Political Career
In 1987, Wilson took over as leader of the BC Liberal Party, a moribund party that had not elected a member in over a decade. In the 1991 general election, Wilson's profile skyrocketed after his highly successful performance in the campaign's televised leaders debate. During a nasty squabble between BC Socred leader and Premier Rita Johnston and BC NDP leader Mike Harcourt, Wilson famously said, "Here's a classic example of why nothing ever gets done in the province of British Columbia." It would become the campaign's most successful sound bite.
As a consequence, he led the Liberal Party to win 17 seats, its highest total since 1949. He was largely helped by moderate Socreds crossing over to vote Liberal. The Liberals vaulted from no seats to the Official Opposition in the legislature, relegating the ruling Social Credit Party to a distant third with seven seats. Wilson won his own seat in Powell River-Sunshine Coast.
In 1993, Wilson's leadership of the Liberals was challenged after it came to light that he was having an extramarital affair with fellow Liberal MLA Judi Tyabji, whom he had recently named as the party's House Leader. In a Liberal Party leadership review that had been called soon afterward, Wilson was defeated by Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell. Within weeks, he and Tyabji left the Liberal caucus and formed a new party, the Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA).
In the 1996 provincial election, Wilson retained his seat, while Tyabji, whom he later married, lost hers.
In 1997, Wilson shocked many in his party when he disbanded it and crossed the floor to join the governing NDP. As part of the deal, he joined Premier Glen Clark's cabinet as Minister of Finance and Minister of Employment, Investment and International Trade.
He ran for the NDP's party leadership at a convention in February 2000, but pulled out of the race shortly before the voting began. He threw his support to candidate Corky Evans, who in turn lost to Ujjal Dosanjh. In the 2001 provincial election, he lost his seat to BC Liberal candidate Harold Long, the Social Credit MLA he himself had defeated in 1991 when running for the BC Liberals.
Read more about this topic: Gordon Wilson (Canadian Politician)
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