Leader of the Opposition (British Columbia)

The leader of the Opposition (French: chef de l'Opposition) in British Columbia is the MLA in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia who leads the political party recognized as the Official Opposition. This position generally goes to the leader of the largest party in the Legislative Assembly that is not in government.

#	Leader[1]	! Party	Took Office	Left Office
1.	James Alexander MacDonald	Liberal	1903	1909
2.	John Oliver[lower-alpha 1]	Liberal	1909	1910
3.	James Hurst Hawthornthwaite[lower-alpha 2]	Socialist	1910	1910
4.	Harlan Carey Brewster[lower-alpha 2]	Liberal	1911	1912
5.	Parker Williams[lower-alpha 3]	Socialist	1913	1915
–	Harlan Carey Brewster[lower-alpha 4]	Liberal	1916	1916
5.	William John Bowser	Conservative	1917	1923
7.	Robert Henry Pooley[lower-alpha 5]	Conservative	1924	1928
8.	Thomas Dufferin Pattullo	Liberal	1929	1933
9.	Robert Connell	CCF	1934	1936
...	Robert Connell[lower-alpha 6]	Social Reconstructive	1936	1936
10.	Frank Porter Patterson	Conservative	1937	1937
11.	Royal Lethington Maitland	Conservative	1938	1940
12.	Harold Winch	CCF	1941	1951
13.	Herbert Anscomb[lower-alpha 7]	Progressive Conservative	1952	1952
–	Harold Winch	CCF	1953	1953
14.	Arnold Webster	CCF	1953	1956
15.	Robert Strachan	CCF	1957	1961
–	Robert Strachan[lower-alpha 8]	NDP	1961	1969
16.	Thomas Berger[lower-alpha 1]	NDP	1969	1970
17.	Dave Barrett	NDP	1970	1972
18.	W.A.C. Bennett	Social Credit	1972	1973
19.	Frank Richter	Social Credit	1973	1973
20.	William R. Bennett	Social Credit	1974	1975
21.	William Stewart King[lower-alpha 9]	NDP	1976	1976
–	Dave Barrett	NDP	1976	1984
22.	Robert Skelly	NDP	1984	1987
23.	Michael Harcourt	NDP	1987	1991
24.	Gordon Wilson	Liberal	1991	1993
25.	Fred Gingell	Liberal	1993	1994
26.	Gordon Campbell	Liberal	1994	2001
27.	Joy MacPhail[lower-alpha 10]	NDP	2001	2005
28.	Carole James	NDP	2005	2011
29.	Dawn Black	NDP	2011	2011
30.	Adrian Dix	NDP	2011	2014
31.	John Horgan	NDP	2014	2017
32.	Christy Clark	Liberal	2017	2017
33.	Rich Coleman	Liberal	2017	2018
34.	Andrew Wilkinson	Liberal	2018	present

Notes

1. Did not sit in the Legislature as Leader of the Official Opposition
2. The 1909 election saw four opposition members, two Liberals and two Socialists, elected. As seats were assigned by alphabetical order, Hawthornthwaite physically occupied the seat typical of the Opposition Leader. Hawthornthwaite initially rejected the idea of being leader, but was later reported to have "assumed the functions of Opposition leader". However, by the next session, Brewster was being referred to as Opposition Leader.[2]
3. Declined to be named Opposition Leader, but was referred to as such by the media and received the appropriate salary.[2]
4. Became Opposition Leader mid-legislature after by-election victories.[2]
5. Pooley was the Conservative Party's house leader. due to the defeat of William John Bowser. In 1926 Simon Fraser Tolmie was elected Conservative leader but he did not seek a seat in the legislature until the 1928 provincial election, which his party won.
6. Connell was exeplled from the CCF in 1936 for opposing party policy. He and three other CCF MLAs formed the "Social Reconstructive" party. With a total of 4 MLAs compared to 3 remaining in the CCF, Connell's new party was the second largest in the legislature allowing him to retain the title of "Leader of the Official Opposition".
7. Anscomb's Conservatives had been part of a coalition government with the Liberals until late 1951 when the Liberals decided to terminate the arrangement and Premier John Hart dropped his Conservative ministers from Cabinet. The Tories moved to the opposition benches and displaced the CCF to form the Official Opposition from February 1952 until the June 1952 provincial election.
8. The CCF became the NDP in 1961 as a result of the creation of the federal New Democratic Party.
9. Barrett lost his seat in the December 1975 general election and re-entered the legislature through a June 1976 by-election. William Stewart King acted as Leader of the Opposition in the house in the interim. Barrett continued as leader of the party during this period.
10. Although Premier Gordon Campbell refused to recognize the NDP as an official party since it lacked the number of seats required for official party status, the Speaker recognized MacPhail as Opposition Leader and ensured the NDP received the resources and funding due to it as an opposition.

References

1. "Leaders of the Official Opposition of British Columbia" (PDF). Legislative Library of British Columbia. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
2. "LEADERS OF THE OPPOSITION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 1903-" (PDF). Legislative Library of British Columbia. 25 January 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2020.