Election 2001

A British Columbia provincial election has been called for May 16, 2001. Unfortunately, the BCLP will not be able to run candidates under the BCLP banner, since the party is not yet officially re-registered with the provincial Elections Commission.

In the last election (1996) we were late in submitting our election finance reports and refused to pay the subsequent outrageous fines. We were taken to court and ordered to submit to an expensive audit and had our remaining funds confiscated. Elections BC is still insisting that we pay outstanding fines of $20,000 in order to re-register the party.

Even though some BCLP candidates will not be able to run in this election unless they pay personal fines of $10,000 each, other BCLP members still wish to use the election to do what they can to advance libertarian ideas. Some members have chosen to run as candidates for the Marijuana Party. This party will be running a full slate of candidates (all ridings) and has the resources to make its message heard. However, not everyone in the Marijuana Party is a libertarian, and many candidates may not be acquainted with, or support, the full range of libertarian positions. The central position of the Marijuana Party, ending drug prohibition, is one which libertarians can in good conscience support. The party's platform of "Choices, Options and Tolerance" has taken strong libertarian positions on some issues--choice in education, health care and depoliticizing the forests--but this is a coalition party and some compromises have had to be made.

The BCLP very much regrets that we are unable to provide a true libertarian alternative in this election. However, we urge you to support the following libertarian candidates:

Please contact us at info@libertarian.bc.ca if you wish to be included on this list.

In other ridings, we offer our qualified endorsement to the Marijuana Party candidates, should you wish to cast a vote for or support a relatively pro-liberty candidate.