A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the Crown-in-Council; the legislature, as the Crown-in-Parliament; and the courts, as the Crown-on-the-Bench.

As government power is vested in the Crown, the role of the lieutenant governor is to grant royal assent on behalf of the monarch to legislation passed by the Legislature.

The Legislature plays a role in the election of governments, as the premier and Cabinet hold office by virtue of commanding the body's confidence.

Per the tenants of responsible government, Cabinet ministers are almost always elected MLAs, and account to the Legislative Assembly.

The second-largest party of parliamentary caucus is known as the Official Opposition, who typically appoint MLAs as shadow ministers who critique and scrutinize the work of the government.

From 1972 to 1975, an NDP government led by Dave Barrett held power but was defeated after a showdown with organized labour.

Social Credit was returned to power with a new leader, and the son of the former Premier, Bill Bennett, who had been recruited by the party's old guard but brought in a new style of politics.

In the face of mounting unpopularity and numerous scandals, the party was defeated by the NDP who went on to lead the province for the next ten years.

In 2020, the Horgan led NDP government called a snap election, where they beat the BC Liberal party winning a clear majority with 57 out of 81 seats.

[3] Only one recall petition was ever successful: that compelling MLA Paul Reitsma to resign his seat in 1998 – hours before he would have been removed from office.

One of the last acts of the coalition government was to adopt the alternative voting system, which was implemented for the 1952 general election.

In 2017 election, the BC NDP campaigned on the promise to hold a referendum on switching to an electoral system of proportional representation.

In the end, the second question was moot as voters decicively chose the familiar first past the post system (61.3%) over the unfamiliar proportional representation (38.7%).