Reform Party of British Columbia
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Reform Party of British Columbia
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| Active provincial party | |
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| Leader | none |
| President | Ron Gamble |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Headquarters | North Vancouver, BC |
| Ideology |
Neoconservatism populism |
The Reform Party of British Columbia (Reform BC) is a populist right wing political party in British Columbia, Canada. Although its name is similar to the defunct Reform Party of Canada, the provincial party was founded before the federal party was and it did not have any formal association with it. Their peak of support came in 1996 when they elected two members to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.
Reform BC was formed in the early 1980s and registered its name with the B.C. Corporations Branch in 1983, before the creation of the Reform Party of Canada. The party's first candidates ran in the 1991 provincial election, when four candidates stood in the 75 ridings, receiving 2,673 votes, or 0.18% of the popular vote. That election saw the collapse of the British Columbia Social Credit Party, which was reduced to seven Members of the Legislative Assembly, four of these seven defected to Reform BC. This was done in part to capitalize on the popularity of the Reform Party of Canada. Despite attempts to take over Social Credit, Reform BC was unable to absorb it and lay claim to the right of the political spectrum.
In the May 28, 1996 election, the party nominated candidates in all of the province’s 75 ridings, and collected 146,734 votes (9.27% of the popular vote). Two party members were elected to office, but they won no further seats in subsequent elections.
Many blamed Reform for splitting the right wing vote and helping the New Democratic Party of British Columbia under Glen Clark get re-elected. The leader, Jack Weisgerber decided to step down as leader. At the August 30, 1997 leadership convention in Surrey, Wilf Hanni was elected leader over John Motiuk and Adrian Wade. Hanni, an oil industry worker, alienated both of the MLAs and drove them out of the party. Richard Neufeld crossed to the BC Liberals, and became a provincial cabinet minister before being appointed to the Canadian Senate on the recommendation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008. Jack Weisgerber is now a director for BC Hydro, the power utility owned by the provincial government. The loss of the two MLAs was the effective end of the party.
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