Political Career
In the 1996 provincial election he was elected in Vancouver-Burrard to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party. He served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Health and between 2000-2001 he held a cabinet position as Minister for Employment and Investment. He was the first openly gay provincial cabinet minister in Canada. In the 2001 provincial election he lost to his BC Liberal opponent, Lorne Mayencourt.
In 2002 he was elected to the Vancouver City Council in British Columbia. As a member of the city council and board member of Tourism Vancouver, he best known for modernizing Vancouver's entertainment and tourism industry. When gay marriage became legalized in British Columbia, Tim Stevenson performed the first legal gay weddings in the province.
Stevenson was a candidate in the 2005 B.C. provincial election, again in Vancouver-Burrard. Conflicting results throughout election night had both Stevenson and Mayencourt declared the victor at different times, and the uncertainty continued for several weeks. In the official count of regular ballots, Stevenson was declared the winner by 17 votes. However, when absentee ballots were counted on May 30, 2005, Mayencourt was declared the winner by a margin of 18 votes. After a judicial recount, Mayencourt was declared the victor by 11 votes.
Stevenson won re-election as a city councilor in the 2005 Vancouver municipal election as a member of Vision Vancouver, and again in 2008.
Read more about this topic: Tim Stevenson
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“He knows nothing and thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)