The Liberal Party has been the dominant party in Canada for many years. However in the recent provincial elections in British Columbia they were not even on the ballot, as they were looking to come a distant third – so they pulled out.
Their withdrawal has allowed the more leftish NDP to narrowly beat the Conservatives by one seat, but what the Liberals did would be the equivalent of Labour not standing any candidates in an election, so the Alliance could win.
The Liberals ruled BC from 2001 to 2017. Here’s the number of seats each party has won since 2000:
| Liberals | NDP | Conservative | Green | |
| 2001 | 77 | 2 | ||
| 2005 | 46 | 33 | ||
| 2009 | 49 | 35 | ||
| 2013 | 49 | 34 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 43 | 41 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 28 | 57 | 2 | |
| 2024 | 0 | 46 | 45 | 2 |
The Conservatives went from 2% in 2020 to 43% in 2024, a remarkable achievement. They won’t quite get to form Government due to the Liberals pulling out to stop vote splitting, but probably will in time.
The post The Liberals didn’t even stand in British Columbia. first appeared on Kiwiblog.
