Clark government: 1996–1999 Clark entered the 1996 election far back in the polls"Two polls put B.C. Liberals on top". Times Colonist. June 4, 1994. p. 1. but proved an excellent campaigner. For the duration of the election, he re-unified the party's traditional coalition, using the slogan "On Your Side". He effectively portrayed the Liberals' new leader, former Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell, as a pawn of big business and a dangerous right-wing extremist. Clark, for example, pointed to Campbell's promise to privatize BC Rail as an example of Campbell's pro big business policies. Clark was aided by Jack Weisgerber, leader of the BC Reform Party (the name taken by the majority of the Social Credit caucus), and Wilson, by then leader of the Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA). Although the NDP won only 39 percent of the vote to Campbell's 42 percent, it secured 39 seats to Campbell's 33. This was partially explained by the vote splitting of the centre-right electorate following the collapse of the Social Credit party, with 9.29% and 5.74% of the popular vote going to the right wing Reform party and centrist Progressive Democrat parties respectively. This is possible because BC uses a first past the post electoral system.
clark government 1996–1999 clark entered the 1996 election far back in the polls"two polls put bc liberals on top" times colonist june 4 1994 p 1 but proved an excellent campaigner for the duration of the election he re-unified the party's traditional coalition using the slogan "on your side" he effectively portrayed the liberals' new leader former vancouver mayor gordon campbell as a pawn of big business and a dangerous right-wing extremist clark for example pointed to campbell's promise to privatize bc rail as an example of campbell's pro big business policies clark was aided by jack weisgerber leader of the bc reform party (the name taken by the majority of the social credit caucus) and wilson by then leader of the progressive democratic alliance (pda) although the ndp won only 39 percent of the vote to campbell's 42 percent it secured 39 seats to campbell's 33 this was partially explained by the vote splitting of the centre-right electorate following the collapse of the social credit party with 929% and 574% of the popular vote going to the right wing reform party and centrist progressive democrat parties respectively this is possible because bc uses a first past the post electoral system