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The NDP and its predecessor the 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 current mayor isan independent first elected in an October 2001. The line supplemented this service, and a north—south route between interior resource communities and the coast. The west from Edmonton through the Upper Fraser, Bulkley and Skeena valleys was built in 1907—14 and was intended to give Canada a second gateway through the mountains to the Pacific coast. European settlement did not glad well for the remaining native population of British Columbia. Among the places in British Columbia that began as fur trading posts are Fort St. The PGT will consider a request to administer an estate. After you complete our free registration process you will be given insights into your zip style and ideas for your ideal partner.
With an estimated population of 4. The inhabitants of British Columbia make up more than 13% of the country's population, and the population density of the area is higher than the national average. Subsequently, on the mainland, the was founded by and the , in response to the. Moody selected the site for and founded the original capital of British Columbia, , established the and , and designed the first version of the. In 1866, Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia, and Victoria became the united colony's capital. In 1871, British Columbia became the sixth province of Canada. The capital of British Columbia remains , the in Canada, named for the who created the original European colonies. The largest city is , the third-largest in Canada, the largest in , and the second-largest in the. In October 2013, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371 about 2. The province is currently governed by the in a minority government supported by the , led by , who became as a result of a no-confidence motion on June 29, 2017. British Columbia evolved from British possessions that were established in what is now British Columbia by 1871. Today there are few treaties and the question of Aboriginal Title, long ignored, has become a legal and political question of frequent debate as a result of recent court actions. The province's name was chosen by , when the , i. It refers to the , the British name for the territory drained by the , in southeastern British Columbia, which was the namesake of the pre- of the. Ultimately, the Columbia in the name British Columbia is derived from the name of the , an American ship which lent its name to the and later the wider region; the Columbia in the name came from , a reference to. British Columbia's is epitomized by the variety and intensity of its physical relief, which has defined patterns of and industry since colonization. British Columbia is bordered to the west by the and the American state of , to the north by and the , to the east by the province of , and to the south by the American states of , , and. The was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, although its history is tied with lands as far south as. British Columbia's land area is 944,735 square kilometres 364,800 sq mi. It is the only province in that borders the. British Columbia's capital is , located at the southeastern tip of. Only a narrow strip of Vancouver Island, from to Victoria, is significantly populated. Much of the western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast is covered by. The province's most populous city is Vancouver, which is at the confluence of the and , in the mainland's southwest corner an area often called the. By land area, is the largest city. Outline map of British Columbia with significant cities and towns The and the 's many provide some of British Columbia's renowned and spectacular scenery, which forms the backdrop and context for a growing outdoor adventure and industry. The province's mainland away from the coastal regions is somewhat moderated by the Pacific Ocean. Terrain ranges from dry inland forests and valleys, to the range and canyon districts of the , to boreal forest and subarctic prairie in the. The , extending from to at the United States border, is one of several wine and -producing regions in Canada. Other wine regions in British Columbia include the on Vancouver Island and the. The Southern Interior cities of and have some of the warmest and longest summer climates in Canada, although their temperatures are often exceeded north of the , close to the confluence of the Fraser and rivers, where the terrain is rugged and covered with desert-type flora. Semi-desert grassland is found in large areas of the , with land uses ranging from ranching at lower altitudes to forestry at higher ones. The northern, mostly mountainous, two-thirds of the province is largely unpopulated and undeveloped, except for the area east of the , where the contains BC's portion of the , centred at the city of. British Columbia is considered part of the and the , along with the of , , western portion , and. Climate , near Coastal southern British Columbia has a mild, rainy oceanic climate, some far southern parts of which are warm-summer Mediterranean, influenced by the , which has its origins in the. The annual mean temperature in the most populated areas of the province is up to 12 °C 54 °F , the mildest anywhere in Canada. The valleys of the Southern Interior have short winters with only brief bouts of cold or infrequent heavy snow, while those in the , in the , are colder because of increased altitude and latitude, but without the intensity or duration experienced at similar latitudes elsewhere in Canada. Heavy snowfall occurs in all elevated mountainous terrain providing bases for skiers in both south and central British Columbia. Winters are generally severe in the Northern Interior, but even there milder air can penetrate far inland. During winter, on the coast, rainfall, sometimes relentless heavy rain, dominates because of consistent barrages of cyclonic low-pressure systems from the North Pacific. Average snowfall on the coast during an average winter is between 25 and 50 cm 9. While winters are very wet, coastal areas are generally milder and dry during summer under the influence of stable anti-cyclonic high pressure. Southern Interior valleys are hot in summer; for example in the July maximum temperature averages 31. Temperatures often exceed 40 °C 104 °F in the lower elevations of valleys in the Interior during mid-summer, with the record high of 44. The region has a climate suitable to vineyards. The extended summer dryness often creates conditions that spark forest fires, from dry-lightning or man-made causes. Many areas of the province are often covered by a blanket of heavy cloud and low fog during the winter months, in contrast to abundant summer sunshine. Annual sunshine hours vary from 2200 near Cranbrook and Victoria to less than 1300 in , on the just south of. The exception to British Columbia's wet and cloudy winters is El Niño. During this phase, the jet stream is much farther south across North America, therefore winters are milder and drier than normal. Winters are much wetter and cooler under the opposite phase, La Niña. Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for selected cities in British Columbia Municipality January April July October 5. There are 141 ecological Reserves, 35 provincial marine parks, 7 Provincial Heritage Sites, 6 , 4 and 3 National Park Reserves. British Columbia's provincial parks system is the second largest parks system in Canada, the largest being Canada's National Parks system. Another tier of parks in British Columbia are , which are maintained and run by. The Ministry of Forests operates forest recreation sites. In addition to these areas, over 47,000 km 2 18,000 sq mi of are protected by the. Fauna Much of the province is undeveloped, so populations of many mammalian species that have become rare in much of the United States still flourish in British Columbia. Watching animals of various sorts, including a very wide range of birds, has long been popular. Bears , —including the or spirit bear live here, as do , , , , , , , , , , , such as , and , , , , , , , , , , , , and many other sorts of ducks. Smaller birds , , , , and so on also abound. Murrelets are known from Frederick Island, a small islands off the coast of Queen Charlotte's Islands. Type of organism Red-listed species in BC Total number of species in BC Freshwater fish 24 80 Amphibians 5 19 Reptiles 6 16 Birds 34 465 Terrestrial mammals Requires new data Requires new data Marine mammals 3 29 Plants 257 2333 Butterflies 19 187 Dragonflies 9 87 As of 2001 Forests White spruce or and their hybrids occur in 12 of the 14 Coates et al. Traditional plant foods Main article: Plant foods traditionally contributed only a part of the total food intake of coastal peoples of British Columbia, though they contributed to most of the material good produced. Among the plant foods used, berries, some roots for example the Camas Lily — part of the family , cambium noodles inner bark of , and seaweeds were and to an extent still are important. Animal products were traditionally far more important than plant foods in terms of quantity consumed; however, the huge nutritional diversity provided by native plants of BC largely contributes to the health of First Nations peoples of British Columbia. Before , British Columbia had the densest aboriginal population of any region in what is now called Canada. Main articles: , , and The area now known as British Columbia is home to First Nations groups that have a deep history with a significant number of indigenous languages. There are more than 200 First Nations in BC. Prior to contact with non-Aboriginal people , human history is known from oral histories of First Nations groups, archaeological investigations, and from early records from explorers encountering societies early in the period. The arrival of from took place between 20,000 and 12,000 years ago. The nomadic population lived in non-permanent structures foraging for nuts, berries and edible roots while hunting and trapping larger and small game for food and furs. Around 5,000 years ago individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally. Thus with the passage of time there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization with a more. These indigenous populations evolved over the next 5,000 years across a large area into many groups with shared traditions and customs. To the northwest of the province are the peoples of the , which include the and the , who lived on the islands of southern Alaska and northern British Columbia. The Na-Dene language group is believed to be linked to the of Siberia. The of the western Arctic may represent a distinct wave of migration from Asia to North America. The was home to the groups such as the , and Athabaskan language groups, primarily the Carrier and the. The inlets and valleys of the sheltered large, distinctive populations, such as the , and , sustained by the region's abundant salmon and shellfish. These peoples developed dependent on the that included wooden houses, seagoing whaling and war canoes and elaborately carved items and. Contact with Europeans brought a series of devastating epidemics of diseases from Europe the people had no immunity to. The result was a dramatic population collapse, culminating in the 1862 Smallpox outbreak in Victoria that spread throughout the coast. European settlement did not bode well for the remaining native population of British Columbia. Colonial officials deemed colonists could make better use of the land than the First Nations people, and thus the land territory be owned by the colonists. To ensure colonists would be able to settle properly and make use of the land, natives were relocated onto reserves, which were often too small to support their way of life. By the 1930s, British Columbia had over 1500 reserves. Fur trade and colonial era The British, during the colonial period, spread across the world claiming territories and building the. Lands now known as British Columbia were added to the empire during the 19th century. Originally established under the auspices of the , colonies were established Vancouver Island, the mainland that were amalgamated, then entered Confederation as British Columbia in 1871 as part of the Dominion of Canada. During the 1770s, killed at least 30% of the Pacific Northwest. This devastating epidemic was the first in a series; the Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1862 killed 50% of the native population. While it is thought may have explored the British Columbian coast in 1579, it was who completed the first documented voyage, which took place in 1774. In doing so, Pérez and Quadra reasserted the claim for the , first made by in 1513. The explorations of in 1778 and in 1792—93 established British jurisdiction over the coastal area north and west of the Columbia River. In 1793, was the first European to journey across North America overland to the Pacific Ocean, inscribing a stone marking his accomplishment on the shoreline of near. His expedition theoretically established British sovereignty inland, and a succession of other fur company explorers charted the maze of rivers and mountain ranges between the Canadian Prairies and the Pacific. Mackenzie and other explorers—notably , , , and —were primarily concerned with extending the , rather than political considerations. In 1794, by the third of a series of agreements known as the , conceded its claims of exclusivity in the Pacific. This opened the way for formal claims and colonization by other powers, including Britain, but because of the , there was little British action on its claims in the region until later. The establishment of under the auspices of the and the Hudson's Bay Company HBC , effectively established a permanent British presence in the region. The Columbia District was broadly defined as being south of 54°40 north latitude, the southern limit of , north of Mexican-controlled California, and west of the. This co-occupancy was ended with the of 1846. The major supply route was the between and. Some of the early outposts grew into settlements, communities, and cities. Among the places in British Columbia that began as fur trading posts are Fort St. John established 1794 ; 1805 ; 1805 ; 1806 ; 1807 ; Kamloops 1812 ; 1827 ; 1843 ; 1848 ; and Nanaimo 1853. With the amalgamation of the two fur trading companies in 1821, the region now comprising British Columbia existed in three fur trading departments. The bulk of the central and northern interior was organized into the district, administered from Fort St. The interior south of the and north of the Columbia was organized into the Columbia District, administered from Fort Vancouver on the lower Columbia River. The northeast corner of the province east of the Rockies, known as the Peace River Block, was attached to the much larger , headquartered in , in present-day Alberta. Until 1849, these districts were a wholly unorganized area of under the jurisdiction of HBC administrators. Unlike to the north and east, however, the territory was not a concession to the company. Rather, it was simply granted a monopoly to trade with the First Nations inhabitants. All that was changed with the westward extension of American exploration and the concomitant overlapping claims of territorial sovereignty, especially in the southern within present day Washington and. In 1846, the Oregon Treaty divided the territory along the to the , with the area south of this boundary excluding Vancouver Island and the transferred to sole American sovereignty. The was created in 1849, with Victoria designated as the capital. Colony of British Columbia 1858—66 Main articles: and With the in 1858, an influx of Americans into New Caledonia prompted the to designate the mainland as the Colony of British Columbia. Moody and his family arrived in British Columbia in December 1858, commanding the. He was sworn in as the first and appointed Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for British Columbia. On the advice of Lytton, Moody hired as his personal secretary. Subsequent to the enactment of the Pre-emption Act of 1860, Moody settled the. He selected the site and founded the new capital,. He selected the site due to the strategic excellence of its position and the quality of its port. Moody designed the first. Moody and the Royal Engineers also built an extensive road network, including what would become , connecting New Westminster to , the North Road between and New Westminster, and the and. The Pre-emption act did not specify conditions for distributing the land, so large parcels were snapped up by speculators, including 3,750 acres 1,517 hectares by Moody himself. For this he was criticized by local newspapermen for. It was established at the end of a trail that connected New Westminster with Burrard Inlet to defend New Westminster from potential attack from the US. By 1862, the , attracting an additional 5000 miners, was underway, and Douglas hastened construction of the Great North Road commonly known now as the up the to the prospecting region around. By the time of this gold rush, the character of the colony was changing, as a more stable population of British colonists settled in the region, establishing businesses, opening , and engaging in and agriculture. With this increased stability, objections to the colony's absentee governor and the lack of began to be vocalised, led by the influential editor of the British Columbian and future ,. A series of petitions requesting an assembly were ignored by Douglas and the colonial office until Douglas was eased out of office in 1864. Finally, the colony would have both an assembly and a resident governor. Later gold rushes A series of gold rushes in various parts of the province followed, the largest being the in 1862, forcing the colonial administration into deeper debt as it struggled to meet the extensive infrastructure needs of far-flung boom communities like and , which sprang up overnight. The Vancouver Island colony was facing financial crises of its own, and pressure to merge the two eventually , when the colony of British Columbia was amalgamated with the to form the , which was, in turn, succeeded by the present day province of British Columbia following the of 1871. Rapid growth and development drives the of the , at , November 7, 1885. Completion of the was a condition of entry into. The Confederation League, including such figures as , , and , led the chorus pressing for the colony to join Canada, which had been created out of three British North American colonies in 1867 the , and. Several factors motivated this agitation, including the fear of annexation to the United States, the overwhelming debt created by rapid population growth, the need for government-funded services to support this population, and the economic depression caused by the end of the gold rush. The borders of the province were not completely settled. The Treaty of Washington sent the San Juan Islands Border dispute to arbitration in 1871 and in 1903, the province's territory shrank again after the settled the vague boundary of the. Population in British Columbia continued to expand as the province's , , , and sectors were developed. Agriculture attracted settlers to the fertile Fraser Valley, and cattle ranchers and later fruit growers came to the drier grasslands of the Thompson River area, the Cariboo, the , and the Okanagan. Forestry drew workers to the lush temperate rainforests of the coast, which was also the locus of a growing fishery. The completion of the railway in 1885 was a huge boost to the province's economy, facilitating the transportation of the region's considerable resources to the east. The milltown of Granville, known as , near the mouth of the was selected as the terminus of the railway, prompting the incorporation of the City as Vancouver in 1886. The completion of the spurred rapid growth, and in less than fifty years the city surpassed , , as the largest in. The early decades of the province were ones in which issues of land use—specifically, its settlement and development—were paramount. This included expropriation from First Nations people of their land, control over its resources, as well as the ability to trade in some resources such as the fishery. Establishing a to develop the province was problematic from the start, and British Columbia was the locus of immigration from , , and. The influx of a non- population stimulated resentment from the dominant ethnic groups, resulting in agitation much of it successful to restrict the ability of to immigrate to British Columbia through the imposition of a. This resentment culminated in mob attacks against Chinese and Japanese immigrants in Vancouver in 1887 and 1907. By 1923, almost all except for merchants, professionals, students and investors. Meanwhile, the province continued to grow. In 1914, the last spike of a second transcontinental rail line, the , linking north-central British Columbia from the through Prince George to was driven at. This opened up the and the region to new economic opportunities. What had previously been an almost exclusively fur trade and subsistence economy soon became a locus for forestry, farming, and mining. In , the province responded strongly to the call to assist the British Empire against its German foes in French and Belgian battlefields. About 55,570 of the 400,000 British Columbian residents, the highest per-capita rate in Canada, responded to the military needs. Horseriders from the province's Interior region and First Nations soldiers made contributions to Vimy Ridge and other battles. About 6,225 men from the province died in combat. These formed the basis of the fractured labour-political spectrum that would generate a host of fringe leftist and rightist parties, including those who would eventually form the and the early splinter groups. The end of US prohibition, combined with the onset of the , plunged the province into economic destitution. Compounding the already dire local economic situation, tens of thousands of men from colder parts of Canada swarmed into Vancouver, creating huge jungles around and the Burrard Inlet , including the old Canadian Pacific Railway mainline through the heart of the at Hastings and Carrall. Increasingly desperate times led to intense political organizing efforts, an occupation of the main Post Office at and which was violently put down by the police and an effective imposition of on the docks for almost three years. A Vancouver contingent for the was organized and seized a train, which was loaded with thousands of men bound for the capital but was met by a straddling the tracks at ; the men were arrested and sent to work camps for the duration of the Depression. There were some signs of economic life beginning to return to normal towards the end of the 1930s, but it was the onset of World War II which transformed the national economy and ended the hard times of the Depression. Because of the war effort, women entered the workforce as never before. British Columbia has long taken advantage of its location on the Pacific Ocean to have close relations with. However, this has often caused friction between cultures which have caused occasional displays of animosity toward Asian immigrants. This was most manifest during the Second World War when many people of or interned in the of the province. Coalition and the post-war boom The , marching in , 1940 During the the mainstream and Parties of British Columbia united in a formal under new Liberal leader , who replaced when the latter failed to win a majority in the. While the Liberals won the most number of seats, they actually received fewer votes than the socialist CCF. Pattullo was unwilling to form a coalition with the rival Conservatives led by and was replaced by Hart, who formed a coalition cabinet made up of five Liberal and three Conservative ministers. The CCF was invited to join the coalition but refused. The pretext for continuing the coalition after the end of the Second World War was to prevent the CCF, which had won a surprise victory in in 1944, from ever coming to power in British Columbia. The CCF's popular vote was high enough in the that they were likely to have won three-way contests and could have formed government. However, the coalition prevented that by uniting the anti- vote. In the post-war environment the government initiated a series of infrastructure projects, notably the completion of north of Prince George to the Peace River Block, a section called the John Hart Highway and also public hospital insurance. In 1947 the reins of the Coalition were taken over by. The Conservatives had wanted their new leader to be premier, but the Liberals in the Coalition refused. Johnson led the coalition to the highest percentage of the popular vote in British Columbia history 61% in the. This victory was attributable to the popularity of his government's spending programmes, despite rising criticism of corruption and abuse of power. During his tenure, major infrastructures continued to expand, such as the agreement with to build the town of with an aluminum smelter and the large. Johnson achieved popularity for flood relief efforts during the 1948 flooding of the Fraser Valley, which was a major blow to that region and to the province's economy. Increasing tension between the Liberal and Conservative coalition partners led the Liberal Party executive to vote to instruct Johnson to terminate the arrangement. Johnson ended the coalition and dropped his Conservative cabinet ministers, including and Herbert Anscomb, precipitating the. A referendum on electoral reform prior to this election had instigated an elimination ballot similar to a , where voters could select second and third choices. The intent of the ballot, as campaigned for by Liberals and Conservatives, was that their supporters would list the rival party in lieu of the CCF, but this plan backfired when a large group of voters from all major parties, including the CCF, voted for the fringe British Columbia Social Credit Party Socreds , who wound up with the largest number of seats in the House 19 , only one seat ahead of the CCF, despite the CCF having 34. The Social Credit Party, led by rebel former Conservative MLA , formed a backed by the Liberals and Conservatives with 6 and 4 seats respectively. Bennett began a series of fiscal reforms, preaching a new variety of as well as waxing eloquent on progress and development, laying the ground for a in which the new Bennett regime secured a majority of seats, with 38% of the vote. Secure with that majority, Bennett returned the province to the first-past-the-post system thereafter, which is still in use. Bennett and his party governed the province for the next twenty years, during which time the government initiated an ambitious programme of infrastructure development, fuelled by a sustained economic boom in the forestry, mining, and energy sectors. During these two decades, the government British Columbia Electric and the British Columbia Power Company, as well as smaller electric companies, renaming the entity. By the end of the 1960s, several major dams had been begun or completed in—among others—the , Columbia, and watersheds the Nechako Diversion to , was to supply power to the aluminum smelter at , and was not part of the provincial power grid but. Major transmission deals were concluded, most notably the between Canada and the United States. The province's economy was also boosted by unprecedented growth in the forest sector, as well as oil and gas development in the province's northeast. The 1950s and 1960s were also marked by development in the province's transportation infrastructure. In 1960, the government established as a , to provide a marine extension of the provincial highway system, also supported by federal grants as being part of the system. That system was improved and expanded through the construction of new highways and bridges, and paving of existing highways and provincial roads. Vancouver and Victoria became cultural centres as poets, authors, artists, musicians, as well as dancers, actors, and haute cuisine chefs flocked to the beautiful scenery and warmer temperatures, with the cultural and entrepreneurial community notably bolstered by many from the United States. Similarly, these cities have either attracted or given rise to their own noteworthy academics, commentators, and creative thinkers. The rise of Japan and other Pacific economies was a great boost to British Columbia's economy, primarily because of massive exports of lumber products and unprocessed coal and trees. Politically and socially, the 1960s brought a period of significant social ferment. The divide between the and right, which had prevailed in the province since the Depression and the rise of the , sharpened as so-called parties coalesced into the de facto coalition represented by Social Credit—in opposition to the , the successor to the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. As the province's economy blossomed, so did labour-management tensions. Tensions emerged, also, from the counterculture movement of the late 1960s, of which Vancouver and Nanaimo were centres. The conflict between and was particularly legendary, culminating in the so-called of 1971. By the end of the decade, with social tensions and dissatisfaction with the rising, the Bennett government's achievements could not stave off its growing unpopularity. At the start of the 1970s, the economy was quite strong because of rising coal prices and an increase in annual allowable cuts in the forestry sector. However, BC Hydro reported its first loss, which was the beginning of the end for Bennett and the Social Credit Party. The Socreds were forced from power in the August 1972 election, paving the way for a provincial New Democratic Party NDP government under. Perceptions the government had instituted reforms either too swiftly or that were too far-reaching, coupled with growing labour disruptions led to the ouster of the NDP in the. Social Credit, under W. Bennett's son, , was returned to office. Under the younger Bennett's government, 85% of the province's land base was transferred from Government Reserve to management by the , reporting of deputy ministers was centralized to the Premier's Office, and NDP-instigated social programs were rolled back, with then-Human Resources Minister infamously demonstrating a golden shovel to highlight his welfare policy, although the new-era Socreds also reinforced and backed certain others instigated by the NDP—notably the creation of the , whose special status including Sunday drinking, then an anomaly in BC. Towards the end of his tenure in power, Bennett oversaw the completion of several meant to stimulate the economy and win votes — unlike most right-wing parties, British Columbia's Social Credit actively practised government stimulation of the economy. Most notable of these was the winning of a world's fair for Vancouver, which came in the form of , to which was tied the construction of the and Vancouver's system. The Coquihalla Highway project became the subject of a scandal after revelations the premier's brother bought large tracts of land needed for the project before it was announced to the public, and also because of graft investigations of the huge cost overruns on the project. Both investigations were derailed in the media by a still further scandal, the , in which the Premier and millionaire backer Herb Doman were investigated for insider-trading and. Nonetheless, the Socreds were re-elected in 1979 under Bennett, who led the party until 1986. The road was one of the legacies of the. The creation of the sparked controversy. As the province entered a sustained , Bennett's popularity and media image were in decline. On April 1, 1983, Premier Bennett overstayed his constitutional limits of power by exceeding the legal tenure of a government, and the , , was forced to call Bennett to to resolve the impasse, and an election was called for April 30, while in the meantime government cheques were covered by special emergency warrants as the no longer had signing authority because of the constitutional crisis. Campaigning on a platform of moderation, Bennett won an unexpected majority. This sparked a backlash, with tens of thousands of people in the streets the next day after the budget speech, and through the course of a summer repeated large demonstrations of up to 100,000 people. This became known as the 1983 , from the name of the , a huge grassroots opposition movement mobilized, consisting of organized labour and community groups, with the forming a separate organization of unions, , under the direction of , then-President of the IWA , the most powerful of the province's resource unions. Tens of thousands participated in protests and many felt a would be the inevitable result unless the government backed down from its policies they had claimed were only about restraint and not about recrimination against the NDP and the left. Just as a strike at ended, which had crippled the political management of the public agenda by the publishers of the province's major papers, the movement collapsed after an apparent deal was struck by union leader and IWA president, Jack Munro and Premier Bennett. A tense winter of blockades at various job sites around the province ensued, as among the new laws were those enabling non-union labour to work on large projects and other sensitive labour issues, with companies from Alberta and other provinces brought in to compete with union-scale British Columbia companies. Despite the tension, Bennett's last few years in power were relatively peaceful as economic and political momentum grew on the megaprojects associated with Expo, and Bennett was to end his career by hosting and on their visit to open Expo 86. His retirement being announced, a Social Credit convention was scheduled for the Whistler Resort, which came down to a three-way shooting match between Bud Smith, the Premier's right-hand man but an unelected official, Social Credit party , and the charismatic but eccentric. Bill Vander Zalm became the new Socred leader when Smith threw his support to him rather than see McCarthy win, and led the party to victory in the election later that year. Vander Zalm was later involved in a scandal following the sale of , a and built by the Premier, to , a gambling kingpin. These scandals forced Vander Zalm's resignation, and became premier of the province. Johnston presided over the end of Social Credit power, calling an election which led to the reducing of the party's caucus to only two seats, and the revival of the long-defunct British Columbia Liberal Party as Opposition to the victorious NDP under former Vancouver mayor. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. August 2012 Johnston lost the to the NDP, under the leadership of Mike Harcourt, a former mayor of Vancouver. The NDP's unprecedented creation of new parkland and protected areas was popular and helped boost the province's growing sector. However, the economy continued to struggle against the backdrop of a weak resource economy. Housing starts and an expanded service sector saw growth overall through the decade, despite political turmoil. Harcourt was not implicated, but he resigned nonetheless in respect of constitutional conventions calling for leaders under suspicion to step aside. More scandals dogged the party, most notably the involving the province trying to develop the shipbuilding industry in British Columbia. An allegation never substantiated that the Premier had received a favour in return for granting a gaming licence led to Clark's resignation as Premier. He was succeeded on an interim basis by who was in turn followed by following a leadership convention. In the 2001 general election 's BC Liberals defeated the NDP, gaining 77 out of 79 total seats in the provincial legislature. Campbell was also the subject of criticism after he was arrested for during a vacation in Hawaii. However, Campbell still managed to lead his party to victory in the 2005 general election, against a substantially strengthened NDP opposition. Campbell won a third term in the , marking the first time in 23 years a premier has been elected to a third term. The province won a bid to host the in Vancouver and Whistler. As promised in his 2002 re-election campaign, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell staged a non-binding civic referendum regarding the hosting of the Olympics. In February 2003, Vancouver's residents voted in a referendum accepting the responsibilities of the host city should it win its bid. Sixty-four percent of residents voted in favour of hosting the games. After the Olympic joy had faded, Campbell's popularity started to fall. His management style, the implementation of the HST against election promises and the cancelling of the lead to low approval ratings and loss of caucus support. He would resign in November 2010 and call on the party to elect a new leader. Christy Clark was Premier of British Columbia from 2011 until 2017. In early 2011, , former Deputy Premier, would become leader of the Liberal Party. Though she was not a sitting MLA, she would go on to win the seat left vacant by Campbell and form a government. For the next two years she would attempt to distance herself from the unpopularity of Campbell and forge an image for the upcoming election. Among her early accomplishments she raised the minimum wage, created the new holiday of Family Day and pushed the development of BC's. In the 2013 election, the Liberals lagged behind the NDP with a double-digit gap in the polls, but were able to come to a surprise victory on election night with a majority, making Clark the first elected female premier in BC history. While Clark lost her seat to NDP candidate , she later won a by-election in the riding of. Her government would go on to balance the budget, implement changes to liquor laws and continue with the question of the proposed. In the 2017 election, the NDP formed a minority government with the of the Green Party. The NDP and Green caucuses together control 44 seats, compared with the Liberal's 43. On July 18, NDP leader John Horgan was officially sworn in as premier of British Columbia. John Horgan has been Premier of British Columbia since 2017. British Columbia has also been significantly affected by demographic changes within Canada and around the world. Vancouver and to a lesser extent some other parts of British Columbia was a major destination for many of the immigrants from who left the former UK colony either temporarily or permanently in the years immediately prior to its to the. British Columbia has also been a significant destination for internal Canadian migrants. This has been the case throughout recent decades, because of its image of natural beauty, mild climate and relaxed lifestyle, but is particularly true during periods of economic growth. As a result, British Columbia has moved from approximately 10% of Canada's population in 1971 to approximately 13% in 2006. Trends of urbanization mean the area now includes 51% of the Province's population, followed in second place by with 8%. These two metropolitan regions have traditionally dominated the demographics of BC. The net number of people coming to BC from other has grown almost four times larger since 2012. BC was the largest net recipient of interprovincial migrants in Canada in the first quarter of 2016 with half of the 5,000 people coming from. The largest denominations by number of adherents according to the were none atheist, agnostic, and so on. All items are self-identified. Ethnic origin Population Percent 1,207,245 29. Migration was primarily from , and , especially — out of the 54 of Metro Vancouver's 100 most common names that are British in origin, 29 are of Scottish or Northern English origin, 9 are Welsh, and only four are native to England's south. Of the provinces, British Columbia had the highest proportion of , representing 27% of its population. According to the 2011 National Household Survey, the largest communities of visible minorities in British Columbia include Chinese, South Asian and Japanese. Also present in large numbers relative to other regions of Canada except , and ever since the province was first settled unlike Toronto , are many European ethnicities of the first and second generation, notably , , , and. First-generation remain a strong component of local society despite limitations on from Britain since the ending of special status for British subjects in the 1960s. Of the 4,113,847 population counted by the 2006 census, 4,074,385 people completed the section about language. Of these 4,022,045 gave singular responses to the question regarding. The languages most commonly reported were the following: Language Number of native speakers Percentage of singular responses 2,875,770 71. The metropolitan area has , but they are outside of the regional district's jurisdiction and are not represented in its government. The metropolitan area also includes several the governments of which are not part of the regional district. Almost half of the Vancouver Island population is in Greater Victoria. Vancouver is the business capital of British Columbia. BC's economy is diverse, with service-producing industries accounting for the largest portion of the province's GDP. It is the terminus of two transcontinental railways, and the site of 27 major marine cargo and passenger terminals. Though less than 5% of its vast 944,735 km 2 364,764 sq mi land is , the province is agriculturally rich particularly in the and valleys , because of milder weather near the coast and in certain sheltered southern valleys. Its climate encourages and , though its economic mainstay has long been , principally logging, farming, and mining. Vancouver, the province's largest city, serves as the headquarters of many western-based natural resource companies. It also benefits from a strong housing market and a per capita income well above the national average. While the coast of British Columbia and some valleys in the south-central part of the province have mild weather, the majority of its land mass experiences a cold-winter-temperate climate similar to the rest of Canada. The region has a with very cold winters. The climate of Vancouver is by far the mildest winter climate of the major Canadian cities, with nighttime January temperatures averaging above the freezing point. British Columbia has a history of being a resource dominated economy, centred on the forestry industry but also with fluctuating importance in mining. It now has the highest percentage of service industry jobs in the west, comprising 72% of industry compared to 60% Western Canadian average. The largest section of this employment is in finance, insurance, real estate and corporate management. Many areas outside of metropolitan areas, however, are still heavily reliant on resource extraction. With its film industry known as , the Vancouver region is the third-largest feature film production location in North America, after and. The economic history of British Columbia is replete with tales of , and this pattern has influenced the politics, culture and business climate of the province. Economic activity related to mining in particular has widely fluctuated with changes in commodity prices over time, with documented costs to community health. British Columbia's is projected to reach 15. The Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, , is the Queen of Canada's representative in the Province of British Columbia. During the absence of the , the may appoint an administrator to execute the duties of the office. In practice, this is usually the. British Columbia has an 87-member elected Legislative Assembly, elected by the , though in recent years there has been significant debate about switching to a system. The government of the day appoints ministers for various portfolios, what are officially part of the , of whom the premier is chair. The province is governed by the BC NDP under Premier. The 2017 provincial election saw the Liberal Party take 43 seats, the NDP take 41, and the 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 the current NDP minority. Previously, the right-of-centre governed the province for sixteen 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, however, 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 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. 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 , federal Conservatives, and those who would otherwise support right-of-centre or free enterprise parties. Historically, there have commonly been present in the legislature including the Liberals themselves from 1952 to 1975 ; the are 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 British Columbia Social Credit Party which ruled British Columbia for 20 continuous years. While sharing some ideology with the current Liberal government, they were more right-wing although undertook nationalization of various important monopolies, notably BC Hydro and BC Ferries. The meeting chamber of the provincial legislative assembly British Columbia is known for having politically active labour 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 in 1858—59. Notable scandals in Social Credit years included the Affair and the 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. The case, currently in preliminary hearings in the courts and relating to the sale of BC Rail to CN Rail, may not reach trial because of the mass of evidence and various procedural problems. British Columbia is underrepresented in the , leading Premier Christy Clark to refuse to cooperate with the federal government's new reforms for senate appointments to be made based on the recommendations of a new advisory board that would use non-partisan criteria. 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. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have much smaller populations than BC, yet each has ten Senators according to a Global News summary. Correcting this imbalance would require a constitutional amendment, but that is unlikely to be supported by the Atlantic Provinces. The flower of the Pacific dogwood is often associated with British Columbia. The Rocky Mountains and the ranges west of them constituted a significant obstacle to overland travel until the completion of the transcontinental railway in 1885. The Peace River Canyon through the Rocky Mountains was the route the earliest explorers and fur traders used. Fur trade routes were only marginally used for access to British Columbia through the mountains. Travel from the rest of Canada before 1885 meant the difficulty of overland travel via the United States, around or overseas from Asia. Nearly all travel and freight to and from the region occurred via the Pacific Ocean, primarily through the ports of Victoria and New Westminster. Until the 1930s, rail was the only means of overland travel to and from the rest of Canada; travellers using motor vehicles needed to journey through the United States. With the construction of the Inter-Provincial Highway in 1932 now known as the , and later the , road transportation evolved into the preferred mode of overland travel to and from the rest of the country. Roads and highways on between Richmond and Delta Because of its size and rugged, varying topography, British Columbia requires thousands of kilometres of provincial highways to connect its communities. British Columbia's roads systems were notoriously poorly maintained and dangerous until a concentrated programme of improvement was initiated in the 1950s and 1960s. There are now in Greater Victoria, the Lower Mainland, and Central Interior of the province. Much of the rest of the province, where traffic volumes are generally low, is accessible by well-maintained generally high-mobility two-lane with additional passing lanes in mountainous areas and usually only a few stop-controlled intersections outside the main urban areas. A British Columbia welcome sign on the A couple of busy intercity corridors outside Greater Vancouver feature more heavily signalized limited-mobility arterial highways that are mostly four-lane and often divided by portable median. Numerous operate in place of on both arterials as long-term cost-cutting measures. Signalization along both these highways is heaviest through urban areas and along inter-urban sections where traffic volumes are similar to and sometimes higher than the freeways, but where funding is not available for upgrades to interchanges or construction of high-mobility alternative routes or bypasses. The building and maintenance of provincial highways is the responsibility of the and Infrastructure. There are only five major routes to the rest of Canada. From south to north they are: through the , the Highway 93 in both and , the , the latter being used by the Trans-Canada Highway entering Alberta through , the 16 through , and through. There are also several highway crossings to the adjoining American states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The longest highway is Highway 97, running 2,081 km 1,293 mi from the British Columbia-Washington border at north to and which includes the British Columbia portion of the. Public transit Prior to 1979, surface was administered by BC Hydro, the provincially owned electricity utility. Subsequently, the province established to oversee and operate all municipal transportation systems. In 1998, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority now South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority , a separate authority for routes within the Greater Vancouver Regional District was established. Public transit in British Columbia consists mainly of diesel buses, although Vancouver is also serviced by a fleet of. Several experimental buses are being tested such as buses that have both gasoline and electric engines. Additionally, there are CNG-fueled buses being tested and used in Nanaimo and Kamloops systems. British Columbia also tested a fleet of Hydrogen-fueled buses for the Vancouver-Whistler Winter Olympics in 2010. TransLink operates , an automated system serving the cities of Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, North Surrey and Richmond. In 2009, the Canada Line SkyTrain was completed, linking Vancouver International Airport and the city of Richmond to downtown Vancouver bringing the total to three operating metro lines. A new line to Coquitlam and the was completed in December 2016. There is planning for an extension of the Millennium Line through Vancouver City to the. Turnstiles have been added to all existing stations in the system. In the past, SkyTrain used a proof of payment honour system. In the capital city of Victoria BC Transit and the provincial government's infrastructure ministry are working together to create a bus rapid transit from the Westshore communities to downtown Victoria. Rail CPR train traversing the Rail development expanded greatly in the decades after the was completed, in 1885, and was the chief mode of long-distance surface transportation until the expansion and improvement of the provincial highways system began in the 1950s. Two major routes through the competed with the Canadian Pacific Railway—the , terminating at , and the , terminating at Vancouver. The line supplemented this service, providing a north—south route between interior resource communities and the coast. The Pacific Great Eastern later known as British Columbia Railway and now owned by Canadian National Railway connects Fort St James, Fort Nelson, and with. The runs between and the , via British Columbia. Water was established as a provincial crown corporation in 1960 to provide passenger and vehicle ferry service between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland as a cheaper and more reliable alternative to the service operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway. It now operates 25 routes among the , as well as between the islands and the mainland. Ferry service to Washington is offered by the between and and between Victoria and. Ferry service over inland lakes and rivers is provided by the provincial government. Commercial ocean transport is of vital importance. Major ports are at Vancouver, near , , and Victoria. Of these, the is the most important, being the largest in Canada and the most diversified in North America. Vancouver, Victoria, and Prince Rupert are also major ports of call for. In 2007, a large maritime was opened in with an inland sorting port in Prince George. Air Main article: There are over 200 airports throughout British Columbia, the major ones being the , the , the , and the , the first three of which each served over 1,000,000 passengers in 2005. As of 2017 , Vancouver International Airport is the in the country and the second biggest International Gateway on the west coast after Los Angeles with an estimated 17. Ice sailing in Given its varied mountainous terrain and its coasts, lakes, rivers, and forests, British Columbia has long been enjoyed for pursuits like hiking and camping, rock climbing and mountaineering, and. Water sports, both motorized and non-motorized, are enjoyed in many places. In winter, and are much enjoyed, and in recent decades high-quality has been developed in the Coast Mountain range and the Rockies, as well as in the southern areas of the Shuswap Highlands and the. The downhill events were held in area of the province, while the indoor events were conducted in the Vancouver area. In Vancouver and Victoria as well as some other cities , opportunities for and bicyclists have been developed. Cross-country bike touring has been popular since the bike became available many years ago. Since the advent of the more robust , trails in more rugged and wild places have been developed for them. A 2016 poll on global biking website rated BC as the top destination mountain bikers would like to ride. Some of the province's retired rail beds have been converted and maintained for hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing. Opportunities for , often into especially scenic areas, have been established for tourists in numerous areas of the province. British Columbia also has strong participation levels in many other sports, including , , , , , , , , , , , , and. British Columbia has produced many outstanding athletes, especially in aquatic and. Consistent with both increased tourism and increased participation in diverse recreations by British Columbians has been the proliferation of , , , motels, hotels, fishing camps, and park-camping facilities in recent decades. In certain areas, there are businesses, non-profit societies, or municipal governments dedicated to promoting in their region. 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