fell from 39 seats to only two—those of Deputy Premier and Education Minister Joy MacPhail and Community Development Minister Jenny Kwan . It

525-658: The unpopularity of the NDP government was so great that most conservative-minded voters chose to vote for the BC Liberals, rather than split the right-of-centre vote once again. The party received only 3.2% of the vote (51,426). On September 1, 2004, BC Unity and the British Columbia Conservative Party announced an agreement-in-principle for the two parties to merge under the Conservative Party name. The deal, however, fell through after BC Conservative Leader Barry Chilton withdrew. At

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550-509: The vote, as voters, conscious of vote-splitting that had taken place between the Liberals, Reform BC, and the since-defunct Progressive Democratic Alliance in 1996, united behind the Liberals this time. Ron Gamble, sometime leader and sometime president of the renewed Reform BC continued his opposition to conservative mergers, consistently proclaiming a "Say No to Chris Delaney & BC Unity" policy, until Unity's eventual collapse in 2004 after

575-722: Was easily the worst defeat of a sitting government in British Columbia history. It was also the second-worst defeat of a sitting provincial government in Canada, eclipsed only by the New Brunswick election of 1987 , the Alberta election of 1935 , and the Prince Edward Island election of 1935 . In those elections, the governing party–the New Brunswick Tories , the United Farmers of Alberta and

600-399: Was succeeded by Ujjal Dosanjh after winning the party's leadership convention in 2000. Due in part to the scandals surrounding Clark, the NDP was heavily defeated by the BC Liberals under Gordon Campbell in the 2001 provincial election , winning just two seats. In 2001 Jim Pattison hired Clark to manage his Neon Products Company. Later, Clark was president and chief operating officer of

625-569: 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. The incumbent British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP), in office since 1991, had been rocked by two major scandals—the Fast Ferries Scandal and

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