The British Columbia Unity Party is a right wing political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party was an attempted union of the Reform Party of British Columbia, the British Columbia Social Credit Party, the British Columbia Conservative Party, the British Columbia Party, and the British Columbia Family Coalition Party . Currently, only the Family Coalition & segments of Reform BC comprise the party (although Reform BC was renewed by Ron Gamble after an attempted de-registration by Chris Delaney & Bill Vanderzalm).

All five of these parties were right-of-centre, right-wing, or conservative in nature, and it was the belief of some members of these parties that a union was needed in order to do well in elections. The deal fell apart after the leader of the council set to govern this new party went against the wishes of the council. Reform, and Social Credit dropped out soon after this, and the other parties also followed.

Despite nominating 56 candidates across the province in the 2001 provincial elections, the party only received 3.2% of the vote (51,426). This was the largest number of votes of any of the parties to the right of the conservative Liberal Party, but fewer votes than the Greens and edging out the Marijuana Party by only 220 votes.

BC Unity claimed to be poised to benefit from conservative dissatisfaction with the Liberal government of Premier Gordon Campbell.

On September 1, 2004, BC Unity and the British Columbia Conservative Party 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. BC Unity leader Chris Delaney accepted blame for the failure of the merger proposal, and resigned. Rumors emerged among the merger hopefuls that the attempt failed due to sabotage by BC Liberal insiders, and some even suggested Delaney had been bribed or ideologically convinced to shut the party down.

The assertion that Delaney intentionally supported a sabotage of the party is supported by his subsequent resignation and exodus of former Reform BC membership, where Delaney's support largely lay. The majority of the executive members also left, many joining new or old margin parties.

Even so, BC Unity has stated that it is looking for a new leader, and plans to nominate candidates for the 2005 provincial election.

See also

• List of political parties in Canada

External link

• BC Unity