2009 British Columbia general election

The 2009 British Columbia general election was held on May 12, 2009, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The British Columbia Liberal Party (BC Liberals) formed the government of the province prior to this general election under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell. The British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) under the leadership of Carole James was the Official Opposition.

2009 British Columbia general election

← 2005 May 12, 2009 2013 →
← outgoing members elected members →
85 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 43 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	50.99%[1] 7.2 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Gordon Campbell Carole James Jane Sterk Party Liberal New Democratic Green Leader since September 11, 1993 November 23, 2003 October 21, 2007 Leader's seat Vancouver-Point Grey Victoria-Beacon Hill Ran in Esquimalt-Royal Roads (Lost) Last election 46 seats 33 seats 0 seats Seats won 49 35 0 Seat change 3 2 Popular vote 751,661 691,564 134,570 Percentage 45.82% 42.15% 8.21% Swing 0.03% 0.62% 0.97%
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Click the map for more details.
Premier before election Gordon Campbell Liberal Premier after election Gordon Campbell Liberal

The election was the first contested on a new electoral map completed in 2008, with the total number of constituencies increased from 79 in the previous legislature to 85. Under amendments to the BC Constitution Act passed in 2001, BC elections are now held on fixed dates which are the second Tuesday in May every four years.

A second referendum on electoral reform was held in conjunction with the election.

The election did not produce a significant change in the province's political landscape. The BC Liberals, who had been in power since the 2001 provincial election, were returned to power, constituting the first time in 23 years a party had won three elections in a row in British Columbia. As a result of the seat redistribution, both the Liberals and the New Democrats gained seats, and both parties increased their popular vote by less than one per cent over 2005. Each party lost two incumbent MLAs: the BC NDP's Jenn McGinn and Charlie Wyse, and the Liberals' John Nuraney and Wally Oppal were defeated. All other seat changes in the election resulted from the new seats or from retiring incumbents.

Voter turnout was 50.99% of eligible voters (1,651,567 registered voters).

2008 redistribution of ridings

Main article: 2008 British Columbia electoral redistribution

An Act was passed in 2008 providing for an increase of seats from 79 to 85, upon the next election.^[2]The following changes were made:

Abolished ridings	New ridings
Renaming of districts
Abbotsford-Mount Lehman	Abbotsford West
Alberni-Qualicum	Alberni-Pacific Rim
Bulkley Valley-Stikine	Stikine
Burnaby-Willingdon	Burnaby-Deer Lake
Burquitlam	Burnaby-Lougheed
Cariboo South	Cariboo-Chilcotin
Chilliwack-Kent	Chilliwack-Hope
Chilliwack-Sumas	Chilliwack
East Kootenay	Kootenay East
Esquimalt-Metchosin	Esquimalt-Royal Roads
Kamloops	Kamloops-South Thompson
Malahat-Juan de Fuca	Juan de Fuca
Nanaimo-Parksville	Parksville-Qualicum
Okanagan-Vernon	Vernon-Monashee
Okanagan-Westside	Westside-Kelowna
Penticton-Okanagan Valley	Penticton
Prince George North	Prince George-Mackenzie
Prince George-Mount Robson	Prince George-Valemount
Prince George-Omineca	Nechako Lakes
Surrey-Panorama Ridge	Surrey-Panorama
Victoria-Hillside	Victoria-Swan Lake
West Vancouver-Garibaldi	West Vancouver-Sea to Sky
Drawn from other districts
	Surrey-Fleetwood[a 1]
Division of districts
Abbotsford-Clayburn	Abbotsford-Mission[a 2] Abbotsford South
Cowichan-Ladysmith	Cowichan Valley[a 3] Nanaimo-North Cowichan[a 4]
Vancouver-Burrard	Vancouver-False Creek[a 5] Vancouver-West End
Reorganization of districts
Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain Port Moody-Westwood	Coquitlam-Burke Mountain Port Coquitlam Port Moody-Coquitlam
West Kootenay-Boundary Yale-Lillooet	Boundary-Similkameen Fraser-Nicola Kootenay West

1. From parts of Surrey-Green Timbers, Surrey-Newton and Surrey-Cloverdale.
2. Also taking in part of Maple Ridge-Mission.
3. Also taking in part of Malahat-Juan de Fuca.
4. Also taking in part of Nanaimo.
5. Also taking in part of Vancouver-Fairview.

Political parties

British Columbia Liberal Party

Leader: Gordon Campbell The BC Liberal party dropped from 72 to 46 seats in the legislature after the 2005 provincial election. Having formed a majority government since 2001 the party promoted its own track record as the government. Much of the party's platform was revealed in the 2009 Budget which included a three-year fiscal plan including revenue expectations, tax measures, and spending priorities. The budget proposed cost savings from reduced budgets in half of the ministries, 76% less government advertising, public sector wage freezes, and less spending on government travel costs, contracted professional services, and discretionary spending. The budget plan proposed to increase spending by $4.8 billion over 3 years for healthcare, $300 million over three years for social services, and $800 million more annually for education, as well as some new funding for childcare, policing, victims services, and social housing. The BC Liberal platform, some of it already promised in the budget, advocates hospital improvements in Surrey, Victoria, Vernon, Fort St. John and Kelowna; travel and accommodation assistance to families who must travel long distances to be with their children when they are receiving care; new measures to help remote communities get new access to fresh fruit and vegetables; provide citizens electronic access to their health records; establishing voluntary five-year-old kindergarten classes; establishing a law school at Thompson Rivers University, a medical school at UBC Okanagan, and a Wood Design and Innovation Centre at UNBC; doubling the BC Training Tax Credit; exempting the first $20,000 of seniors' pension income from income tax; legislating a Residents Bill of Rights for seniors living in residential care facilities and a registry for residential care aides; installing cameras to monitor school yards and high-risk public areas; outlaw dumping of raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and help build a new sewage treatment plan for Greater Victoria.[3]

New Democratic Party of British Columbia

Leader: Carole James Under Carole James' leadership the NDP won 33 seats in the 2005 election and two by-elections in 2008. Among other points, its platform involved repealing the carbon tax, instituting a cap and trade plan of greenhouse gas emissions, adopting California's tough vehicle tailpipe emission standards, expanding the capacity and efficiency of public hospitals, instituting health care wait time guarantees, a 1-year small business tax holiday, freezing post-secondary tuition fees, hire more Crown Prosecutors, restoring public oversight to BC Ferries, restricting raw log exports, increasing the minimum wage to $10/hr indexed to inflation, placing a moratorium on new private run-of-the-river power projects, reinstating the Buy BC program, creating a new Rural Economic Development Fund, and promoting farm gate sales of agricultural products (including meat).[4]

Green Party of British Columbia

Leader: Jane Sterk The Green Party ran a full slate of candidates, as it did in 2005 when it won over 9 percent of the vote but no seats in the legislature. Its new leader was Jane Sterk, a former Esquimalt councillor. It supported the BC-STV proposal in the referendum. The party released its platform in a book titled British Columbia's Green Book, 2009—2013. Amongst other points, it advocated balanced budgets, reducing taxes on industry and business while increasing taxes on pollution, creating a Green Venture Capital Fund to invest in green collar jobs, directing 1% from the PST to municipal governments, allowing municipalities to issue municipal bonds, creating a provincial police force, reducing tuition fees by 20%, increasing funding to post-secondary institutions, refunding full tuition fees to graduates who work and live in the province for five years after receiving their degree, banning use of cosmetic pesticides, expanding the Medical Service Plan (to cover chiropractic, physiotherapy, eye exams, massage therapy, routine physical exams, and counselling for addictions), creating a Guaranteed Livable Income by unifying all current income support programs, supporting harm reduction practices, regulating cannabis, halting river-based hydro projects pending a review of the environmental assessment process, re-establishing BC Ferries as a Crown corporation, halting the Gateway Program, using usage based insurance for ICBC rates, and creating a BC Legacy Fund from oil and gas royalties for municipal and rural community projects.[5]

Minor parties

British Columbia Conservative Party Leader: Wilf Hanni The Conservatives nominated 24 candidates, up from seven candidates in 2005 when they won 0.55% of the vote. In spite of his low profile party leader Wilf Hanni participated in a leaders' "Forum" in May 2009.[6] Their platform advocated, among other points, competitive and performance-based healthcare delivery within a publicly funded system, opposing the Recognition and Reconciliation Bill with Aboriginal peoples, returning treaty responsibility to the federal government, repealing the carbon tax and opposing a carbon trading system, expanding resource development (including offshore drilling), reducing the PST by 1%, harmonizing the PST with the Federal GST, eliminating the Property Transfer Tax, rolling back salary increases of MLAs and senior government employees, permitting parents more choices in which schools to send their children to and funding the schools accordingly, repealing the Corren Agreement, reducing tuition fees for students who meet certain standards in post-secondary education, light rail transit in southern Vancouver Island and in Chilliwack, eliminating tolls on bridges (including a proposed toll on the Port Mann Bridge), work requirements on public projects for criminals serving time in jail, a new program to address small crime separately from more serious crimes, creation of a program called Communities That Care to strengthen family dynamics and reduce negative youth behaviors, publishing a Criminal Offenders Registry, creating a substantive appeal process beyond the BC Human Rights Tribunal, enact a 'Right to a Free Vote' legislation for MLAs to freely vote in the Legislature, hold votes for federal senators, and implement a preferential voting system for provincial elections.[7]

British Columbia Libertarian Party Leader: None The Libertarian Party ran six candidates in this election, as it did in 2005. The party supported reducing government involvement in delivery of health care, education, and car insurance; reducing taxes as services are privatized; and reducing government regulation on guns and drugs.[8]

British Columbia Marijuana Party Leader: Marc Emery The Marijuana Party ran one candidate in this election and endorsed the Green Party. In 2005 it ran 44 candidates, while in 2001 it ran a full slate.[9]

BC Refederation Party Leader: Mike Summers The Refederation Party nominated 22 candidates, up from four candidates in 2005 under its previous name the "Western Refederation Party of BC". The party mainly advocates for direct democracy based on the Swiss model, the creation of a provincial constitution, and re-negotiating with the federal government the terms of confederation. According to its website its platform also includes the creation of a provincial police force, homogeneous schools and classes of students with similar abilities, reinstating alternative medical options (such as physiotherapy, dental, and chiropractic) into the Medical Services Plan and placing the Medical Services Plan under the jurisdiction of Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, making WorkSafe an enforcement agency only by moving its insurance component to ICBC, a moratorium on run-of-river hydro projects and fish farms, holding a referendums on the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement and the sale of Crown Corporations, and a judicial review of the sale of BC Rail.[10]

Communist Party of British Columbia Leader: George Gidora The Communist Party of BC is the provincial branch of the national Communist Party. It had three candidates running in the 2009 election, as it did in 2005. The CPBC campaigned against BC-STV in favour of Mixed Member Proportional representation. It advocates progressive tax based on ability to pay, raising the minimum wage to $16/hour indexed to the cost of living, ending the $6/hour training wage, holding a public inquiry into the sale of BC Rail, banning raw log exports, requiring by legislation the processing of timber locally for export, banning evictions for the purpose of renovation, scrapping the Gateway Program, holding elections for the TransLink board with a $1 single zone fare for the Lower Mainland, removing guns and tasers from transit police, eliminating tuition fees, expanding the apprenticeship program, lowering the voting age to 16, withdrawing from the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement, and reintegrating BC Transmission Corporation back into BC Hydro.[11]

Nation Alliance Party Leader: Wei Ping Chen The Nation Alliance Party is a new party that nominated two candidates in this election, both in Richmond ridings. The party seeks to promote the rights of ethnic minorities and recent immigrants. Among other points, it advocates promoting participation in the public affairs, promoting non-violence, and opposing racialism.[12]

People's Front Leader: Charles Boylan The People's Front is the provincial wing of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) which generally advocates, among other points, increased spending on health, education and other social programs, a moratorium on the debt, hereditary rights of the Aboriginal peoples, recognition of the equality of all languages and cultures, instituting recall elections, and rights for individuals to initiate legislation.[13] It nominated four candidates in this election, down from five in 2005 and 11 in 2001.

Reform Party of British Columbia Leader: David Charles Hawkins The BC Reform Party nominated four candidates. It had only one candidate in the 2005 election but nine in 2001 and a full slate of 75 in the 1996 election. According to its website, its platform includes, amongst other points, replacing the provincial income tax with a sales tax and a business tax on gross receipts, use of an employee payroll credit, repudiation of any carbon taxes and carbon credit trading, re-establishing public equity in BC Investment Management Corporation, re-establishment a Grand jury system, restrictions on judicial reviews of legislative actions, and elections for local provincial court judges.[14]

Sex Party Leader: John Ince Billing itself as "the world's first sex-positive party", the Sex Party nominated three candidates in Vancouver ridings, as it did in 2005. According to its website, its platform includes, amongst other points, requiring sexual health and hygiene education in schools, requiring school districts to establish professional support programs to address discrimination of sexual minorities, providing provincial funding for institutes studying and teaching human sexuality or researching sexuality policy issues, reserve designate areas for nudists on all public parks and beaches larger than one hectare, establish a Sex Worker Empowerment Program as an agency providing counseling, education, and advocacy to sex workers, requiring municipalities to treat sex toy businesses as other retail businesses, repeal sex negative regulations, requiring all long term care institutions to articulate a sexuality policy that is non-judgmental about residents' sexuality, creating a Sex-Positive Press Council to expose overt and subtle censorship in BC media, changing Victoria Day to Eros Day to celebrate and encourage sex-positive expression, and proclaiming Valentine's Day a statutory holiday.[15]

Western Canada Concept Leader: Doug Christie The Western Canada Concept had one candidate running in this election, down from two candidates in the 2005 election. The party strongly advocates independence for western Canada, and amongst other points advocates for anti-abortion legislation, strong private property rights, balanced budgets, promotion of cultural assimilation rather than multiculturalism, and compulsory public service with a volunteer armed forces.[16]

Work Less Party of British Columbia Leader: Conrad Schmidt The WLP is an anti-materialist political movement that hopes to achieve socialist and green ends through, among other things, the promotion of a four-day, 32-hour work-week.[17] The party had 2 candidates down from 11 in 2005. The 2005 BC election marked the debut in Western politics of any registered party expressly driven by the ideology of voluntary simplicity.

Your Political Party Leader: James Filippelli The party nominated one candidate in 2005 and two in 2009. Among other points, it advocates publishing reports explaining where every tax dollar is spent, free votes in the legislature, making all campaign promises legally binding, requiring MLAs hold public townhall-style meetings at least once every four months, labelling products sold in BC indicating environmental standards, adding generating capacity to existing dams, opening run-of-river dam project areas to recreational use, providing periodic written statements detailing the cost of each citizen's use of the health care system, provide forgivable loans to post-secondary students who continue to live and work in BC after graduation, permit more private post-secondary institutions, requiring all people serving time in jail to work to pay for the cost of their incarceration, legalization of marijuana, eliminate the property transfer tax, disallow restrictions on secondary suites and minimum home sizes, harvesting all Pine Beetle affected timber immediately, limiting the total allowable yearly fishing catch (rather than regulating length of the fishing season), require weekly educational programs for anyone receiving welfare payments, provide before and after school childcare, permitting private insurance companies to compete with ICBC.[18]

Timeline of the campaign

April 10, 2008, passage of the Electoral Districts Act, 2008 moving BC from 79 to 85 constituencies.

October 29, 2008, by-elections in Vancouver-Burrard and Vancouver-Fairview, both won by the New Democrats.

April 14, 2009, the campaign will officially begin when the writ is issued.

April 24, 2009 1pm close of nominations for the election.

May 12, 2009, Election day.

Debates

There was one TV debate featuring the leaders of the three major parties: Gordon Campbell, Carole James, and Jane Sterk on all three major BC networks on Sunday May 3 at 5:00 p.m.

CKNW had a debate of the three leaders on April 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

CBC Radio One had a debate of the three leaders on April 21 at 7:30 a.m.

Opinion polls

Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level

Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	Liberal	NDP	Green	Cons.	Other	ME	Sample
Voting results			45.82	42.15	8.21	2.10	1.72
Ipsos	May 7, 2009	1 · 2	47	39	10	—	4	±3.5	800
Mustel	May 7, 2009		47	38	12	—	3	—	—
Angus Reid	May 6, 2009		44	42	10	2	2	±3.1	1,013
Environics	May 2, 2009		47	36	13	—	5	—	—
Angus Reid	April 28, 2009	[permanent dead link]	42	39	13	3	3	—	—
Mustel	April 7, 2009		52	35	12	—	1	±4.5	483
Angus Reid	March 25, 2009		43	37	13	4	3	—	—
Ipsos	March 24, 2009		46	35	15	—	4	—	—
Mustel	February 10, 2009		52	36	12	—	1	—	—
Mustel	January 15, 2009		47	33	16	—	4	—	—
Election 2005	May 17, 2005		45.80	41.52	9.18	0.55	2.95

Results

Elections to the 39th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2009)^[19]

Party		Leader	Candidates	Votes						Seats
				#	±	%	Change (pp)			2005	2009	±
	Liberal	Gordon Campbell	85	751,661	55,457	45.82	0.02		0.02	46	49 / 85	3
	New Democratic	Carole James	85	691,564	40,219	42.15	0.63		0.63	33	35 / 85	2
	Green	Jane Sterk	85	134,616	27,233	8.21	-0.98
	Conservative	Wilf Hanni	24	34,451	24,828	2.10	1.55		1.55
	Independent		16	18,686	1,087	1.14	0.14		0.14	–	1 / 85	1
	Marijuana	Marc Emery	1	361	11,088	0.02	-0.63
	Democratic Reform	Did not campaign					-0.80
	Refederation	Mike Summers	22	3,748	3,073	0.23	0.19
	Libertarian		6	1,486	433	0.09	0.03
	Reform	David Charles Hawkins	4	1,106	741	0.07	0.05
	Nation Alliance	Wei Ping Chen	2	818	818	0.05	New
	Communist	George Gidora	3	433	189	0.03	0.01
	People's Front	Charles Boylan	4	401	21	0.02	–
	Your Political Party	James Filippelli	2	335	107	0.02	–
	Work Less	Conrad Schmidt	2	322	1,319	0.02	-0.07
	Sex	John Ince	3	319	14	0.02	–
	Western Canada Concept	Doug Christie	1	235	152	0.01	-0.01
Total			345	1,640,542		100.00%

MLAs elected

Abbotsford-Mission: Randy Hawes   Abbotsford South: John van Dongen   Abbotsford West: Mike de Jong   Alberni-Pacific Rim: Scott Fraser   Boundary-Similkameen: John Slater   Burnaby-Deer Lake: Kathy Corrigan   Burnaby-Edmonds: Raj Chouhan   Burnaby-Lougheed: Harry Bloy   Burnaby North: Richard Lee   Cariboo-Chilcotin: Donna Barnett   Cariboo North: Bob Simpson   Chilliwack: John Les   Chilliwack-Hope: Barry Penner   Columbia River-Revelstoke: Norm Macdonald   Comox Valley: Don McRae   Coquitlam-Burke Mountain: Douglas Horne   Coquitlam-Maillardville: Diane Thorne   Cowichan Valley: Bill Routley   Delta North: Guy Gentner   Delta South: Vicki Huntington   Esquimalt-Royal Roads: Maurine Karagianis   Fort Langley-Aldergrove: Rich Coleman   Fraser-Nicola: Harry Lali   Juan de Fuca: John Horgan   Kamloops-North Thompson: Terry Lake   Kamloops-South Thompson: Kevin Krueger   Kelowna-Lake Country: Norm Letnick   Kelowna-Mission: Steve Thomson

Kootenay East: Bill Bennett   Kootenay West: Katrine Conroy   Langley: Mary Polak   Maple Ridge-Mission: Marc Dalton   Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows: Michael Sather   Nanaimo: Leonard Krog   Nanaimo-North Cowichan: Doug Routley   Nechako Lakes: John Rustad   Nelson-Creston: Michelle Mungall   New Westminster: Dawn Black   North Coast: Gary Coons   North Island: Claire Trevena   North Vancouver-Lonsdale: Naomi Yamamoto   North Vancouver-Seymour: Jane Thornthwaite   Oak Bay-Gordon Head: Ida Chong   Parksville-Qualicum: Ron Cantelon   Peace River North: Pat Pimm   Peace River South: Blair Lekstrom   Penticton: Bill Barisoff   Port Coquitlam: Mike Farnworth   Port Moody-Coquitlam: Iain Black   Powell River-Sunshine Coast: Nicholas Simons   Prince George-Mackenzie: Pat Bell   Prince George-Valemount: Shirley Bond   Richmond Centre: Rob Howard   Richmond East: Linda Reid   Richmond-Steveston: John Yap   Saanich North and the Islands: Murray Coell

Saanich South: Lana Popham   Shuswap: George Abbott   Skeena: Robin Austin   Stikine: Doug Donaldson   Surrey-Cloverdale: Kevin Falcon   Surrey-Fleetwood: Jagrup Brar   Surrey-Green Timbers: Sue Hammell   Surrey-Newton: Harry Bains   Surrey-Panorama: Stephanie Cadieux   Surrey-Tynehead: Dave Hayer   Surrey-Whalley: Bruce Ralston   Surrey-White Rock: Gordon Hogg   Vancouver-Fairview: Margaret MacDiarmid   Vancouver-False Creek: Mary McNeil   Vancouver-Fraserview: Kash Heed   Vancouver-Hastings: Shane Simpson   Vancouver-Kensington: Mable Elmore   Vancouver-Kingsway: Adrian Dix   Vancouver-Langara: Moira Stilwell   Vancouver-Mount Pleasant: Jenny Kwan   Vancouver-Point Grey: Gordon Campbell   Vancouver-Quilchena: Colin Hansen   Vancouver-West End: Spencer Chandra Herbert   Vernon-Monashee: Eric Foster   Victoria-Beacon Hill: Carole James   Victoria-Swan Lake: Rob Fleming   West Vancouver-Capilano: Ralph Sultan   West Vancouver-Sea to Sky: Joan McIntyre   Westside-Kelowna: Ben Stewart

Synopsis of results

Main article: Results of the 2009 British Columbia general election by riding

Results by riding - 2009 British Columbia general election^[20]

Riding	Winning party								Turnout [a 1]	Votes[a 2]
Name	2005		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %		Lib	NDP	Grn	Con	Ind	Oth	Total
Abbotsford-Mission	New			Lib	10,371	58.36%	4,583	25.79%	52.10%	10,371	5,788	1,611	–	–	–	17,770
Abbotsford South	New			Lib	9,566	58.47%	5,369	32.82%	48.75%	9,566	4,197	1,244	1,019	334	–	16,360
Abbotsford West		Lib		Lib	8,992	55.81%	3,886	24.12%	52.86%	8,992	5,106	970	1,043	–	–	16,111
Alberni-Pacific Rim		NDP		NDP	10,488	59.36%	4,883	27.64%	57.68%	5,605	10,488	1,324	–	–	250	17,667
Boundary-Similkameen	New			Lib	6,681	37.45%	811	4.55%	62.31%	6,681	5,870	1,691	3,596	–	–	17,838
Burnaby-Deer Lake		Lib		NDP	8,103	48.75%	512	3.08%	48.65%	7,591	8,103	928	–	–	–	16,622
Burnaby-Edmonds		NDP		NDP	8,647	51.94%	2,262	13.59%	49.07%	6,385	8,647	1,122	–	–	493	16,647
Burnaby-Lougheed		Lib		Lib	9,207	48.45%	696	3.66%	53.59%	9,207	8,511	1,285	–	–	–	19,003
Burnaby North		Lib		Lib	9,880	48.19%	548	2.67%	53.85%	9,880	9,332	1,292	–	–	–	20,504
Cariboo-Chilcotin		NDP		Lib	6,259	47.85%	88	0.67%	62.93%	6,259	6,171	650	–	–	–	13,080
Cariboo North		NDP		NDP	7,004	49.51%	503	3.56%	60.24%	6,501	7,004	643	–	–	–	14,148
Chilliwack		Lib		Lib	8,138	44.61%	2,230	12.23%	50.87%	8,138	5,908	1,523	2,672	–	–	18,241
Chilliwack-Hope		Lib		Lib	8,985	53.28%	3,347	19.85%	51.85%	8,985	5,638	951	1,198	–	93	16,865
Columbia River-Revelstoke		NDP		NDP	7,419	55.29%	2,326	17.33%	56.17%	5,093	7,419	907	–	–	–	13,419
Comox Valley		Lib		Lib	13,886	47.30%	1,378	4.69%	60.99%	13,886	12,508	2,577	–	–	386	29,357
Coquitlam-Burke Mountain	New			Lib	8,644	56.83%	3,251	21.37%	48.87%	8,644	5,393	907	–	–	266	15,210
Coquitlam-Maillardville		NDP		NDP	9,818	47.93%	673	3.29%	55.22%	9,145	9,818	1,040	–	481	–	20,484
Cowichan Valley	New			NDP	12,548	48.40%	3,290	12.69%	62.54%	9,258	12,548	3,058	924	–	139	25,927
Delta North		NDP		NDP	10,381	50.48%	1,891	9.20%	59.26%	8,490	10,381	938	756	–	–	20,565
Delta South		Lib		Ind	9,977	42.50%	32	0.14%	68.59%	9,945	2,940	555	–	10,037	–	23,477
Esquimalt-Royal Roads		NDP		NDP	11,514	52.92%	4,935	22.68%	58.27%	6,579	11,514	3,664	–	–	–	21,757
Fort Langley-Aldergrove		Lib		Lib	15,139	61.09%	7,647	30.86%	57.63%	15,139	7,492	1,765	–	–	387	24,783
Fraser-Nicola	New			NDP	6,703	49.12%	873	6.40%	63.38%	5,830	6,703	891	–	–	223	13,647
Juan de Fuca		NDP		NDP	11,520	57.21%	4,654	23.11%	59.87%	6,866	11,520	1,749	–	–	–	20,135
Kamloops-North Thompson		Lib		Lib	9,830	46.94%	510	2.44%	55.05%	9,830	9,320	1,418	–	–	375	20,943
Kamloops-South Thompson		Lib		Lib	12,548	53.86%	4,416	18.95%	57.56%	12,548	8,132	1,529	1,090	–	–	23,299
Kelowna-Lake Country		Lib		Lib	10,281	52.11%	5,031	25.50%	47.25%	10,281	5,250	1,375	2,253	571	–	19,730
Kelowna-Mission		Lib		Lib	11,506	53.90%	5,940	27.83%	50.68%	11,506	5,566	1,563	2,531	130	51	21,347
Kootenay East		Lib		Lib	8,404	51.22%	2,560	15.60%	55.87%	8,404	5,844	549	1,612	–	–	16,409
Kootenay West	New			NDP	12,126	66.65%	8,054	44.27%	59.10%	4,072	12,126	1,791	–	–	204	18,193
Langley		Lib		Lib	13,282	56.55%	4,871	20.74%	55.09%	13,282	8,411	1,793	–	–	–	23,486
Maple Ridge-Mission		Lib		Lib	8,802	45.73%	68	0.35%	55.10%	8,802	8,734	1,387	–	–	325	19,248
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows		NDP		NDP	9,772	47.07%	274	1.32%	56.90%	9,498	9,772	1,149	–	202	140	20,761
Nanaimo		NDP		NDP	11,877	53.33%	3,791	17.02%	57.12%	8,086	11,877	2,036	–	–	272	22,271
Nanaimo-North Cowichan	New			NDP	12,888	54.33%	4,462	18.81%	61.45%	8,426	12,888	2,135	–	–	271	23,720
Nechako Lakes		Lib		Lib	4,949	55.76%	1,816	20.46%	54.80%	4,949	3,133	559	–	–	235	8,876
Nelson-Creston		NDP		NDP	9,060	54.83%	3,869	23.42%	60.30%	5,191	9,060	1,189	1,083	–	–	16,523
New Westminster		NDP		NDP	13,418	56.36%	5,178	21.75%	55.99%	8,240	13,418	2,151	–	–	–	23,809
North Coast		NDP		NDP	5,097	57.33%	1,987	22.35%	57.14%	3,110	5,097	683	–	–	–	8,890
North Island		NDP		NDP	11,865	52.03%	2,928	12.84%	57.21%	8,937	11,865	1,670	–	333	–	22,805
North Vancouver-Lonsdale		Lib		Lib	10,323	49.16%	2,534	12.07%	55.56%	10,323	7,789	1,791	862	–	232	20,997
North Vancouver-Seymour		Lib		Lib	13,426	59.18%	7,214	31.80%	61.46%	13,426	6,212	2,116	931	–	–	22,685
Oak Bay-Gordon Head		Lib		Lib	11,877	46.53%	561	2.20%	66.86%	11,877	11,316	2,330	–	–	–	25,523
Parksville-Qualicum		Lib		Lib	13,716	51.42%	3,580	13.42%	65.70%	13,716	10,136	2,573	–	–	251	26,676
Peace River North		Lib		Lib	3,992	43.15%	1,093	11.81%	40.01%	3,992	1,293	1,010	–	2,899	58	9,252
Peace River South		Lib		Lib	4,801	63.08%	2,744	36.05%	44.00%	4,801	2,057	533	–	220	–	7,611
Penticton		Lib		Lib	10,346	43.96%	3,015	12.81%	56.16%	10,346	7,331	3,685	2,095	–	78	23,535
Port Coquitlam	New			NDP	11,121	54.71%	3,225	15.87%	55.21%	7,896	11,121	994	–	–	315	20,326
Port Moody-Coquitlam	New			Lib	9,979	52.15%	2,365	12.36%	57.44%	9,979	7,614	1,261	–	–	280	19,134
Powell River-Sunshine Coast		NDP		NDP	13,276	58.28%	5,458	23.96%	63.03%	7,818	13,276	1,436	–	–	249	22,779
Prince George-Mackenzie		Lib		Lib	9,816	56.05%	3,364	19.21%	53.69%	9,816	6,452	1,245	–	–	–	17,513
Prince George-Valemount		Lib		Lib	9,072	50.61%	2,335	13.03%	51.95%	9,072	6,737	1,225	780	–	113	17,927
Richmond Centre		Lib		Lib	10,483	61.51%	5,534	32.47%	40.97%	10,483	4,949	1,213	–	–	399	17,044
Richmond East		Lib		Lib	10,853	58.73%	4,855	26.27%	45.16%	10,853	5,998	1,211	–	–	419	18,481
Richmond-Steveston		Lib		Lib	13,168	60.78%	7,243	33.43%	51.57%	13,168	5,925	1,491	1,082	–	–	21,666
Saanich North and the Islands		Lib		Lib	13,136	44.93%	258	0.88%	66.82%	13,136	12,878	3,223	–	–	–	29,237
Saanich South		NDP		NDP	11,697	47.14%	482	1.94%	66.40%	11,215	11,697	1,664	–	–	235	24,811
Shuswap		Lib		Lib	10,764	46.62%	3,713	16.08%	56.82%	10,764	7,051	2,539	2,374	–	361	23,089
Skeena		NDP		NDP	5,865	50.77%	1,537	13.30%	55.15%	4,328	5,865	467	893	–	–	11,553
Stikine		Lib		NDP	4,274	50.41%	445	5.25%	65.28%	3,829	4,274	375	–	–	–	8,478
Surrey-Cloverdale		Lib		Lib	13,815	62.70%	7,248	32.90%	55.03%	13,815	6,567	1,651	–	–	–	22,033
Surrey-Fleetwood	New			NDP	8,852	50.15%	1,992	11.29%	53.96%	6,860	8,852	1,120	818	–	–	17,650
Surrey-Green Timbers		NDP		NDP	10,966	72.73%	7,342	48.69%	51.13%	3,624	10,966	488	–	–	–	15,078
Surrey-Newton		NDP		NDP	10,709	68.93%	6,698	43.11%	51.12%	4,011	10,709	759	–	–	58	15,537
Surrey-Panorama		NDP		Lib	11,820	54.26%	3,145	14.44%	56.71%	11,820	8,675	1,290	–	–	–	21,785
Surrey-Tynehead		Lib		Lib	8,814	52.50%	1,557	9.27%	49.71%	8,814	7,257	717	–	–	–	16,788
Surrey-Whalley		NDP		NDP	10,453	66.47%	6,370	40.51%	47.39%	4,083	10,453	1,189	–	–	–	15,725
Surrey-White Rock		Lib		Lib	15,121	62.05%	8,453	34.68%	61.84%	15,121	6,668	2,118	–	–	464	24,371
Vancouver-Fairview		NDP		Lib	11,034	47.09%	1,153	4.92%	56.50%	11,034	9,881	2,232	–	165	122	23,434
Vancouver-False Creek	New			Lib	9,223	56.40%	4,721	28.87%	48.15%	9,223	4,502	2,144	385	73	27	16,354
Vancouver-Fraserview		Lib		Lib	9,549	49.29%	748	3.86%	51.09%	9,549	8,801	904	–	–	118	19,372
Vancouver-Hastings		NDP		NDP	10,857	55.49%	4,534	23.17%	50.58%	6,323	10,857	2,012	–	–	373	19,565
Vancouver-Kensington		NDP		NDP	9,930	52.55%	2,252	11.92%	51.98%	7,678	9,930	1,288	–	–	–	18,896
Vancouver-Kingsway		NDP		NDP	9,229	55.17%	2,711	16.21%	46.99%	6,518	9,229	699	–	–	283	16,729
Vancouver-Langara		Lib		Lib	10,615	58.87%	4,275	23.71%	47.71%	10,615	6,340	1,075	–	–	–	18,030
Vancouver-Mount Pleasant		NDP		NDP	11,232	63.95%	7,578	43.15%	46.47%	3,654	11,232	2,507	–	–	171	17,564
Vancouver-Point Grey		Lib		Lib	11,546	50.38%	2,314	10.10%	55.98%	11,546	9,232	2,012	–	–	130	22,920
Vancouver-Quilchena		Lib		Lib	15,731	70.22%	11,085	49.48%	57.67%	15,731	4,646	2,024	–	–	–	22,401
Vancouver-West End	New			NDP	9,926	56.51%	4,191	23.86%	49.93%	5,735	9,926	1,582	–	36	286	17,565
Vernon-Monashee		Lib		Lib	9,015	37.27%	1,317	5.45%	53.73%	9,015	7,698	4,029	1,972	1,397	76	24,187
Victoria-Beacon Hill		NDP		NDP	13,400	55.37%	7,025	29.03%	57.18%	6,375	13,400	4,106	–	319	–	24,200
Victoria-Swan Lake		NDP		NDP	13,119	60.53%	7,365	33.98%	56.90%	5,754	13,119	2,628	–	–	174	21,675
West Vancouver-Capilano		Lib		Lib	15,292	67.48%	12,001	52.95%	57.96%	15,292	3,291	1,699	710	1,489	182	22,663
West Vancouver-Sea to Sky		Lib		Lib	10,101	54.91%	5,887	32.00%	53.07%	10,101	4,214	4,082	–	–	–	18,397
Westside-Kelowna		Lib		Lib	10,334	53.33%	4,678	24.14%	47.35%	10,334	5,656	1,617	1,772	–	–	19,379

1. including spoilt ballots
2. parties receiving more than 1% of the popular vote, or fielding candidates in at least half of the constituencies, are listed separately.

  = Open seat

  = turnout is above provincial average

  = winning candidate was in previous Legislature

  = Incumbent had switched allegiance

  = Previously incumbent in another riding

  = Not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

  = Incumbency arose from by-election gain

  = other incumbents renominated

  = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada

  = Multiple candidates

Summary analysis

Party candidates in 2nd place^[20]

Party in 1st place		Party in 2nd place			Total
		Lib	NDP	Ind
	Liberal		48	1	49
	New Democratic	35			35
	Independent	1			1
Total		36	48	1	85

Candidates ranked 1st to 5th place, by party^[20]

Parties	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
█ Liberal	49	36
█ New Democratic	35	48	2
█ Independent	1	1		7	6
█ Green			74	11
█ Conservative			9	14	1
█ Refederation				12	6
█ Libertarian				5
█ Communist				3
█ Reform				2	2
█ Nation Alliance				2
█ Sex				1	2
█ Work Less				1	1
█ Your Political Party				1	1
█ Western Canada Concept				1
█ People's Front					3
█ Marijuana					1

Resulting composition of the 39th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Source		Party
		Lib	NDP	Ind	Total
Seats retained	Incumbents returned	26	22		48
	Open seats held - new MLAs	13	4		17
	Open seats held - taken by MLA previously incumbent in another riding	1			1
Seats changing hands	Incumbents defeated	2	1		3
	Open seats gained	1	1	1	3
New seats	New MLAs	3	1		4
	MLAs previously incumbent in another riding	3	6		9
Total		49	35	1	85

References

1. "B.C. Voter Participation: 1983 to 2013" (PDF). Elections BC. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 28, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
2. Electoral Districts Act, S.B.C. 2008, c. 14
3. BC Liberals. "British Columbia Liberal Party platform". Bcliberals.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
4. BC NDP election platform Archived April 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
5. British Columbia's Green Book, 2009—2013: A Better Plan for British Columbia Archived April 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
6. Campbell's Challenge from the Right: The BC Conservative Party Archived 2017-09-25 at the Wayback Machine, Bill Tieleman, The Tyee, April 7, 2009
7. "British Columbia Conservative Party platform". Bcconservative.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
8. "BC Libertarian Party statement". Libertarian.bc.ca. May 13, 2009. Archived from the original on May 27, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
9. Pablo, Carlito (2009). B.C. Marijuana Party endorses Greens for provincial election Archived 2018-11-16 at the Wayback Machine The Georgia Straight. Accessed December 21, 2015.
10. BC Refederation Party policies Archived May 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
11. Platform statement from the Communist Party of BC. Archived May 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
12. "Nation Alliance Party platform". Nationalliance.com. July 25, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
13. MLPC. "Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada program". Mlpc.ca. Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
14. "Reform Party of British Columbia platform". Reformbc.net. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
15. "Sex Party provincial platform". Sexparty.ca. Archived from the original on May 27, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
16. "Western Canada Concept Party of BC principles". Westcan.org. March 15, 1989. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
17. "Work Less Party". Work Less Party. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
18. "YPP-of-BC Platform". Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
19. Elections BC 2009, p. 21.
20. Elections BC 2009, pp. 32–34.

Sources

• Statement of Votes - 39th Provincial General Election (PDF). Victoria: Elections BC. 2009. ISSN 0227-9207.

Further reading

• Mutimer, David, ed. (2015). Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs, 2009. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442630864.

External links

• Elections BC
• BC Election 2009 by Sacha Peter with comprehensive information on the election
• Election Prediction Project - BC 2009
• UBC ESM Election Prediction Voter Transition Matrix
• TrendLines Research Weekly chart tracking of the Federal & BC seat projection models
• Legislative Assembly Library Election Weblinks

Party platforms

In order of release

• Conservative Party Platform (A Clear Vision for British Columbia)^{[permanent dead link]}
• Green Party Platform 2009 (A Better Plan for BC)
• New Democratic Party Platform 2009 (Take Back Your BC)
• Liberal Party Platform 2009 (Keep BC Strong)