Democratic Reform British Columbia (Democratic Reform BC or DRBC) was a progressive–centrist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in 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 p ...

in the Province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada.

Formation of the party

The party was brought together by Tom Morino as an attempt to recreate the

Progressive Democratic Alliance The Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) was a centrist political party in British Columbia, Canada founded by Gordon Wilson (British Columbia politician), Gordon Wilson, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Powell River—Sunshine Co ...

(PDA) that had been formed by Gordon Wilson. The party is the result of a merger between the

British Columbia Democratic Coalition The British Columbia Democratic Coalition (BCDC) was a short-lived coalition of minor political party, political parties in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in September 2004 to bring together four minor parties: the British Columbia Democ ...

(an umbrella grouping of the British Columbia Democratic Alliance,

British Columbia Moderate Democratic Movement The British Columbia Moderate Democratic Movement was a minor political party in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. *In 2004, it joined with the British Columbia Democratic Alliance, the Citizens Action Party and Link BC to form the British ...

and

British Columbia Labour Party British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

) and the

All Nations Party of British Columbia The All Nations Party was a minor political party in British Columbia, Canada. Its primary base of support was the First Nations aboriginal peoples of Canada. In the 2001 provincial election, the All Nations Party nominated six First Nations can ...

. It also attracted some members of the

Reform Party of British Columbia The Reform Party of British Columbia (Reform BC) is an unregistered right-wing populist political party in British Columbia, Canada. Although its name is similar to the defunct Reform Party of Canada, the provincial party was founded before the ...

, including its president, and all its executive. In the year preceding the formation of Democratic Reform BC, Tom Morino had founded the British Columbia Democratic Alliance which later became the British Columbia Democratic Coalition after a merger with a number of other fringe parties. This provided the momentum for the mergers with Reform Party and the All Nations Party to form DRBC. DRBC had one member in the Legislative Assembly,

Elayne Brenzinger Elayne Brenzinger (born 1951, in Scotland) was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, serving as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party from 2001-2005. She was a key figure in the formation of the Democr ...

, who was elected as a

BC Liberal The British Columbia Liberal Party, often shortened to the BC Liberals, is a centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. Subsequent to the 2020 British Columbia general ...

in 2001 but left the party and sat as an Independent from March 22, 2004 to January 19, 2005. DRBC claims to be "fiscally responsible, socially progressive, while supporting the

Single Transferable Vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...

" system of electoral reform proposed for provincial elections. The party held its founding convention on January 15, 2005 in

White Rock, British Columbia White Rock is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It borders Semiahmoo Bay to the south and is surrounded on three sides by Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey. To the southeast acr ...

, and adopted a policy manual and constitution. Tom Morino was unanimously elected as interim party leader.

2005 election

It planned to run candidates in all 79 ridings in the 2005 provincial election, but was unable to run more than 38. None were elected as the party received only 14,023 votes throughout the province, or 0.80% of all votes. Morino received 4.65% of the votes in his riding, coming fourth behind BC Green Party candidate Steven Hurdle. Brenzinger received 3.75% of the votes in her riding. Alan Clarke, the party's agriculture critic, Kelowna – Lake Country, finished a top all DRBC candidates with 8.9% of the vote in Kelowna. Janice Money of Westbank also fared well. With limited and sporadic coverage from the established media, the highest any DRBC candidate placed in their local race was fourth.

Resignation of Tom Morino

On June 1, 2005, Morino announced his departure from politics to care for his ailing wife. Morino officially resigned at the party's annual general meeting October 1, 2005 in Kelowna. He was replaced as leader by Graeme Rodger.

2009 election and deregistration

The party did not nominate any candidates in the 2009 provincial election. Up to April 8, 2009, the party website had not been updated for more than a year. Most of their online work had been done by Matthew Laird who has left the party to run for the Green Party of BC. A new version was launched on April 8 with very little information on the party's election plans. The website was later revised to state that "The Executive of Democratic Reform BC RBChas deregistered the Party."

Leaders

* Tom Morino (January 2005 – October 2005) * Erle Martz (October 2005, interim) * Graeme Rodger (October 2005 – December 2011)

References

External links

CBC News: Moderate B.C. party holds first convention
{{s-end Provincial political parties in British Columbia 2005 establishments in British Columbia Political parties established in 2005