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It was was created by Sir Richard McBride in 1903. McBride believed that the system of non-partisan government that the province had been using was unstable and inhibiting development. When the lieutenant-governor of the province dissolved the legislature and called an election, McBride announced that he would form a party to contest the election. His Conservatives won British Columbia's first election fought on the party system on October 3, 1903 with a two seat majority. McBride became Premier of the province. The Tories implemented a policy along the lines of those of the national Conservative Party, which at the time favoured government intervention to help develop industry and infrastructure.

The Conservatives under McBride, and his successor William John Bowser, held power for thirteen years until they were defeated by the Liberals in 1916.

The Tories returned to power in 1928Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 See also 1928 in aviation 1928 in film 1928 in literature 1928 in mu under Simon Fraser TolmieSimon Fraser Tolmie ( January 25, 1867 October 13, 1937) was a veterinarian, farmer, politician, and Premier of British Columbia. He entered politics as a Unionist member of the Canadian House of Commons as a result of the wartime election of 1917. Tolmie, the last time the Conservatives would form a majority government in the province. The Tolmie government was unable to deal with the Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a global economic slump that began in the United States following Black Thursday, the Wall Street panic of October 1929. On October 24, 1929, share prices on Wall Street collapsed catastrophically, setting off a chain of bankruptc, and was racked by infighting and indecision. The party was in such dissaray that, despite being the government, the Conservative provincial association decided not to run any candidates in the 1933Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 See also 1933 in aviation 1933 in film 1933 in literature 1933 in mu election.

In the election of 19411941 is also the title of a Steven Spielberg movie made in 1979 see 1941 (film). Events January January 6 Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union Address. January 10 Lend-Lease is introduced into the United St, the Conservatives managed to win 12 seats, compared to 21 for the Liberals and 14 for the Cooperative Commonwealth FederationTommy Douglas (centre) stands in front of a CCF billboard during an election campaign in Saskatchewan. The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-oper (which became the New Democratic PartyCurrent Leader Carole James Founded 1961 Headquarters 3110 Boundary Road Burnaby, BCV5M 4A2 Colours Red, White, Blue & Yellow Political ideology Social Democratic The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is a political party in British Columbia, Canad in 1961). The Liberals and Conservatives formed a coalition governmentA coalition government or coalition cabinet is a cabinet in parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. The usual reason is that no party on its own has a majority in the parliament. In times of crisis such as a war or a major economic or. The business community feared the growing strength of the social democratic CCF, and supporters of both the Liberals and the Tories argued that a united free market party was needed to keep the CCF from taking power.

The tensions between Conservative and Liberal factions mounted over time, and after ten years, the coalition disintegrated. The Conservatives refounded their party in 1951 calling themselves the Progressive Conservatives as the federal party had changed adopted the progressive prefix in 1942.

The coalition government, whose raison d'etre had been to keep the CCF out of power, had introduced a Single Transferable Vote system for the 1952 election in the hope that Conservatives and Liberal supporters would list the other party as their second choice and keep the CCF out of power.

This worked to the benefit of Social Credit, who were able to take advantage of divisions between the Liberals and Conservatives, as well as the desire for change. Bennett's party was able to win a slim minority government with 19 Social Credit MLAs compared to 18 CCFers, 1 Labour, 6 Liberals, and 4 Tories.

It was clear to those who wanted to keep the CCF out of power that only the Social Credit Party would be able to accomplish that task. In the 1953 election, Liberal and Tory supporters transferred their support to Bennett's party, sweeping it to power with 28 out of 48 seats. Having a majority government the Social Credit government changed the electoral system back to first past the post in order to cement their base. Social Credit became, in effect, the new centre-right coalition party, and both the Liberals and the Tories became marginalised.

The Progressive Conservatives elected only four MLAs in 1952, one in 1953, and were completely shut out of the legislature between 1956 and 1972 as conservative minded voters moved to Social Credit. The Tories managed to elect two MLAs in the 1972 election, and one in the 1975 election, but have been not elected a single representative since then.

In 1991, the party changed its name to the BC Conservative Party, but was unable to take advantage of the collapse of Social Credit that year.

It later joined with four other conservative parties to form the British Columbia Unity Party, but that coalition soon fell apart, and the BC Conservative Party was re-established as a separate entity. It remains a fringe party.

On September 1 2004 BC Unity and the BC Conservatives announced an agreement-in-principle for the two parties to merge under the Conservative Party name. The deal, however, fell through after the Conservatives withdrew.