The British Columbia Unity Party was a

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 political ideology ...

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. The party was founded as an attempted union of five conservative parties: 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 ...

, the

British Columbia Social Credit Party The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing provincial political party of British Columbia, Canada, for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For fou ...

, the

British Columbia Conservative Party The Conservative Party of British Columbia is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. In the early half of the 20th century, the Conservatives competed with the British Columbia Liberal Party for power in the province. Since th ...

, the

British Columbia Party The British Columbia Party is a right-wing political party in the Canadian province of British Columbia, founded in 1998 as a populist party by John Motiuk, a North Vancouver lawyer. The party did not nominate candidates in the 2001 provincial ...

, and the

Family Coalition Party of British Columbia The Family Coalition Party of British Columbia was a social conservative, anti-abortion provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. In the 1991 election, it nominated 8 candidates in the province's 75 ridings. They won a total of 1, ...

. Members from the first four parties joined with the Family Coalition Party to refound the Family Coalition Party as the BC Unity Party on January 10, 2001. The party was formed to present a united conservative option to voters in opposition to the centre-right

BC Liberals 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 ...

and the centre-left

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

(NDP).

History

The party was founded in January 2001. Five months after the party was founded, it nominated 56 candidates across the province for the May 16, 2001 provincial elections. During the election campaign, BC Unity positioned itself as a solidly conservative party, in contrast to the BC Liberals. Despite being included in the leaders debate, along with Premier Dosanjh and Liberal Leader

Gordon Campbell Gordon Muir Campbell, (born January 12, 1948) is a retired Canadian diplomat and politician who was the 35th mayor of Vancouver from 1986 to 1993 and the 34th premier of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011. He was the leader of the British Co ...

the unpopularity of the NDP government was so great that most conservative-minded voters chose to vote for the BC Liberals, rather than split the right-of-centre vote once again. The party received only 3.2% of the vote (51,426). On September 1, 2004, BC Unity and the

announced an agreement-in-principle for the two parties to merge under the Conservative Party name. The deal, however, fell through after BC Conservative Leader

Barry Chilton Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 1950 ...

withdrew. At the Unity annual general meeting held on September 24 and 25, 2004 in

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipa ...

, the BC Unity Party was presented with another proposal of merger by the Conservatives. The Unity delegates did not accept this proposal and instead, affirmed the original agreement-in-principle. This action was not accepted by the BC Conservatives and the merger failed. BC Unity leader Chris Delaney blamed himself for the failure of the merger and resigned. Many BC Unity members left the party prior to the September 2004 annual general meeting in order to join the Conservatives and to influence them into accepting the agreement-in-principle. When the merger failed, these former members did not return to the Unity party. In 2005, BC Unity named Daniel Stelmacker as its interim leader. Stelmacker had been a party candidate for the Nanaimo-Parksville electoral district in the 2001 election. In 2005, Stelmacker was the party's sole nominated candidate for the 2005 provincial election, running in the Skeena riding. He won 224 votes, 1.74% of the total for the riding. The party held its last annual general meeting on Saturday, October 29, 2005, in

Maple Ridge, British Columbia Maple Ridge is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the northeastern section of Greater Vancouver between the Fraser River and the Golden Ears, which is a group of mountain summits which are the southernmost of the Garibaldi ...

. On November 29, 2006, the party issued a news release to announce that it was looking for a new leader and for candidates for the 2009 provincial election. On January 26, 2008, the BC Unity Party Board decided to poll the membership regarding the merger of the Party with the BC Conservatives or its de-registration. A General Meeting was called for Saturday March 29, 2008 in Surrey. The poll returns indicated 4:1 ratio in favour of a merger with the BC Conservative Party, and the General Meeting confirmed this motion. The BC Conservative Party accepted the former BC Unity Party memberships at their April 19, 2008 executive meeting in Abbotsford. The BC Unity Party de-registered five registered constituency associations, and planned to complete the merger and de-registration process before the BC Conservative Party AGM in Kamloops on Saturday June 7, 2008.

History

See also