It was led by Rita Johnston, the 29th premier of British Columbia, and consisted of members of the Social Credit Party.

Johnston was Deputy Premier of British Columbia in the preceding Vander Zalm ministry; following Bill Vander Zalm's resignation, the Social Credit caucus selected her to be the interim leader (and thus premier) while the party could organize a leadership convention.

Elwood Veitch, who had taken over the finance ministry after Couvelier's resignation, remained in cabinet as minister of international business and immigration.

Notably, Bruce and Mercier were two of the four MLAs who had quit the party caucus in 1989 in protest of Vander Zalm's leadership.

[3] On May 7, Johnston fired Couvelier from cabinet for allegedly breaching the confidentiality provisions of the Financial Institutions Act.