132-701: The Conservative Party of British Columbia , commonly known as the BC Conservatives and colloquially known as the Tories , is a provincial political party in British Columbia , Canada. It is the main rival to the governing British Columbia New Democratic Party and forms the Official Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia . It is led by John Rustad , who was originally elected as
264-654: A British Columbia Liberal Party MLA in 2005 before being expelled from the Liberal caucus in 2022. In the first half of the 20th century, the Conservatives competed with the BC Liberal Party for power in the province. During this period, three party leaders served as premier of British Columbia : Richard McBride (1903–1915), William John Bowser (1915–1916), and Simon Fraser Tolmie (1928–1933). Royal Maitland and Herbert Anscomb served as deputy premiers , both during
396-472: A Vernon city councillor, was appointed interim leader by a unanimous vote of the newly elected board. Anderson oversaw the reformation of several defunct riding associations and an increase in membership, and took the party through the Kelowna West and Nanaimo by-elections. Fort St. John city councillor Trevor Bolin became the party's new permanent leader on April 8, 2019. The party altered its name to
528-546: A liberal - conservative divide, or around religious disputes. The spread of the party model of politics was accelerated by the 1848 Revolutions around Europe. The strength of political parties in the United States waned during the Era of Good Feelings , but shifted and strengthened again by the second half of the 19th century. This was not the only country in which the strength of political parties had substantially increased by
660-456: A party chair , who may be different people from the party leader. These executive organizations may serve to constrain the party leader, especially if that leader is an autocrat. It is common for political parties to conduct major leadership decisions, like selecting a party executive and setting their policy goals, during regular party conferences . Much as party leaders who are not in power are usually at least nominally competing to become
792-463: A single-member district electoral system tend to have very few parties, whereas countries that use proportional representation tend to have more. The number of parties in a country can also be accurately estimated based on the magnitude of a country's electoral districts and the number of seats in its legislature. An informative way to classify the party systems of the world is by how many parties they include. Because some party systems include
924-538: A "centre-right alternative" to BC United, the BC NDP, and the BC Greens, while matching the rhetoric of the federal Conservative Party in focusing on affordability and crime. Rustad's party has been labeled both centre-right and right-wing. The party advocates for increased resource extraction with fewer environmental roadblocks, and calls to further develop the province's fossil fuel and lumber industries. It seeks to eliminate
1056-508: A $ 1,500 a month housing costs rebate for both renters and homeowners starting in 2026, supports incentives for rental construction, and has promised it will not bring in low-barrier housing or homeless shelters without community consent. The party has been described as a "more socially conservative" party than BC United. Rustad has often clashed on social issues with BC premier David Eby in the legislature. Rustad accused Eby of being an "authoritarian socialist" in 2023, while in 2024, Eby accused
1188-520: A Liberal, winning Kamloops . Carson and his brother both served as cabinet ministers in later regimes. They were the sons of Robert Carson , an American who was one of the very few survivors of an Indian attack on a wagon train on the Oregon Trail and who went on to found one of the early ranches at Pavilion and whose holdings became part of the Diamond S Ranch . An Act was passed in 1932, providing for
1320-416: A candidate in one electoral district has an incentive to assist a similar candidate in a different district. Thus, political parties can be mechanisms for preventing candidates with similar goals from acting to each other's detriment when campaigning or governing. This might help explain the ubiquity of parties: if a group of candidates form a party and are harming each other less, they may perform better over
1452-526: A candidate to victory in an election. Some scholars argue that the first modern political parties developed in early modern Britain in the 17th century, after the Exclusion Crisis and the Glorious Revolution . The Whig faction originally organized itself around support for Protestant constitutional monarchy as opposed to absolute rule , whereas the conservative Tory faction (originally
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#17328375674711584-403: A community of party members. Parties in democracies usually select their party leadership in ways that are more open and competitive than parties in autocracies, where the selection of a new party leader is likely to be tightly controlled. In countries with large sub-national regions, particularly federalist countries, there may be regional party leaders and regional party members in addition to
1716-532: A country with multiple competitive parties is not necessarily democratic, and the politics of many autocratic countries are organized around one dominant political party. The ubiquity and strength of political parties in nearly every modern country has led researchers to remark that the existence of political parties is almost a law of politics, and to ask why parties appear to be such an essential part of modern states. Political scientists have therefore come up with several explanations for why political parties are
1848-595: A deeper connection to the electorate. The idea of people forming large groups or factions to advocate for their shared interests is ancient. Plato mentions the political factions of Classical Athens in the Republic , and Aristotle discusses the tendency of different types of government to produce factions in the Politics . Certain ancient disputes were also factional, like the Nika riots between two chariot racing factions at
1980-413: A democracy will often affiliate with a specific political party. Party membership may include paying dues, an agreement not to affiliate with multiple parties at the same time, and sometimes a statement of agreement with the party's policies and platform. In democratic countries, members of political parties often are allowed to participate in elections to choose the party leadership. Party members may form
2112-451: A democracy. There have been periods of government exclusively or entirely by one party in some countries that are often considered to have been democratic, and which had no official legal barriers to the inclusion of other parties in the government; this includes recent periods in Botswana , Japan , Mexico , Senegal , and South Africa . It can also occur that one political party dominates
2244-616: A former premier, ran as the Non-Partisan Independent Group . When Bowser died on October 25, the elections in Vancouver Centre and Victoria City were postponed to November 27, and the following candidates withdrew: Other notable races include the election of Bridge River-Lillooet News publisher George Matheson Murray in Lillooet over Conservative Ernest Crawford Carson . Carson's brother Robert Henry Carson ran as
2376-426: A large membership base. Further, mass parties prioritize the mobilization of voters and are more centralized than elite parties. The term "catch-all party" was developed by German-American political scientist Otto Kirchheimer to describe the parties that developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a result of changes within the mass parties. The term "big tent party" may be used interchangeably. Kirchheimer characterized
2508-485: A large number of parties that have a very low probability of winning elections, it is often useful to think about the effective number of parties (the number of parties weighted by the strength of those parties) rather than the literal number of registered parties. In a non-partisan system, no political parties exist, or political parties are not a major part of the political system. There are very few countries without political parties . In some non-partisan countries,
2640-401: A large number of political parties around the world, not all political parties have an organizing ideology, or exist to promote ideological policies. For example, some political parties may be clientelistic or patronage -based organizations, which are largely concerned with distributing goods. Other political parties may be created as tools for the advancement of an individual politician. It
2772-491: A major upheaval in their politics and have not yet returned to a stable system of political parties. For example, the United States began as a non-partisan democracy, and it evolved a stable system of political parties over the course of many decades. A country's party system may also dissolve and take time to re-form, leaving a period of minimal or no party system, such as in Peru following the regime of Alberto Fujimori . However, it
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#17328375674712904-517: A near-full slate in the election of 1937 , however they were only able to elect eight MLAs, just one more than the growing Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) caucus. In the election of 1941 , the Conservatives were able to win 12 seats, compared to 21 for the Liberals and 14 for the CCF. Members of the province's business community, who feared the growing strength of the democratic socialist CCF, urged
3036-399: A nearly universal political phenomenon. One of the core explanations for the existence of political parties is that they arise from pre-existing divisions among people: society is divided in a certain way, and a party is formed to organize that division into the electoral competition. By the 1950s, economists and political scientists had shown that party organizations could take advantage of
3168-511: A number of countries, particularly longstanding European democracies. Political scientists have distinguished between different types of political parties that have evolved throughout history. These include elite parties, mass parties, catch-all parties and cartel parties. Elite parties were political elites that were concerned with contesting elections and restricted the influence of outsiders, who were only required to assist in election campaigns. Mass parties tried to recruit new members who were
3300-422: A particular country's elections . It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics , and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals. Political parties have become a major part of the politics of almost every country, as modern party organizations developed and spread around the world over the last few centuries. Although some countries have no political parties , this
3432-417: A phenonmenon observable among European Green parties during their transformation from radical environmentalist movements to mainstream centre-left parties. An Entrepreneurial party is a political party that is centered on a political entrepreneur , and dedicated to the advancement of that person or their policies. While some definitions of political parties state that a party is an organization that advances
3564-863: A realistic chance of competing to form government. One current example of a two-party system is the United States , where the national government has for much of the country's history exclusively been controlled by either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party . Other examples of countries which have had long periods of two-party dominance include Colombia , Uruguay , Malta , and Ghana . Two-party systems are not limited to democracies; they may be present in authoritarian regimes as well. Competition between two parties has occurred in historical autocratic regimes in countries including Brazil and Venezuela . A democracy's political institutions can shape
3696-509: A reduction of the seats in the Assembly from 48 to 47 upon the next election. The following changes were made: A 1934 Act increased the size of the Assembly from 47 to 48, by abolishing the district of Columbia-Revelstoke and reviving the previous districts of Columbia and Revelstoke , with immediate effect. William Henry Sutherland was declared the MLA for Revelstoke, and Thomas King (Liberal)
3828-649: A result of the party gaining official status, the Legislative Assembly Management Committee approved $ 214,000 in funding for the Conservative caucus, equivalent to the two-MLA Green caucus. On May 31, 2024, BC United MLA and caucus chair Lorne Doerkson crossed the floor to the Conservatives. Doerkson was followed by BC United's MLA for Surrey South , Elenore Sturko on June 3—she also announced her intention to run in Surrey-Cloverdale for
3960-403: A result. In 2024, party leader John Rustad told supporters that he would scrap a housing reform by the BC NDP that legalized fourplexes on lots that previously only allowed single-family housing and sixplexes on lots near rapid transit stations. Instead, the Conservatives would work with local governments to use pre-zoning to increase density and supply in specific areas. The party has proposed
4092-548: A right-wing alternative, and with the breakdown of formerly successful centre-right coalitions have enjoyed renewed popularity. In 2017, party communications director John Twigg compared the party's populist and anti-establishment rhetoric with that of the Brexit movement and that of supporters of Donald Trump . Under John Rustad's leadership, the party has portrayed itself as more mainstream and "common sense" in order to broaden its appeal. In 2023 and 2024, Rustad described his party as
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4224-412: A single best policy choice without some institution constraining their options. Another prominent explanation for why political parties exist is psychological: parties may be necessary for many individuals to participate in politics because they provide a massively simplifying heuristic , which allows people to make informed choices with much less mental effort than if voters had to consciously evaluate
4356-548: A smaller group can be a feature of party leadership transitions in more autocratic countries, where the existence of political parties may be severely constrained to only one legal political party, or only one competitive party. Some of these parties, like the Chinese Communist Party , have rigid methods for selecting the next party leader, which involves selection by other party members. A small number of single-party states have hereditary succession, where party leadership
4488-405: A source of party income and were often expected to spread party ideology as well as assist in elections. In the United States, where both major parties were elite parties, the introduction of primaries and other reforms has transformed them so that power is held by activists who compete over influence and nomination of candidates. An elite party is a type of political party that was dominant in
4620-479: A specific set of ideological or policy goals, many political parties are not primarily motivated by ideology or policy, and instead exist to advance the career of a specific political entrepreneur . Political ideologies are one of the major organizing features of political parties, and parties often officially align themselves with specific ideologies. Parties adopt ideologies for a number of reasons. Ideological affiliations for political parties send signals about
4752-460: A sub-national region of a democratic country that has a competitive national party system; one example is the southern United States during much of the 19th and 20th centuries, where the Democratic Party had almost complete control, with the Southern states being functionally one-party regimes, though opposition parties were never prohibited. In several countries, there are only two parties that have
4884-470: A very large portion of society and it can play substantial roles in civil society that are not necessarily directly related to political governance; one example of this is the Chinese Communist Party . Bans on competing parties can also ensure that only one party can ever realistically hold power, even without completely outlawing all other political parties. For example, in North Korea , more than one party
5016-617: A way that does not conform to the dominant economic left-right divide in politics, in turn emphasising issues that do not attain prominence within the other parties. Further, niche parties do not respond to changes in public opinion to the extent that mainstream parties do. Examples of niche parties include Green parties and extreme nationalist parties, such as the National Rally in France. However, over time these parties may grow in size and shed some of their niche qualities as they become larger,
5148-521: Is also common, in countries with important social cleavages along ethnic or racial lines, to represent the interests of one ethnic group or another. This may involve a non-ideological attachment to the interests of that group, or may be a commitment based on an ideology like identity politics . While any of these types of parties may be ideological, there are political parties that do not have any organizing ideology. Political parties are ubiquitous across both democratic and autocratic countries, and there
5280-423: Is also possible – albeit rare – for countries with no bans on political parties, and which have not experienced a major disruption, to nevertheless have no political parties: there are a small number of pacific island democracies, such as Palau , where political parties are permitted to exist and yet parties are not an important part of national politics. In a one-party system , power
5412-510: Is common for democratic elections to feature competitions between liberal , conservative , and socialist parties; other common ideologies of very large political parties include communism , populism , nationalism , and Islamism . Political parties in different countries will often adopt similar colours and symbols to identify themselves with a particular ideology. However, many political parties have no ideological affiliation, and may instead be primarily engaged in patronage , clientelism ,
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5544-486: Is extremely rare. Most countries have several parties while others only have one . Parties are important in the politics of autocracies as well as democracies , though usually democracies have more political parties than autocracies. Autocracies often have a single party that governs the country, and some political scientists consider competition between two or more parties to be an essential part of democracy. Parties can develop from existing divisions in society, like
5676-565: Is held entirely by one political party. When only one political party exists, it may be the result of a ban on the formation of any competing political parties, which is a common feature in authoritarian states. For example, the Communist Party of Cuba is the only permitted political party in Cuba , and is the only party that can hold seats in the legislature. When only one powerful party is legally permitted to exist, its membership can grow to contain
5808-407: Is inherited by the child of an outgoing party leader. Autocratic parties use more restrictive selection methods to avoid having major shifts in the regime as a result of successions. In both democratic and non-democratic countries, the party leader is often the foremost member of a larger party leadership. A party executive will commonly include administrative positions, like a party secretary and
5940-408: Is largely insignificant as parties use the resources of the state to maintain their position within the political system. Niche parties are a type of political party that developed on the basis of the emergence of new cleavages and issues in politics, such as immigration and the environment. In contrast to mainstream or catch-all parties, niche parties articulate an often limited set of interests in
6072-521: Is officially permitted to exist and even to seat members in the legislature, but laws ensure that the Workers' Party of Korea retains control. It is also possible for countries with free elections to have only one party that holds power. These cases are sometimes called dominant-party systems or particracies . Scholars have debated whether or not a country that has never experienced a transfer of power from one party to another can nevertheless be considered
6204-399: Is often very little change in which political parties have a chance of holding power in a country from one election to the next. This makes it possible to think about the political parties in a country as collectively forming one of the country's central political institutions , called a party system. Some basic features of a party system are the number of parties and what sorts of parties are
6336-442: Is reduced as catch-all parties are financed in part by the state or by donations. In Europe, the shift of Christian Democratic parties that were organized around religion into broader centre-right parties epitomizes this type. Cartel parties are a type of political party that emerged post-1970s and are characterized by heavy state financing and the diminished role of ideology as an organizing principle. The cartel party thesis
6468-432: Is the ideology that is most closely connected to the history of democracies and is often considered to be the dominant or default ideology of governing parties in much of the contemporary world. Many of the traditional competitors to liberal parties are conservative parties. Socialist, communist, feminist, anarchist, fascist, and nationalist parties are more recent developments, largely entering political competitions only in
6600-497: The 1900 general election against the non-partisan government, but these were generally loose affiliations. In 1902, the Conservative Party convention passed a resolution to stand candidates in the next election. Party government was introduced on June 1, 1903, by Premier Richard McBride , when he announced the formation of an officially Conservative government. McBride believed that the system of non-partisan government that
6732-524: The 1928 election under the leadership of Simon Fraser Tolmie , winning 35 of 48 seats in the Legislature. The Tolmie government was confronted with the Great Depression , and was wracked by infighting and indecision. The party was in such disarray that, despite being in power, the Conservative provincial association decided not to run any candidates in the 1933 election . Instead, each local association
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#17328375674716864-521: The 1991 election and the subsequent re-alignment of BC politics. The party ran only a handful of candidates between 1991 and 2005, as the pro-business voters of the province moved en masse to the BC Liberals . In 2005, former BC Reform Party and Christian conservative British Columbia Party leader Wilf Hanni was elected leader of the Conservatives. The party fielded 24 candidates in the 2009 election , its highest number since 1979, and earned 2.1% of
6996-514: The BC Social Credit Party . In January 1952, the Liberals decided to dissolve the coalition, with Johnson summarily dismissing his PC ministers, including Anscomb, and continued forward as a minority government . The Conservatives properly re-founded their party and went into the 1952 election with the goal of unseating Premier Johnson. Prior to the 1952 election , the coalition government, whose entire reason for being had been to keep
7128-625: The Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party . By the early 19th century, a number of countries had developed stable modern party systems. The party system that developed in Sweden has been called the world's first party system, on the basis that previous party systems were not fully stable or institutionalized. In many European countries, including Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and France, political parties organized around
7260-633: The Hippodrome of Constantinople . A few instances of recorded political groups or factions in history included the late Roman Republic's Populares and Optimates factions as well as the Dutch Republic's Orangists and the Staatsgezinde . However, modern political parties are considered to have emerged around the end of the 18th century; they are usually considered to have first appeared in Europe and
7392-586: The Kamloops constituency . Fulton left soon after, returning to federal politics while the BC Tories collapsed into ruin. The Party ran only three candidates in the 1966 election , and just one, then-party leader John de Wolf , in the 1969 election . In 1971, former Socred MLA Scott Wallace , who represented Oak Bay , crossed the floor to join the PCs, becoming the party's first MLA in 15 years. The PCs earned nearly 13% of
7524-564: The Royalist or Cavalier faction of the English Civil War ) supported a strong monarchy, and these two groups structured disputes in the politics of the United Kingdom throughout the 18th century The Rockingham Whigs have been identified as the first modern political party, because they retained a coherent party label and motivating principles even while out of power. At the end of
7656-457: The coalition governments of the 1940s. The party's influence diminished in the second half of the century, with the Conservatives having only a minor presence in the legislature after the 1950s. However, the party saw a resurgence under Rustad's leadership in the 2024 provincial election , winning the second-most seats in its best electoral performance in 72 years. While both of its members tend to support each other, and both parties have roughly
7788-593: The provincial carbon tax , roll back climate-friendly building codes , and consider nuclear power as an energy option. It also seeks to expand support for farmers by increasing local food processing capacity, and to bring in private auto insurance companies. The party supports allowing for both public and private health-care options and allowing patients who are waiting for care in B.C. to access services at approved out-of-province clinics. It opposes COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care workers and has promised to compensate health-care workers who lost their jobs as
7920-417: The 19th and 20th centuries. Environmentalism, multiculturalism, and certain types of fundamentalism became prominent towards the end of the 20th century. Parties can sometimes be organized according to their ideology using an economic left–right political spectrum . However, a simple left-right economic axis does not fully capture the variation in party ideologies. Other common axes that are used to compare
8052-593: The BC Conservatives were rebranded as the BC Progressive Conservative Party, following the lead of the federal party . Maitland and Hart served throughout the remainder of World War II and continued their partnership past, running a joint ticket in the 1945 election and winning a majority government of 37 out of 48 seats. However, Maitland died suddenly in 1946 and was replaced by Herbert Anscomb , who became Deputy Premier and Finance Minister in
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#17328375674718184-453: The BC Liberals), indicated a surge in support for the Conservatives, which was seen to echo that of the federal Conservative Party , which by 2023 was surging in national polls. On September 13, 2023, BC United MLA Bruce Banman crossed the floor to join the Conservatives. This gave the Conservatives the two MLAs necessary for official party status, and Banman was named party house leader. As
8316-469: The CCF out of power, introduced an instant-runoff voting system. The assumption behind the change was that business-oriented voters would keep the democratic socialist party out of power through their secondary choices, regardless of the split between the former coalition partners. However, the Social Credit League , led by Albertan Ernest George Hansell , won the most seats in the election, while
8448-467: The Conservative Party of British Columbia prior to the 2020 general election . During the BC Liberal leadership race in 2022, conservative commentator Aaron Gunn was disqualified by the party, which described his views as "inconsistent" with Liberal values including "diversity and acceptance of all British Columbians". Following his disqualification, Gunn founded Common Sense BC, an advocacy group to study
8580-485: The Conservatives of embodying "the worst traits of American populism". Rustad has said that under a BC Conservative government, access to abortion and contraception "will remain exactly as it is now." The party opposes BC's Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) education policies and safe injection sites for drug users . The party proposes that people suffering from severe drug addiction be involuntarily committed to drug rehabilitation centres, and opposes
8712-456: The Liberals and Conservatives to form a wartime coalition government to ensure stability. Then-Conservative leader Royal Maitland agreed, while then-Liberal Premier T.D. Pattullo was opposed; however, Pattullo was forced to resign by his own party in late 1941. John Hart replaced him as Liberal leader and premier on the promise to form a coalition, and did so, making Maitland Deputy Premier and Attorney General shortly thereafter. In 1942,
8844-481: The Province of British Columbia , Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia . The election was called on September 13, 1933, and held on November 2, 1933. The new legislature met for the first time on February 20, 1934. The Liberal Party won a majority government . The Official Opposition was formed by the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation , which
8976-506: The Social Credit caucus, answering a call by new leader Bill Bennett to reunite the 'pro-business' vote. Wallace was able to win his own seat in the 1975 election , but resigned in 1977 and returned to his medical practice shortly after. Wallace's successor in Oak Bay and the party leadership was the last Tory MLA to be elected. Vic Stephens won the seat in a 1978 by-election , but lost in
9108-450: The Tories. The PCs were riven into three factions: one led by Okanagan MLA W.A.C. Bennett , who called for the Liberals and Tories to fuse into a single party; a second faction that supported the status-quo; and a third that wanted Anscomb to simply lead the PCs out of the coalition. Meanwhile, the Liberals were beginning to doubt that they needed the fractious Tories to govern. The coalition
9240-552: The United States of America, with the United Kingdom's Conservative Party and the Democratic Party of the United States both frequently called the world's "oldest continuous political party". Before the development of mass political parties, elections typically featured a much lower level of competition, had small enough polities that direct decision-making was feasible, and held elections that were dominated by individual networks or cliques that could independently propel
9372-408: The advancement of a specific political entrepreneur , or be a " big tent ", in that they wish to attract voters who have a variety of positions on issues. Political parties are collective entities and activities that organize competitions for political offices. The members of a political party contest elections under a shared label. In a narrow definition, a political party can be thought of as just
9504-405: The base of the volunteer activists and donors who support political parties during campaigns. The extent of participation in party organizations can be affected by a country's political institutions, with certain electoral systems and party systems encouraging higher party membership. Since at least the 1980s, membership in large traditional party organizations has been steadily declining across
9636-467: The century, the United States also developed a party system, called the First Party System . Although the framers of the 1787 United States Constitution did not all anticipate that American political disputes would be primarily organized around political parties, political controversies in the early 1790s over the extent of federal government powers saw the emergence of two proto-political parties :
9768-438: The claim that parties emerge from existing cleavages, or arguing that the claim is not empirically testable. Others note that while social cleavages might cause political parties to exist, this obscures the opposite effect: that political parties also cause changes in the underlying social cleavages. A further objection is that, if the explanation for where parties come from is that they emerge from existing social cleavages, then
9900-429: The coalition government. When Premier Hart retired in 1947, the Conservatives pushed for Anscomb to succeed him as Premier , but the Liberals, who had more members in the coalition caucus, insisted that the role remain with a Liberal. Byron Johnson was appointed Premier a short time later, but the conflict strained relations between the two parties and leaders going forward, and caused internal divisions to open up within
10032-424: The cognitive burden for people to cast informed votes. However, some evidence suggests that over the last several decades, the strength of party identification has been weakening, so this may be a less important function for parties to provide than it was in the past. Political parties are often structured in similar ways across countries. They typically feature a single party leader, a group of party executives, and
10164-401: The decision, stating that the executive were "like praying mantises, they eat their leaders". The party did not select a new leader before the start of the 2017 election campaign. As such, the Conservatives entered the election campaign without a leader and nominated only ten candidates, none of whom were elected. In September 2017, following the party's annual general meeting, Scott Anderson,
10296-575: The distribution of voters' preferences over political issues, adjusting themselves in response to what voters believe in order to become more competitive. Beginning in the 1960s, academics began identifying the social cleavages in different countries that might have given rise to specific parties, such as religious cleavages in specific countries that may have produced religious parties there. The theory that parties are produced by social cleavages has drawn several criticisms. Some authors have challenged it on empirical grounds, either finding no evidence for
10428-413: The divisions between lower and upper classes , and they streamline the process of making political decisions by encouraging their members to cooperate. Political parties usually include a party leader, who has primary responsibility for the activities of the party; party executives, who may select the leader and who perform administrative and organizational tasks; and party members, who may volunteer to help
10560-490: The end of the century; for example, around this time the Irish political leader Charles Stewart Parnell implemented several methods and structures like party discipline that would come to be associated with strong grassroots political parties. At the beginning of the 20th century in Europe, the liberal–conservative divide that characterized most party systems was disrupted by the emergence of socialist parties, which attracted
10692-411: The entire party, and some voters decide how to vote in elections partly based on how much they like the leaders of the different parties. The number of people involved in choosing party leaders varies widely across parties and across countries. On one extreme, party leaders might be selected from the entire electorate; on the opposite extreme, they might be selected by just one individual. Selection by
10824-418: The fact that a party is focused on electing candidates, whereas a parliamentary group is a group of political parties, a political faction is a subgroup within a political party, and an advocacy group is focused on advancing a policy agenda. This is related to other features that sometimes distinguish parties from other political organizations, including a larger membership, greater stability over time, and
10956-769: The first political party in Uganda, and its name was chosen as an homage to the Indian National Congress. As broader suffrage rights and eventually universal suffrage slowly spread throughout democracies, political parties expanded dramatically, and only then did a vision develop of political parties as intermediaries between the full public and the government. Political parties are a nearly ubiquitous feature of modern countries. Nearly all democratic countries have strong political parties, and many political scientists consider countries with fewer than two parties to necessarily be autocratic . However, these sources allow that
11088-476: The following year's general election campaign. During this time, with most of their voters in BC supporting Social Credit, the federal Progressive Conservative Party kept its distance in order to avoid alienating Social Credit Party supporters. When the federal and provincial election campaigns overlapped in 1979, federal leader Joe Clark made obvious efforts to avoid any contact with Stephens. The Tories returned to
11220-662: The formation of parties is explicitly banned by law. The existence of political parties may be banned in autocratic countries in order to prevent a turnover in power. For example, in Saudi Arabia , a ban on political parties has been used as a tool for protecting the monarchy. However, parties are also banned in some polities that have long democratic histories, usually in local or regional elections of countries that have strong national party systems. Political parties may also temporarily cease to exist in countries that have either only been established recently, or that have experienced
11352-413: The group of candidates who run for office under a party label. In a broader definition, political parties are the entire apparatus that supports the election of a group of candidates, including voters and volunteers who identify with a particular political party, the official party organizations that support the election of that party's candidates, and legislators in the government who are affiliated with
11484-499: The head of government, the entire party executive may be competing for various positions in the government. For example, in Westminster systems , the largest party that is out of power will form the Official Opposition in parliament, and select a shadow cabinet which (among other functions) provides a signal about which members of the party would hold which positions in the government if the party were to win an election. Citizens in
11616-464: The head of government. In both presidential democracies and parliamentary democracies , the members of a party frequently have substantial input into the selection of party leaders, for example by voting on party leadership at a party conference . Because the leader of a major party is a powerful and visible person, many party leaders are well-known career politicians. Party leaders can be sufficiently prominent that they affect voters' perceptions of
11748-464: The ideologies of political parties include ranges from liberal to authoritarian, from pro-establishment to anti-establishment , and from tolerant and pluralistic (in their behavior while participating in the political arena) to anti-system. Party positions for individual political parties are assessed by different published indices, such as the V-Party Dataset . Though ideologies are central to
11880-518: The introduction of universal suffrage resulted in the creation of worker's parties that later evolved into mass parties; an example is the German Social Democratic Party . These parties represented large groups of citizens who had not previously been represented in political processes, articulating the interests of different groups in society. In contrast to elite parties, mass parties are funded by their members, and rely on and maintain
12012-431: The latter decision was because Wright had re-posted a statement calling for a criminal investigation into Health Minister Adrian Dix and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry , while Wright herself believed it was due to a conflict she had with a local fruit packer. † denotes interim leader or vacancy Political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in
12144-404: The long run than unaffiliated politicians , so politicians with party affiliations will out-compete politicians without parties. Parties can also align their member's incentives when those members are in a legislature. The existence of a party apparatus can help coalitions of electors to agree on ideal policy choices, whereas a legislature of unaffiliated members might never be able to agree on
12276-448: The merits of every candidate individually. Without political parties, electors would have to individually evaluate every candidate in every election. Parties enable electors to make judgments about just a few groups, and then apply their judgment of the party to its entire slate of candidates. Because it is much easier to become informed about a few parties' platforms than the positions of a multitude of independent candidates, parties reduce
12408-440: The most successful. These properties are closely connected to other major features of the country's politics, such as how democratic it is, what sorts of restrictions its laws impose on political parties, and what type of electoral systems it uses. Even in countries where the number of political parties is not officially constrained by law, political institutions affect how many parties are viable. For example, democracies that use
12540-500: The national Conservative Party , which at the time favoured government intervention to help develop industry and infrastructure. The Conservatives under McBride and his successor, William John Bowser , held power for 13 years until they were defeated by the Liberals in the 1916 election . In November 1926, the Liberal-Conservative Party formally changed its name to the Conservative Party. The Tories returned to power in
12672-432: The national membership and leadership. Parties are typically led by a party leader , who serves as the main representative of the party and often has primary responsibility for overseeing the party's policies and strategies. The leader of the party that controls the government usually becomes the head of government , such as the president or prime minister , and the leaders of other parties explicitly compete to become
12804-434: The nineteenth century before the introduction of universal suffrage. The French political scientist Maurice Duverger first distinguished between elite and "mass" parties, founding his distinction on the differences within the organisational structures of these two types. Elite parties are characterized by minimal and loose organisation, and are financed by fewer larger monetary contributions typically originating from outside
12936-510: The now rolled-back NDP drug decriminalization pilot program. It supports increased funding for law enforcement and justice reform measures to deal with repeat or violent offenders. Under Rustad's leadership, the party has been criticized by opponents for its candidates espousing conspiracy theories . Rustad has been the subject of media attention for several controversial claims, including that children may be forced to eat insects, that vaccine mandates are about "shaping opinion and control on
13068-453: The number of parties that it has. In the 1950s Maurice Duverger observed that single-member district single-vote plurality-rule elections tend to produce two-party systems, and this phenomenon came to be known as Duverger's law . Whether or not this pattern is true has been heavily debated over the last several decades. Some political scientists have broadened this idea to argue that more restrictive political institutions (of which first past
13200-407: The old parties behind. Having a majority government following 1953, the Social Credit government changed the electoral system back to first past the post in order to cement its base. Social Credit became, in effect, the new centre-right coalition party, and both the Liberals and the Tories became marginalized. Between the 1956 and 1972 elections, the Tories won no seats in the Legislature, and
13332-418: The party began to dwindle. After 1960 , the party would not run a full slate of candidates again until 2024. Deane Finlayson served as leader from 1952 until 1961, eventually handing the reins to federal Member of Parliament Davie Fulton . Fulton led the party to a brief surge of relevance in the 1963 election , winning 11% of the vote but no seats, with even Fulton falling far behind his Socred opponent in
13464-455: The party revealed a new logo, alongside a new website and platform. On February 16, 2023, John Rustad , MLA for Nechako Lakes , joined the Conservative Party, giving the party representation in the Legislature for the first time since 2012. Rustad had been elected as a Liberal but was removed from the party's caucus in August 2022 after he refused to undo his retweet of a comment casting doubt on
13596-433: The party's annual general meeting on February 20, 2016. However, stating that outstanding issues that led to his resignations were resolved, Brooks was re-elected as leader at a leadership convention held on September 17, 2016. On October 28, 2016, the party's executive board removed Brooks from the leadership after ruling that the meeting that approved his candidacy for the leadership convention lacked quorum. Brooks criticized
13728-420: The party, donate money to it, and vote for its candidates. There are many different ways in which political parties can be structured and interact with the electorate. The contributions that citizens give to political parties are often regulated by law, and parties will sometimes govern in a way that favours the people who donate time and money to them. Many political parties are motivated by ideological goals. It
13860-443: The party. In many countries, the notion of a political party is defined in law, and governments may specify requirements for an organization to legally qualify as a political party. Political parties are distinguished from other political groups or clubs, such as parliamentary groups, because only presidents have control over the political foundations of the party and also they include political factions, or advocacy groups, mostly by
13992-547: The party. Elite parties give little priority to expanding the party's membership base, and its leaders are its only members. The earliest political parties, such as the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists , are classified as elite parties. A mass party is a type of political party that developed around cleavages in society and mobilized the ordinary citizens or 'masses' in the political process. In Europe,
14124-586: The policies of Indira Gandhi in the 1970s. The formation of the Indian National Congress , which developed in the late 19th century as a pro-independence faction in British India and immediately became a major political party after Indian independence, foreshadowed the dynamic in many newly independent countries; for example, the Uganda National Congress was a pro-independence party and
14256-521: The political wilderness in the following years. For a brief stint in 1986, former NDP MLA Graham Lea crossed the floor to sit as a PC MLA, but quit politics altogether following the dissolution of the Legislature for the 1986 election . In 1991, the party changed its name back to the BC Conservative Party. However, the party was unable to gain traction during the collapse of the Socred government in
14388-699: The population", and a social media post which critics said compared SOGI education and the Canadian residential school system . In the lead-up to the 2024 election , a leaked dossier of opposition research revealed support for conspiracy theories among several party candidates. The party dropped several candidates for spreading misinformation on vaccination and medical issues, including Stephen Malthouse, Jan Webb, and Rachael Weber. The party also dropped Damon Scrase for homophobic and racist comments, and Alexandra Wright after “careful consideration of various factors related to campaign performance and conduct”. BC United implied
14520-492: The post is one example) tend to produce a smaller number of political parties, so that extremely small parties systems – like those with only two parties – tend to form in countries with very restrictive rules. 1933 British Columbia general election Simon Fraser Tolmie Conservative Thomas Dufferin Pattullo Liberal The 1933 British Columbia general election was the eighteenth general election in
14652-535: The province had until that point was unstable and inhibiting development. His Conservatives won the 1903 election , the first fought on the party system , earning a two-seat majority in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly over their rivals, the Liberal Party , as well as various Socialist and Labour MLAs. The Conservatives generally implemented policies mirroring the priorities of
14784-625: The province's 85 ridings. The party received another boost in 2011. After Christy Clark defeated Kevin Falcon for the BC Liberal leadership, a segment of Falcon's supporters defected to the Conservative ranks. The Conservatives held their own leadership convention on May 28, 2011, where former Conservative Party of Canada Member of Parliament John Cummins was proclaimed leader. By late 2011, Conservative support had surged to 18%. On March 26, 2012, Abbotsford South MLA John van Dongen announced that he
14916-476: The province, with the Conservatives and NDP both leaning more into culture war issues. Provincial Provincial For much of its history, the BC Conservative Party subscribed to a free enterprise ideology, although one that was often overshadowed by centre-right coalitions like those of the BC Social Credit and BC Liberal parties. However, the Conservatives, especially in the 21st century, sought to offer
15048-441: The run-up to the 2013 election , the party was able to field only 56 candidates. Nevertheless, Cummins was invited to join the leaders of the Liberals, NDP, and Greens on-stage for the leaders' debates. The Conservatives ultimately received less than 5% of the vote and had no candidates elected. On July 18, 2013, Cummins resigned as party leader. Dan Brooks was elected the new leader of the party on April 12, 2014. Brooks resigned at
15180-510: The same platform, the BC Conservatives have no organizational link to the federal Conservative Party of Canada , and as such does not operate as their provincial wing in the province. The Conservative Party of British Columbia was formed in 1900 as the Liberal-Conservative Party , before the province officially embraced partisan politics. The party selected Charles Wilson as its first leader. Several opposition factions contested
15312-455: The scientific consensus that climate change is caused by carbon dioxide emissions; after the removal, Rustad sat as an Independent. Rustad cited "irreconcilable differences" with Liberal leader Kevin Falcon in explaining his decision to join the Conservatives. Bolin announced on March 3, 2023, that he was stepping down as party leader, and that a party leadership race would be held in the near future. Three weeks later, Rustad announced that he
15444-403: The shift from the traditional mass parties to catch-all parties as a set of developments including the "drastic reduction of the party's ideological baggage" and the "downgrading of the role of the individual party member". By broadening their central ideologies into more open-ended ones, catch-all parties seek to secure the support of a wider section of the population. Further, the role of members
15576-447: The support of organized trade unions . During the wave of decolonization in the mid-20th century, many newly sovereign countries outside of Europe and North America developed party systems that often emerged from their movements for independence. For example, a system of political parties arose out of factions in the Indian independence movement , and was strengthened and stabilized by
15708-422: The theory is an incomplete story of where political parties come from unless it also explains the origins of these social cleavages. An alternative explanation for why parties are ubiquitous across the world is that the formation of parties provides compatible incentives for candidates and legislators. For example, the existence of political parties might coordinate candidates across geographic districts, so that
15840-530: The two former coalition partners fell far behind. The PCs won only four seats, not including Anscomb's Oak Bay constituency. Two months later, former Tory W.A.C. Bennett would take control of the Socreds, dropping the party's social credit monetary reform policy in favour of traditional and populist platforms. It was clear to those who wanted to keep the CCF out of power that only the Socreds would be able to accomplish that task, and so business-oriented voters left
15972-589: The types of policies they might pursue if they were in power. Ideologies also differentiate parties from one another, so that voters can select the party that advances the policies that they most prefer. A party may also seek to advance an ideology by convincing voters to adopt its belief system. Common ideologies that can form a central part of the identity of a political party include liberalism , conservatism , socialism , communism , anarchism , fascism , feminism , environmentalism , nationalism , fundamentalism , Islamism , and multiculturalism . Liberalism
16104-434: The upcoming election— and BC United MLA for Richmond North Centre and former Minister of Trade Teresa Wat on July 29. Leading up to the 2024 provincial election , polls showed the Conservatives displacing BC United as the main challenger to the incumbent BC NDP. On August 28, 2024, BC United leader Falcon announced that his party, lagging in the polls, was suspending its campaign after negotiations with Rustad, and that he
16236-524: The viability of a right-wing alternative to the BC Liberals. Common Sense endorsed a slate of candidates who stood for election to the Conservative Party board at the May 2022 annual general meeting, effectively launching a takeover of the party. The endorsed candidates, including People's Party of Canada founding member Angelo Isidorou, were elected, and right-wing activists took control of the party. In August 2022,
16368-648: The vote in the 1972 election and two seats—Wallace's and Hugh Curtis in Saanich and the Islands , both in the Victoria area. The election was won by the CCF's successor party, the New Democratic Party (NDP), who took advantage of the split between the Socreds, Tories, and resurgent Liberals to form a majority government. Wallace was elected leader of the party in 1973. However, in 1974, his caucus mate Curtis left to join
16500-476: The vote. In the aftermath of the election, Hanni resigned as party leader, along with eleven directors and party officials, citing infighting. By the end of 2010, with former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford acting as an advisor, the party had the support of 8% of voters according to opinion polls, had approximately 2,000 members—up from 300 in June of that year—and had constituency associations established in 45 of
16632-497: Was contesting its first election. Because of internal discord, the provincial executive of the Conservative Party decided not to contest the election officially. Instead, each local association was to act on its own. Some candidates ran as Independents, some as Independent Conservatives. Those supporting the premier, Simon Fraser Tolmie , ran as Unionist Party of British Columbia, and those grouped around William John Bowser ,
16764-419: Was developed by Richard Katz and Peter Mair , who wrote that political parties have turned into "semi-state agencies", acting on behalf of the state rather than groups in society. The term 'cartel' refers to the way in which prominent parties in government make it difficult for new parties to enter, as such forming a cartel of established parties. As with catch-all parties, the role of members in cartel parties
16896-479: Was leaving the Liberals to join the Conservatives, providing the party with its first representative in the Legislative Assembly since 1986. However, six months later van Dongen switched to Independent status after Cummins was re-elected party leader without van Dongen's support. van Dongen stated that he lacked confidence in Cummins' leadership and cited differences about the party's direction as reasons for leaving. In
17028-585: Was left to act on its own, endorsing some candidates who ran as Independents, some as Independent Conservatives, and so on. Those supporting Premier Tolmie ran under the 'Unionist' label, while others grouped around former premier William John Bowser and ran as part of the 'Non-Partisan Independent Group'. When Bowser died and the elections in Vancouver Centre and Victoria City were postponed, four Non-partisan and two Unionist candidates withdrew. The Conservative Party rebounded under Frank Porter Patterson to run
17160-563: Was putting his support behind Rustad and the Conservatives. In addition, it was announced that some candidates from the BC United roster could run as Conservatives for the election. Popular support for the Conservatives surged after the announcement, with the party in a statistical tie in opinion polling with the NDP by mid-September. The rise of the Conservatives at the expense of BC United was noted by some commentators to have changed political discourse in
17292-466: Was re-elected in the 1949 election , winning 39 seats against nine for the CCF opposition, but despite this, growing divisions within the Conservative Party resulted in Anscomb's leadership being challenged at the 1950 party convention. Bennett, who had moved over to the anti-coalition faction, quit the party and crossed the floor to sit as a Social Credit League of British Columbia member, eventually forming
17424-478: Was running for the party's leadership. On March 31, 2023, Rustad was acclaimed as the new leader as the only candidate in the race. In the June 2023 Vancouver-Mount Pleasant and Langford-Juan de Fuca by-elections, the Conservative candidates placed fourth and second, with 4.88% and 19.86% of the vote, respectively. The second place finish in Langford-Juan de Fuca, ahead of the centre-right BC United (formerly
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