British Columbia Libertarian Party

The British Columbia Libertarian Party is a libertarian party in British Columbia, Canada, that nominated its first candidates in the 1986 provincial election. There has never been a Libertarian elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The most recent election occurred under the leadership of Don Wilson where, in the 2020 British Columbia general election, the party fielded 25 candidates and received 8,360 votes, or 0.4% of the popular vote. Keith Macintyre had the best performance of any BC Libertarian candidate that year, in his electoral district of Penticton where he received 717 votes, or 2.6% of the popular vote. In 2021 they were viewed as a fringe party.

The response to the COVID-19 crisis opened a unique opportunity for the BC Libertarian party as the only provincial party that opposed the public health measures. The most recent changes to the party occurred in 2021 when Keith MacIntyre was elected as party leader during the Annual General Meeting in May. At this time Sandra Filosof-Schipper was elected as deputy leader and Clayton Welwood remained as party president. Other new positions that were filled were Dylan Davidson as Party Treasurer, Brandi McLauchlan as Party Secretary and Rachel Whitehouse, Maizy Thorvaldson and Josh Hardy as executive directors.

The party has been outspoken against perceived overreach of government during the COVID-19 pandemic and has made their presence at many protests and appearing on podcasts during 2021. When vaccine mandates started to begin in late 2021, the Party began writing political exemption letters for those finding themselves in the position of losing their employment based on their medical status.

Purpose and principles
The BC Libertarian Party adopted the following set of principles during its 2020 Annual General Meeting.

The purpose of the Party is to bring about the election of BC Libertarian Party candidates to the British Columbia Legislative Assembly in promoting the following core principles;


 * 1) That no individual or group is permitted to initiate the use of force or fraud against any other,
 * 2) That the universal natural rights to life, liberty, property, expression, and the peaceful pursuit of happiness are essential to the preservation of civil society,
 * 3) That the role of government is to protect and preserve such rights, and
 * 4) That the citizens of British Columbia have the right to defend and be defended from those persons or institutions that seek to diminish any of the above principles.

Values
The BC Libertarian Party adopted these policy statements at the 2022 Annual General Meeting and are the foundational framework on which all party policies are to be built upon:

Property Rights: Whereas the right to property is natural and self-evident, we advocate private property rights from both an ontological and utilitarian perspective. We affirm that private property rights extend from self-ownership and the scarcity inherent to our material existence. We condemn all fraud and initiatory violence towards a person’s life, liberty, and property. We contend that private property is the best way to reduce and reconcile conflict between individuals. We advocate for the creation of a British Columbia Constitution that enshrines and protects property rights for all British Columbians.

Free Expression: Whereas the right to free expression is a cornerstone of civil society, we believe that all individuals should be free to express and articulate their thoughts and opinions without fear of censorship or violent retaliation, provided that the individual does not incite fraud or violence against any other person or their property. We view limitations of free expression as antithetical to a free and open society, and as such, would repeal any legislation that limits the freedom of British Columbians to peaceably express themselves. We take no stance on the personal, cultural, or social preferences of individuals or groups. One’s lifestyle is an extension of their property rights. Thus, no individual or group can rightfully claim jurisdiction over the lifestyle of another. We assert only that any and all lifestyle choices must not violate the property rights of others, and we categorically reject all forms of identity politics as nothing more than weaponized tribal collectivism that is antithetical to individualism and civil society.

Economics: Whereas economics is the study of human action in the context of scarcity, we recognise the Austrian School of Economics as the preeminent body of economic science, whose analysis acts as a polestar, informing and serving as the foundation of our political policy prescriptions. As such, we reject all government monopolies and advocate non-corporatist privatisation of monopolistic government agencies, departments, and ministries where possible. We recognise that British Columbians deserve freedom of choice in the services they choose to use, and that a genuine free market provides higher quality and lower costs of those services. We categorically reject socialism, defined as the non-private collective ownership of resources.

Autonomy & Decentralisation: Whereas freedom of association manifests itself politically in the form of absolute right of self-determination, we support decentralisation – subsidiarity, secession, nullification, and localism – of political units down to the individual as a means of expanding choice and competition in governance for all individuals. We recognise and affirm that the State is not the same thing as governance. We reject the Federal government of Canada’s infringement into areas of Provincial jurisdiction. We will initiate discussions of constitutional reform for the purposes of negotiating a better deal for British Columbia within confederation, to add property rights protections to the Canadian Bill of Rights, and to establish explicit and enumerated limits on the role and scope of all levels of the State in Canada. Furthermore, we affirm that section 121 of the Constitution Act, 1867 is clear; All Articles of the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of any one of the Provinces shall, from and after the Union, be admitted free into each of the other Provinces. As such, we advocate for an immediate and unilateral lifting of all barriers to free trade of people, goods, and services between British Columbia and the other provinces of Canada. Should these negotiations fail to produce an acceptable result for British Columbians, we will move for a peaceful divorce from Canada to make British Columbia an independent nation.

Omissions: Our silence about any other particular government law, regulation, ordinance, directive, edict, control, regulatory agency, activity, or machination should not be construed to imply approval. We seek to enunciate our top priorities, not the entirety of our positions.

2020 party platform

 * Ending the ICBC monopoly on basic auto insurance.
 * Allowing for more parental and student choice in education.
 * Decentralizing decision making powers to local communities, families, and individuals.
 * Abolishing provincial government monopoly on liquor and cannabis distribution.
 * Adapting to a changing climate and promoting environmental policies that will have the greatest impact.
 * Sweeping tax policy reform, including tripling the basic income tax exemption to $35,000 and abolishing the carbon, fuel, cigarette, liquor, and marijuana taxes.
 * Reducing transportation costs through the elimination of various taxes and regulatory bodies, and opening up the market to new innovations like car sharing, bike sharing, ride sharing, and other transportation solutions.
 * Removing legal barriers to ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft.
 * Growing the economy by making life more affordable for all British Columbians.
 * Supporting British Columbia's resource-based economy.