British Columbia

==Government and politics==
{{Main|Politics of British Columbia|Government of British Columbia|List of regional districts of British Columbia|Monarchy in British Columbia}}
[[File:British Columbia Parliament Buildings - Pano - HDR.jpg|thumb|center|upright=3|The British Columbia Parliament Buildings in [[Victoria, British Columbia|Victoria]]]]
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[[File:Janet Austin Escutcheon.png|thumb|upright|Coat of arms' [[escutcheon (heraldry)|escutcheon]] of the current [[Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia|lieutenant governor]]]]
The [[Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia|lieutenant governor]], [[Janet Austin]], is the Crown's representative in the province. During the absence of the lieutenant governor, the Governor in Council ([[Cabinet of Canada|federal Cabinet]]) may appoint an administrator to execute the duties of the office. This is usually the [[British Columbia Court of Appeal|chief justice of British Columbia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitution Act |url=https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96066_01 |access-date=July 20, 2022 |website=www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca}}</ref> British Columbia is divided into ''[[regional district]]s'' as a means to better enable municipalities and rural areas to work together at a regional level.

British Columbia has an 87-member elected Legislative Assembly, elected by the [[plurality voting system]], though from 2003 to 2009 there was significant debate about switching to a [[single transferable vote]] system called [[BC-STV]]. The government of the day appoints ministers for various portfolios, what are officially part of the [[Executive Council of British Columbia|Executive Council]], of whom the premier is chair.
[[File:David Eby - 2022 (52507022370) (cropped).png|left|thumb|upright=.7|[[David Eby]] is [[Premier of British Columbia|premier]], BC's [[head of government]].]]
The province is currently governed by the [[British Columbia New Democratic Party]] (BC NDP) under Premier [[David Eby]]. The 2017 provincial election saw the Liberal Party take 43 seats, the NDP take 41, and the [[British Columbia Green Party]] take 3. No party met the minimum of 44 seats for a majority, therefore leading to the first minority government since 1953. Following the election, the Greens entered into negotiations with both the Liberals and NDP, eventually announcing they would support an NDP minority government. Previously, the right-of-centre [[British Columbia Liberal Party]] governed the province for 16 years between 2001 and 2017, and won the largest landslide election in British Columbia history in 2001, with 77 of 79 seats. The legislature became more evenly divided between the Liberals and NDP following the 2005 (46 Liberal seats of 79) and 2009 (49 Liberal seats of 85) provincial elections. The NDP and its predecessor the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] (CCF) have been the main opposition force to right-wing parties since the 1930s and have ruled with majority governments in 1972–1975 and 1991–2001. The Green Party plays a larger role in the politics of British Columbia than Green parties do in most other jurisdictions in Canada. After a breakthrough election in 2001 (12.39 percent), the party's vote share declined (2005 – 9.17 percent, 2009 – 8.09 percent, 2013 – 8.13 percent) before increasing again to a record high of 16.84 percent at the 2017 election.

The British Columbia Liberal Party is not related to the federal Liberal Party and does not share the same ideology. Instead, the BC Liberal party is a rather diverse coalition, made up of the remnants of the Social Credit Party, many [[Liberal Party of Canada|federal Liberals]], [[Conservative Party of Canada|federal Conservatives]], and those who would otherwise support right-of-centre or free enterprise parties. In 2022, [[Kevin Falcon]] was elected leader of the BC Liberals, promising to rename the party in an effort to distance themselves from their federal counterparts. In 2023, the party rebranded as [[BC United]]. Historically, there have commonly been [[third party (politics)|third parties]] present in the legislature (including the Liberals themselves from 1952 to 1975); the [[Green Party of British Columbia|BC Green Party]] is the current third party in British Columbia, with three seats in the legislature.

Prior to the rise of the Liberal Party, British Columbia's main political party was the BC Social Credit Party, which governed the province for 20 years. While sharing some ideology with the subsequent Liberal government, they were more right-wing, although they undertook nationalization of various important monopolies, notably BC Hydro and BC Ferries.

[[File:BC-Legislative-Assembly-Chamber.jpg|thumb|The meeting chamber of the Legislative Assembly]]
British Columbia is known for having politically active labour [[trade union|unions]] who have traditionally supported the NDP or its predecessor, the CCF.

British Columbia's political history is typified by scandal and a cast of colourful characters, beginning with various colonial-era land scandals and abuses of power by early officials (such as those that led to [[McGowan's War]] in 1858–59). Notable scandals in Social Credit years included the [[Robert Bonner (politician)|Robert Bonner]] Affair and the [[Fantasy Gardens]] scandal which forced Premier Bill Vander Zalm to resign and ended the Social Credit era. NDP scandals included Bingogate, which brought down NDP Premier Mike Harcourt, and the alleged scandal named Casinogate which drove NDP Premier Glen Clark to resign. A variety of scandals plagued the 2001–2017 Liberal government, including Premier Gordon Campbell's arrest for drunk driving in Maui and the resignation of various cabinet ministers because of conflict-of-interest allegations. A [[BC Legislature Raids|raid on the Parliament Buildings]] on December 28, 2003,<ref>{{cite news |date=September 14, 2004 |title=INDEPTH: B.C. RAIDS |website=[[CBC News]] |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/bcraids/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924205051/http://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/bcraids/ |archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref> in Victoria, including the Premier's Office, resulted in charges only for ministerial aides, although key cabinet members from the time resigned. Campbell eventually resigned in late 2010 due to opposition to his government's plan to introduce a [[Harmonized Sales Tax]] (HST) and was replaced by [[Christy Clark]] as premier in the 2011 BC Liberal leadership election.

British Columbia is underrepresented in the [[Senate of Canada]], leading Premier Christy Clark to refuse to cooperate with the federal government's reforms for senate appointments to be made based on the recommendations of an advisory board that would use non-partisan criteria. Hours after that plan was unveiled in Ottawa on December 3, 2015, Clark issued a statement that it did "not address what's been wrong with the Senate since the beginning".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Galloway |first=Gloria |date=December 3, 2015 |title=Liberals to set up advisory board for Senate nominees, but BC won't take part |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/liberals-setting-up-advisory-board-to-fill-empty-senate-seats/article27577333/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151204072945/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/liberals-setting-up-advisory-board-to-fill-empty-senate-seats/article27577333/ |archive-date=December 4, 2015}}</ref>

The imbalance in representation in that House is apparent when considering population size. The six senators from BC constitute only one for every 775,000 people vs. one for every 75,000 in Prince Edward Island, which has four senators. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have much smaller populations than BC, yet each has ten senators according to a Global News summary.<ref name="Baldrey">{{cite news |last=Baldrey |first=Keith |date=December 3, 2015 |title=Why Christy Clark is rejecting Justin Trudeau's reform of the Senate |website=[[Global News]] |publisher=Shaw Media Inc. |url=http://globalnews.ca/news/2379480/why-christy-clark-is-rejecting-justin-trudeaus-reform-of-the-senate/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151204035421/http://globalnews.ca/news/2379480/why-christy-clark-is-rejecting-justin-trudeaus-reform-of-the-senate/ |archive-date=December 4, 2015}}</ref> Correcting this imbalance would require a constitutional amendment, but that is unlikely to be supported by the Atlantic provinces.<ref name="Baldrey" />

===Official symbols===
[[File:Dogwood Blooms (3629970675).jpg|thumb|The flower of the Pacific dogwood is often associated with British Columbia.]]
The government of British Columbia has designated several [[Symbols of British Columbia|official symbols]]:<ref name="Act">{{cite web |url=http://www.bclaws.ca/Recon/document/ID/freeside/00_96380_01#section1 |title=Provincial Symbols and Honours Act |year=1996 |publisher=Her Majesty the Queen in Right of British Columbia |access-date=August 8, 2014 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160754/http://www.bclaws.ca/Recon/document/ID/freeside/00_96380_01#section1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

* Flag: [[Flag of British Columbia]]
* Coat of arms: [[Coat of arms of British Columbia]]
* Floral emblem: [[Pacific dogwood]]
* Mineral emblem: [[Jade]]
* Tree emblem: [[Western red cedar]]
* Bird emblem: [[Steller's jay]]
* Mammal emblem: [[Kermode bear|"Spirit" or Kermode bear]]
* Fish emblem: [[Pacific salmon]]
* Tartan emblem: [[Regional tartans of Canada#British Columbia|British Columbia Tartan]]