30th Parliament of British Columbia

The 30th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia sat from 1972 to 1975. The members were elected in the British Columbia general election held in August 1972. The New Democratic Party (NDP) led by Dave Barrett formed the government, and the Social Credit Party led by W. A. C. Bennett formed the official opposition. Bill Bennett was elected Social Credit party leader in November 1973 after his father resigned his seat in the assembly in June 1973.

Gordon Dowding served as speaker for the assembly.

Members of the 30th Parliament

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1972:

	Member	Electoral district	Party	First elected / previously elected	No.# of term(s)
	Robert Evans Skelly	Alberni	NDP	1972	1st term
	Frank Arthur Calder	Atlin	NDP	1949, 1960	8th term*
			Social Credit
	Francis Xavier Richter	Boundary-Similkameen	Social Credit	1953	7th term
	Gordon Dowding	Burnaby-Edmonds	NDP	1956	6th term
	Eileen Dailly	Burnaby North	NDP	1966	3rd term
	James Gibson Lorimer	Burnaby-Willingdon	NDP	1969	3rd term
	Alexander Vaughan Fraser	Cariboo	Social Credit	1969	2nd term
	Harvey Schroeder	Chilliwack	Social Credit	1972	1st term
	James Roland Chabot	Columbia River	Social Credit	1963	4th term
	Karen Elizabeth Sanford	Comox	NDP	1972	1st term
	David Barrett	Coquitlam	NDP	1960	5th term
	Robert Martin Strachan	Cowichan-Malahat	NDP	1952	8th term
	Carl Liden	Delta	NDP	1972	1st term
	Peter Rolston	Dewdney	NDP	1972	1st term
	James Henry Gorst	Esquimalt	NDP	1972	1st term
	Allan Alfred Nunweiler	Fort George	NDP	1972	1st term
	Gerald Hamilton Anderson	Kamloops	NDP	1972	1st term
	Leo Thomas Nimsick	Kootenay	NDP	1949	9th term
	Robert Howard McClelland	Langley	Social Credit	1972	1st term
	Don Lockstead	Mackenzie	NDP	1972	1st term
	David Daniel Stupich	Nanaimo	NDP	1963, 1972	3rd term*
	Lorne Nicolson	Nelson-Creston	NDP	1972	1st term
	Dennis Geoffrey Cocke	New Westminster	NDP	1969	2nd term
	Patricia Jordan	North Okanagan	Social Credit	1966	3rd term
	Dean Edward Smith	North Peace River	Social Credit	1966	3rd term
	David Maurice Brousson	North Vancouver-Capilano	Liberal	1968	3rd term
	Gordon Fulerton Gibson (1974)		Liberal	1974	1st term
	Colin Gabelmann	North Vancouver-Seymour	NDP	1972	1st term
	George Scott Wallace	Oak Bay	Progressive Conservative	1969	2nd term
	Douglas Tynwald Kelly	Omineca	NDP	1972	1st term
	Graham Lea	Prince Rupert	NDP	1972	1st term
	William Stewart King	Revelstoke-Slocan	NDP	1968, 1972	2nd term*
	Harold Leslie Steves	Richmond	NDP	1972	1st term
	Christopher D'Arcy	Rossland-Trail	NDP	1972	1st term
	Hugh Austin Curtis	Saanich and the Islands	Progressive Conservative	1972	1st term
			Social Credit
	Donald Emerson Lewis	Shuswap	NDP	1972	1st term
	Hartley Douglas Dent	Skeena	NDP	1972	1st term
	William Andrew Cecil Bennett	South Okanagan	Social Credit	1941, 1949	11th term*
	William Richards Bennett (1973)		Social Credit	1973	1st term
	Donald McGray Phillips	South Peace River	Social Credit	1966, 1972	2nd term*
	Ernest Hall	Surrey	NDP	1966	3rd term
	Rosemary Brown	Vancouver-Burrard	NDP	1972	1st term
	Norman Levi			1968, 1972	2nd term*
	Emery Oakland Barnes	Vancouver Centre	NDP	1972	1st term
	Gary Lauk			1972	1st term
	Alexander Barrett MacDonald	Vancouver East	NDP	1960	5th term
	Robert Arthur Williams			1966	3rd term
	Roy Thomas Cummings	Vancouver-Little Mountain	NDP	1972	1st term
	Phyllis Florence Young			1972	1st term
	Garde Basil Gardom	Vancouver-Point Grey	Liberal	1966	3rd term
			Social Credit
	Patrick Lucey McGeer		Liberal	1962	5th term
			Social Credit
	Jack A. Radford	Vancouver South	NDP	1972	1st term
	Daisy Webster			1972	1st term
	David Alexander Anderson	Victoria	Liberal	1972	1st term
	Newell Orrin Ruston Morrison		Social Credit	1972	1st term
	Louis Allan Williams	West Vancouver-Howe Sound	Liberal	1966	3rd term
			Social Credit
	William Leonard Hartley	Yale-Lillooet	NDP	1963	4th term

Party standings

Affiliation		Members
	New Democratic	38
	Social Credit	10
	Liberal	5
	Progressive Conservative	2
Total		55
Government Majority		21

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons:

Electoral district	Member elected	Party	Election date	Reason
South Okanagan	William Richards Bennett	Social Credit	September 7, 1973	W. A. C. Bennett resigned June 5, 1973; retired from politics
North Vancouver-Capilano	Gordon Fulerton Gibson	Liberal	February 5, 1974	D.M. Brousson resigned October 23, 1973, to look after business interests

Other changes

• Hugh Austin Curtis joins Social Credit October 25, 1974.
• Patrick McGeer and Allan Williams become Independents on May 9, 1975; they were followed by Garde Gardom on May 20. On September 30 all three join Social Credit.
• Cowichan-Malahat (res. Robert Strachan October 5, 1975)