The 39th Parliament of British Columbia sat from 2009 to 2013, replacing the 38th parliament and being succeeded by the 40th parliament. It was composed of two elements: the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, as elected by the general election of May 12, 2009, and The Queen represented by the Lieutenant-Governor (Steven Point until 2012, then Judith Guichon). That election resulted in a majority government for the BC Liberal Party led by Gordon Campbell, and a BC New Democratic Party official opposition. Shortly after the election, the government revealed it had been running record high deficits and that it intended to replace the PST and GST system with the Harmonized Sales Tax. The deficit made an amendment to the Balanced Budget and Ministerial Accountability Act necessary for the remainder of the 39th Parliament and resulted in reduced spending in most ministries. A petition against the Harmonized Sales Tax was circulated around the province and resulted in a summer 2011 referendum on the issue. The unpopularity of the move towards HST led to the resignation of Premier Campbell. Separate and independent leadership elections in the two major parties made Christy Clark the new Premier and Adrian Dix the new leader of the opposition. Seven MLAs spent time as independents: Vicki Huntington was elected as an independent, Blair Lekstrom left the BC Liberals in protest of its implementation of the HST, Pat Pimm briefly left the BC Liberals during as he was being investigated for a domestic dispute incident, John Slater withdrew from the BC Liberal Party after they refused to endorse his re-election nomination in 2013, John van Dongen crossed the floor to the BC Conservatives before leaving that party to sit as an independent, and both BC Liberal Bill Bennett and NDP Bob Simpson were removed from their caucuses for criticizing their leaders. Three MLAs were subject of police investigations: Kash Heed for election irregularities, Jane Thornthwaite for drunk driving, and Pat Pimm for a domestic dispute. Two MLAs, both from the BC Liberals, resigned their seats forcing by-elections: Iain Black in Port Moody-Coquitlam and Barry Penner in Chilliwack-Hope.

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