The British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) under the leadership of Carole James, and then Adrian Dix, formed the Official Opposition.

[5] The Liberals' upset victory led to significant media debate about the quality of opinion polling in Canadian elections.

The same section, though, makes the fixed election date subject to the Lieutenant Governor's right to dissolve the Legislative Assembly as he or she sees fit.

[8] After leading the BC Liberals for 17 years, Gordon Campbell announced he would resign as Premier and party leader in November 2010.

[9] In the ensuing leadership campaign, Christy Clark, the eventual winner, suggested she would prefer to hold an election earlier than 2013 to secure her own mandate.