| 40th Parliament of British Columbia | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Majority parliament | |||
| 26 June 2013 – 11 April 2017 | |||
 | |||
| Parliament leaders | |||
| Premier | Christy Clark March 14, 2011 – July 18, 2017 | ||
| Cabinet | C. Clark II | ||
| Leader of the Opposition | Adrian Dix April 17, 2011 – May 4, 2014 | ||
| John Horgan May 4, 2014 – July 18, 2017 | |||
| Party caucuses | |||
| Government | Liberal Party | ||
| Opposition | New Democratic Party | ||
| Unrecognized | Green Party | ||
| Legislative Assembly | |||
| Speaker of the Assembly | Linda Reid June 26, 2013 – March 16, 2017 | ||
| Government House Leader | Michael de Jong 2012 – 2017 | ||
| Members | 85 MLA seats | ||
| Sovereign | |||
| Monarch | Elizabeth II February 6, 1952 – present | ||
| Lieutenant Governor | Judith Guichon November 2, 2012 – April 24, 2018 | ||
| Sessions | |||
| 1st session June 26, 2013 – February 11, 2014 | |||
| 2nd session February 11, 2014 – October 6, 2014 | |||
| 3rd session October 6, 2014 – February 10, 2015 | |||
| 4th session February 10, 2015 – February 9, 2016 | |||
| 5th session February 9, 2016 – February 14, 2017 | |||
| 6th session February 14, 2017 – March 16, 2017 | |||
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The 40th Parliament of British Columbia was in session from June 26, 2013, to April 11, 2017. It consisted of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, as elected by the general election of May 14, 2013, and the Queen represented by the Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon. That election unexpectedly returned the BC Liberal Party to another absolute majority government, their fourth consecutive government since 2001, this time with Christy Clark who had been premier since 2011. The BC New Democratic Party formed the official opposition under Adrian Dix and John Horgan who replaced Dix in the 2014 leadership election. The first member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Green Party of BC, Andrew J. Weaver served in this parliament, along with independent Vicki Huntington. Three MLAs resigned: Jenny Kwan and Douglas Horne who resigned to stand in a federal election, as well as Ben Stewart who resigned for the purpose of providing the Premier, who had lost her seat in the general election, with another opportunity to gain a seat. The by-elections to replace the resigned members Clark won Stewart's Kelowna riding, while Melanie Mark and Jodie Wickens replaced Kwan and Horne, respectively. The only members to leave their party, Marc Dalton briefly left the BC Liberals as he unsuccessfully sought the Conservative Party nomination in the federal election, and Pat Pimm left the BC Liberal Party just prior to being arrested.
Legislative initiatives which were part of 2013 BC Liberal election platform included major amendments to liquor laws, local government elections, and holding a plebiscite on TransLink funding. The BC Liberal election priority of fostering a liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry involved the creation of the Liquefied Natural Gas Income Tax Act, the Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Act which provides exemptions for LNG facilities and replaces the existing cap and trade regime, amendments to the Protected Areas of British Columbia Act to make way for pipelines through parks and other protected areas, and various amendments to the Natural Gas Development Statutes Act (formerly the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act). Other major legislation included the adoption of the Water Sustainability Act, creation of a licensing system for all-terrain vehicle and snowmobiles in the Off-Road Vehicle Act, adding electronic cigarette to the Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act, modernizing the Societies Act, amendments to the Motor Dealer Act to prohibit online sales of vehicles, creation of a new provincial park called the Ancient Forest/Chun T'oh Whudujut Park, and adoption of the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act that limited commercial logging in the Great Bear Rainforest. Other new legislation included making discrimination based on gender identity or expression illegal, and creating a 15% property transfer tax that only applies to foreign nationals in Metro Vancouver.
In preparation for the next general election, legislation was adopted to increase the number of MLAs to 87, delete pre-campaign expense limits, allow constituency associations to incur election expenses, require dissemination of the identity of those who voted in the last election, and limited the update to voter registration information. The 40th parliament of British Columbia was formally dissolved on April 11, 2017, by request of the premier to the lieutenant governor making way for the 41st British Columbia general election set for May 9, 2017.