List of premiers of British Columbia

David Eby has been premier of British Columbia since 2022.

The premier of British Columbia is the first minister for the Canadian province of British Columbia. The province was a British crown colony governed by the governors of British Columbia<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> before joining Canadian Confederation in 1871.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Since then, it has had a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the legislative assembly. The premier is British Columbia's head of government, and the [[Monarchy of Canada|Template:Canadian monarch, current of Canada]] is its head of state and is represented by the lieutenant governor of British Columbia. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of British Columbia and presides over that body.<ref name="office">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Members are first elected to the legislature during general elections. General elections must be conducted every four years from the date of the last election. An election may also take place if the governing party loses the confidence of the legislature by the defeat of a supply bill or tabling of a no-confidence motion.<ref name="office" />

Before 1903, British Columbia did not use a party system; instead, premiers of British Columbia had no official party affiliation and were chosen by elected members of the legislative assembly from among themselves. Candidates ran as "Government", "Opposition", "Independent", or in formulations such as "Opposition independent", indicating their respective positions to the incumbent regime.

British Columbia has had 36 individuals serve as premier since joining Confederation, of which 14 individuals had no party affiliation, three were Conservatives, eight were Liberals, four were Socreds, and seven were New Democrats. The first premier was John Foster McCreight, who was inaugurated in 1871. Joseph Martin spent the shortest time in office, at 106 days. At over twenty years, W. A. C. Bennett spent the longest time in office and is the only premier to serve in more than five parliaments. The incumbent premier is David Eby, who was sworn in on November 18, 2022.

List of premiers by time in office

Rank	Premier	Total time in office	Dates in office	Template:Tooltip	Party
1	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	7	Template:Canadian party colour
2	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	5	Template:Canadian party colour
3	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	3	Template:Canadian party colour
4	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	3	Template:Canadian party colour
5	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	3	Template:Canadian party colour
6	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	3	Template:Canadian party colour
7	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	3	Template:Canadian party colour
8	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	2	Template:Canadian party colour
9	Template:Sortname	Template:Ntsh 5 years, 343 days	Template:Dts – Template:Dts Template:Dts – Template:Dts	3	Template:Canadian party colour
10	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	2	Template:Canadian party colour
11	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
12	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	2	Template:Canadian party colour
13	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	2	Template:Canadian party colour
14	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
15	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	2	Template:Canadian party colour
16	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	2	Template:Canadian party colour
17	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
18	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
19	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – present	2	Template:Canadian party colour
20	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	2	Template:Canadian party colour
21	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	2	Template:Canadian party colour
22	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
23	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
24	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
25	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
26	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
27	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
28	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
29	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
30	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
31	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
32	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
33	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
34	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
35	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour
36	Template:Sortname	Template:Ayd	Template:Dts – Template:Dts	1	Template:Canadian party colour

Political parties by time in office

By premier's party

Party		Time in office (days)	#	Premiers	Liberal Party	{{#expr: Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 }}Template:Efn	8	Harlan Carey Brewster, John Oliver, John Duncan MacLean, Duff Pattullo, John HartTemplate:Efn, Boss JohnsonTemplate:Efn, Gordon Campbell, and Christy Clark
Social Credit Party	{{#expr: Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 }}	4	W. A. C. Bennett, Bill Bennett, Bill Vander Zalm, and Rita Johnston
New Democratic Party	{{#expr: Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 }}	7	Dave Barrett, Mike Harcourt, Glen Clark, Dan Miller, Ujjal Dosanjh, John Horgan, and David Eby (incumbent)
Conservative Party	{{#expr: Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 }}	3	Richard McBride, William John Bowser, and Simon Fraser Tolmie

By cabinet's party

Party		Time in office (days)	#	Cabinets	Liberal Party	{{#expr: Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 }}	7	Brewster, Oliver, MacLean, Pattullo, JohnsonTemplate:Efn, Campbell, and C. Clark
Social Credit Party	{{#expr: Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 }}	4	W. A. C. Bennett, B. Bennett, Vander Zalm, and Johnston
New Democratic Party	{{#expr: Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 }}	7	Barrett, Harcourt, G. Clark, Miller, Dosanjh, Horgan, and Eby (incumbent)
Conservative Party	{{#expr: Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 }}	3	McBride ministry, Bowser ministry, and Tolmie ministry
bgcolor="Template:Canadian party colour" |	Liberal–Conservative coalition	{{#expr: Template:Age in days + 1 + Template:Age in days + 1 }}	2	Hart, and JohnsonTemplate:Efn

See also

• List of British Columbian ministries
• Leader of the Opposition (British Columbia)

References

General

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• Template:Cite encyclopedia

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