British Columbia Marijuana Party

British Columbia Marijuana Party
Former provincial party
AbbreviationBCMP
PresidentMarc Emery
Founded2000 (2000)
Dissolved2019 (2019)
Headquarters307 Hastings St W.
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6B 1H6
IdeologyLegalization of marijuana
ColoursTan, Green
Seats in Legislature
0 / 87

The British Columbia Marijuana Party (abbreviated BCMP) was a minor political party in the Canadian province of British Columbia that advocated the legalisation of cannabis.

The BCMP was formed following the 2000 federal election. Marc Emery, the founder and current president of the party, formed the party the day after the 2000 vote. The BCMP made provincial history during the 2001 provincial election that came six months later, by being the only party to ever field candidates in all of the province's ridings during their first election campaign.[1]

Brian Taylor served as the party's first leader during the 2001 provincial election. Taylor had been a prominent cannabis activist and was the former mayor of Grand Forks.[2]

The Marijuana Party was excluded from the televised leaders' debate, even though they were running more candidates than either the Green Party or the Unity Party, both of which were included. BC Marijuana Party members protested during the televised debate.[3]

In 2001, the party won 51,206 votes, 3.22% of the popular vote. Teresa Taylor, daughter of leader Brian Taylor, captured the party's highest popular vote total with 1,136 and polled 5.6% in the conservative Okanagan-Westside district.[4]

After the election, Dana Larsen became leader,[5] followed by Marc Emery when Larsen switched to the New Democratic Party in 2003.[6][7]

Emery also remains as president and chief organizer, despite having faced extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds from Canada by mail order.[8]

In the 2005 election, the party fielded 44 candidates, who won a total of 11,519 votes, or 0.64% of the province-wide total.

Before the 2009 election, the party announced it would endorse Green Party candidates in every riding across the province. However, it would run two candidates to continue its party status; those candidates would also openly endorse the Green candidate in that particular constituency.[9] The party ran two candidates in the 2013 election and no candidates in the 2017 election. The party de-registered with Elections BC effective October 2019.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Marijuana Party makes BC History". Archived from the original on 2007-06-14.
  2. ^ "Marijuana Party Readies For BC Election".
  3. ^ "Smoking Mad".
  4. ^ "CN BC: Marijuana Party Candidate Scores Decent Numbers".
  5. ^ "Pot activists gear up for BC election | Cannabis Culture Magazine". Cannabisculture.com. 2005-02-04. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
  6. ^ "Canada: Ex-Marijuana Party Leader To Run For NDP In Federal Election". Mapinc.org. 2003-12-11. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
  7. ^ "CN BC: Ex-Marijuana Party Leader Goes To NDP". Mapinc.org. 2003-12-12. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
  8. ^ "No Extradition for the BC3!". 21 January 2008. Archived from the original on 2007-12-31.
  9. ^ "B.C. Marijuana Party endorses Green candidates for 2009 Provincial Election". Archived from the original on 2010-02-04.
  10. ^ "Deregistration Financial Report" (PDF). Elections BC. October 23, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
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