John Horgan New Democratic John Horgan New Democratic The 2020 British Columbia general election was held on October 24, 2020, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly to serve in the 42nd parliament of the Canadian province of British Columbia.

[3] The incoming Legislature marked the first time the NDP commanded an outright majority government in BC since the 1996 election, as well as the first province-wide popular vote win for the party since 1991.

Horgan argued the call for an election a year before it was due was necessary because he was governing with a minority of seats in the Legislative Assembly.

[7] Section 23 also indicates the fixed election date is subject to the lieutenant governor's prerogative to dissolve the Legislative Assembly as they see fit (in practice, on the advice of the premier or following a vote of non-confidence).

[6][8] This prerogative was exercised on September 21, 2020, when Premier John Horgan called a snap election, thus dissolving the 41st Parliament.

The premier defended his decision to call an early election, claiming that the province needed the government to have a strong mandate and stability to deal with the challenges of the pandemic for the coming years; the governing New Democrats did not have a majority of seats in the legislature, relying on confidence and supply from the Greens for a slim combined majority.

[16][17][18][19] On September 21, 2020, the BC NDP chose Nathan Cullen, a longtime party member and former member of Parliament for the federal NDP, to be the New Democratic candidate in the riding of Stikine, which is located in northwestern BC and was previously represented by Doug Donaldson.

The NDP said that McPhee's application contained invalid signatures, and Cullen was nominated before the paperwork problem could be resolved.

[24][25] On September 30, NDP leader John Horgan promised to improve conditions at long-term care homes, at a cost of $1.4 billion.

[28] On October 8, the NDP announced that they would commit to building, contingent on contributions from the federal government, the entire 16-kilometre (9.9 mi) SkyTrain Expo Line extension to Langley Centre by 2025.

In the 41st Parliament, the BC Liberals served as the Official Opposition after briefly forming a minority government under then-premier Christy Clark, which was defeated on a confidence vote held 2 months after the 2017 British Columbia general election.