Leader: Gordon Campbell

The BC Liberals won 77 of 79 seats in the 2001 election. The party currently holds 72 seats. One member elected as a Liberal left the party to sit as a member of Democratic Reform British Columbia; one member elected as a Liberal left to sit as an independent; the party lost one by-election to the opposition New Democratic Party; and two former Liberal seats were vacant when the election was called.

Leader: Carole James

The NDP's legislative caucus was reduced from a majority to just two seats in the 2001 election. It added a seat to bring the total to three in a January 2005 by-election. Carole James, new to provincial politics and without a seat in the legislature, now leads the party.

Leader: Adriane Carr

The Green Party ran 72 candidates in 2001, winning 12 percent of the vote but no seats in the legislature. Some have argued that the Green Party support peaked in 2001, drawing on dissatisfied NDP voters, and they will remain incapable of winning a seat in 2005 under the First-Past-the-Post system; others believe that if there are four or more competitive parties in this election that they may elect a handful of members. The Greens may benefit if the 2009 election is conducted using the proposed BC-STV system.

Leader: Tom Morino

DRBC is a new party created in early 2005 by the merger of the British Columbia Democratic Coalition—a coalition of minor centrist parties— with the All Nations Party of British Columbia and key elements of the Reform Party of British Columbia. Independent MLA Elayne Brenzinger, a former Liberal, became DRBC's first MLA on January 19, 2005. Controversially, no invitation was extended for Morino to participate in the leader's debate.

Leader: Marc Emery

The BC Marijuana Party have nominated 43 candidates this election. It was the only party other than the Liberals and NDP to run candidates in all 79 districts in 2001. The party has chosen not to run in certain districts and instead endorse New Democrat and Green candidates who publicly favour the legalization of marijuana. Party founder Marc Emery is running against Solicitor General Rich Coleman, an anti-drug hardliner, in staunchly conservative Fort Langley-Aldergrove. He gained controversy early in the campaign for claiming that the government spends too much money on senior citizens.

Leader: Conrad Schmidt<p> The WLP is a anti-materialist political movement that hopes to achieve socialist and green ends through, among other things, the promotion of a four-day work-week. The 2005 BC election marks the debut in Western politics of any registered party expressly driven by the ideology of voluntary simplicity. It has nominated 11 candidates, all in urban ridings.

Platinum Party of Employers Who Think and Act to Increase Awareness<p> Leader: Jeff Evans<p> Running eleven candidates

British Columbia Conservative Party<p> Leader: Barry Chilton<p> Running seven candidates. Former Provincial affiliate of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

British Columbia Libertarian Party<p> No registered leader<p> Running six candidates. Provincial affiliate of the Libertarian Party of Canada

People's Front<p> Leader: Charles Boylan<p> Running five candidates. Provincial affiliate of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist).

Western Refederation Party of British Columbia<p> No registered leader<p> A new autonomist/separatist party running four candidates around the province.

Communist Party of British Columbia<p> Leader: George Gidora<p> Running three candidates. Provincial affiliate of the Communist Party of Canada.

Sex Party<p> Leader: John Ince<p> Running three candidates in the City of Vancouver. Bills itself as "the world's first sex-positive party."

Bloc British Columbia Party<p> Leader: Paddy Roberts<p> Libertarian separatist movement. Running three candidates in the Interior.

British Columbia Social Credit Party<p> No registered leader<p> Although Social Credit governed British Columbia for most of the period from 1952 to 1991, the party is now a minor party, with little organization or support. They are running just the minimum two candidates in order to retain party status this election.

Freedom Party of British Columbia<p> Leader: Kenneth Montgomery Keillor<p> Running two candidates.

British Columbia Patriot Party<p> Leader: Andrew Hokhold<p> Running two candidates.

Western Canada Concept Party of British Columbia<p> Leader: Doug Christie<p> Although the WCC did not run in the 2001 election, it has been a constant, if minor, force in the BC political fringes for decades. Christie, its controversial leader, and a second candidate are running for the party in Greater Victoria.

British Columbia Party<p> Leader: Grant Mitton<p> The BC Party is also a relatively old minor party, one of several populist conservative organizations that attempted to fill the vaccuum after the collapse of Social Credit in the mid-nineties. This, however, is the first election where they have actually nominated candidates, in this case, two. A third, Summer Davis in Surrey-Tynehead, is now listed on Elections BC's list of candidates as an independent.

British Columbia Moderate Democratic Movement<p> No registered leader<p> The majority of the Moderates, including leader Matthew Laird, merged into DRBC. Its registration has not lapsed, however, and one may assume that the two candidates running under its banner opposed the merger.

British Columbia Youth Coalition<p> No registered leader.<p> Running two candidates.

British Columbia Unity Party<p> Interim Leader: Daniel Stelmacker<p> BC Unity finished fourth in 2001, winning slightly over 3% of the vote with a slate of 56 candidates. It stood poised to potentially benefit from right-of-centre voters disenchanted with Campbell, but instead fell victim to serious internal division following a failed merger with the BC Conservative Party, which led to Chris Delaney's resignationas party leader. It has appointed Daniel Stelmacker as its interim leader until it can hold a full leadership convention in the autumn of 2005. Stelmacker is its only nominated candidate, in Skeena riding.

Reform Party of British Columbia<p> No registered leader<p> Aborted mergers with BC Unity and DRBC have drained supporters left and right from BC Reform, left only a tiny core of what was briefly BC's third party. Party founder Ron Gamble is running as the party's sole candidate in North Vancouver-Lonsdale.

Your Political Party of British Columbia<p> Leader: James Filippelli<p> YPP appears to be a one-man political movement; its website makes mention of no figures other than Filippelli, the party's founder and leader, who is also is its sole candidate this election. He is running in Port Moody-Westwood.

Emerged Democracy Party of British Columbia<p> Leader: Tony Luck<p> Running one candidate, Rob Nordberg, in Surrey-Green Timbers.