Reform Party of British Columbia - Failed Merger Into BC Unity

Failed Merger Into BC Unity

Following Hanni's resignation, at the November 12-13, 1999 leadership convention, former Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm was acclaimed as leader of the party. Vander Zalm attempted to orchestrate a merger of Reform with other right-wing parties, but ran into stiff opposition from a centrist old guard. Following some controversy over paperwork submission deadlines, the Reform Party was de-registered as a BC political party in February 2001. At the time, they were in second place in the polls, with a one percentage point lead over the NDP, and had been in second place for the previous year.

The Vander Zalm wing of the party later joined form the BC Unity Party, with members of four other right-wing parties (the British Columbia Social Credit Party, the British Columbia Conservative Party, the British Columbia Party, and the Family Coalition Party of British Columbia) to while other members re-registered "Reform BC" and swung back to the political centre.

In the 2001 provincial election, the Reform Party nominated eight candidates, receiving a total of 3,008 votes (0.22% of the total vote). In five ridings, Reform received over 2% of the vote, its best result being in Surrey-Green Timbers, where the party won 3.5% of the vote.