Andrew Wilkinson KC
Leader of the Opposition in British Columbia
In office February 3, 2018 – November 21, 2020
Preceded by	Rich Coleman
Succeeded by	Shirley Bond
Member of theBritish Columbia Legislative Assembly forVancouver-Quilchena
In office May 14, 2013 – February 17, 2022
Preceded by	Colin Hansen
Succeeded by	Kevin Falcon
Leader of the BC Liberal Party
In office February 3, 2018 – November 23, 2020
Preceded by	Rich Coleman (interim)
Succeeded by	Shirley Bond (interim)
Attorney General of British Columbia
In office June 12, 2017 – July 17, 2017
Premier	Christy Clark
Preceded by	Suzanne Anton
Succeeded by	David Eby
Minister of Advanced Education
In office December 18, 2014 – June 12, 2017
Preceded by	Amrik Virk
Succeeded by	Linda Reid
Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens' Services
In office June 10, 2013 – December 17, 2014
Premier	Christy Clark
Preceded by	Ben Stewart
Succeeded by	Amrik Virk
Personal details
Born	1957 (age 67–68) Brisbane,Australia[1]
Political party	BC Liberal
Residence(s)	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford University of Alberta (M.D.) Dalhousie University (LL.B.)
Profession	Physician lawyer doctor

Andrew WilkinsonKC (born 1957) is aCanadian politician. He is the former leader of theBritish Columbia Liberal Party,^[2] and served as the leader of British Columbia'sOfficial Opposition from 2018 to 2020. He was elected to theLegislative Assembly of British Columbia in the2013 provincial election and re-elected in 2017 and 2020, representing the electoral district ofVancouver-Quilchena.^[3]

Following his election, Wilkinson was appointed to theChristy Clark ministry, serving as Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens' Services from 2013 to 2014, Minister of Advanced Education from 2014 to 2017, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General in 2017.

Following the BC Liberal government defeat in 2017 and Clark's resignation as leader, he successfully stood in the2018 BC Liberal Party leadership election. Wilkinson led the party into the2020 British Columbia general election, but lost the election to the NDP led byJohn Horgan, and resigned as leader shortly after. In 2022, he resigned from the Legislature to open a seat for new BC Liberal leaderKevin Falcon.

Wilkinson was born inBrisbane,Australia. His family migrated toCanada when he was four and he grew up inKamloops.^[4]

Wilkinson attended medical school at theUniversity of Alberta. Three years into medical school, he was awarded aRhodes Scholarship to study at theUniversity of Oxford where he obtained his first law degree. He then returned to the University of Alberta to finish his M.D.^[5]

After medical school, Wilkinson worked for a few years as a doctor inCampbell River,Lillooet andDease Lake before making the switch to law.^[5]

He received his LL.B. fromDalhousie University in 1987 and was called to the British Columbia bar in 1988. Wilkinson’s legal practice was in litigation, including defending doctors, with numerous trials and appeals, including the Supreme Court of Canada. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2008.

Wilkinson was president of theBC Civil Liberties Association and the BC Mountaineering Club in the early 1990s.^[6]

In 2006, after leaving his post as a deputy minister in Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal government, Wilkinson joined the Vancouver office ofMcCarthy Tétrault, a major national law firm, where he practised as a litigator.

Wilkinson served as the president of theBC Liberal Party from 1998 to 2001.^[7] After the party formed the largest majority government in the province's history in2001, party leaderGordon Campbell appointed Wilkinson to be thedeputy minister responsible for intergovernmental relations.^[8][9]

In 2003, he was transferred to the position of deputy minister for the Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development,^[7] where he was responsible for economic issues, trade and tourism. He returned to the private sector in 2006, becoming a partner in the Litigation Group ofMcCarthy Tétrault.^[10] He remained active in Liberal politics in the intervening years, having served as riding president of federal MPJoyce Murray and briefly as BC campaign co-chair toMichael Ignatieff's federal election campaign.

With the2013 election approaching andColin Hansen retiring in hisVancouver-Quilchena riding, Wilkinson stood for the BC Liberal nomination. The nomination was also contested byVancouver city councillorSuzanne Anton,^[11] but Wilkinson but won the nomination. Anton then shifted to theVancouver-Fraserview riding where another BC Liberal incumbent was retiring.^[12] He easily won theVancouver-Quilchena riding in the2013 British Columbia general election with over 60% of the vote as his party won the election and formed a majority government.

As the40th Parliament of British Columbia began, PremierChristy Clark appointed Wilkinson as the Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens' Services on June 10, 2013.^[13] In the role, he was responsible for the selloff of government land.^[14] Amongst the sales was 5750 Panorama Drive in Surrey to Fairborne Lands LTD that had been previously earmarked as the site for a new hospital by premier Gordon Campbell.^[15][16][17] Wilkinson also oversaw the designing of the BC Services Card to combine drivers' licenses and CareCards.^[18] On December 17, 2014, Premier Clark had Wilkinson andAmrik Virk exchanged Ministries and Wilkinson became the new Minister of Advanced Education.^[19] In this role, he introduced his first two bills, both on February 11, 2015. TheChartered Professional Accountants Act (Bill 4) mergedchartered accountants,certified general accountants andmanagement accountants into one professional regulatory body. ThePrivate Training Act (Bill 7) repealed the37th Parliament'sPrivate Career Training Institutions Act and moved regulation to the Private Training Institutions Branch of the Ministry of Advanced Education, ending the industry's ability to self-regulate.^[20] In 2016, he introduced one final bill before the parliament ended, theSexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act which requires all public post-secondary institutions establish a sexual misconduct policy.^[21]

Following a January, 2017 article inThe New York Times entitled "British Columbia: The 'Wild West' of Canadian Political Cash"^[22] Wilkinson was delegated to speak on behalf of the BC Liberal party, saying: "No one gets special treatment by being a campaign donor," and "It's a system that works." B.C. has since banned corporate and Union donations. During the41st Parliament Wilkinson sponsored several private member bills. On September 13, 2017, he introduced theElection Amendment Act, 2017 (Bill M-201) which proposed to ban corporate and union political donations, impose a $5,000 annual limit for political contributions by individuals, ban loans except fromCanadian banks or credit unions and ban in-kind donations of staff.

In the2017 BC election Wilkinson again ran for office with the BC Liberal Party in the Vancouver-Quilchena riding and was reelected with 56% of the vote. The BC Liberal Party won the largest number of seats on election night but not enough to form a majority government. This led to their defeat on a confidence vote on June 29, 2017.^[23] The NDP and the BC Greens came to an agreement to allow the NDP to form government.

During the41st Parliament Wilkinson sponsored several private member bills. On September 13, 2017, he introduced theElection Amendment Act, 2017 (Bill M-201) which proposed to ban corporate and union political donations, impose a $5,000 annual limit for political contributions by individuals, ban loans except fromCanadian banks or credit unions and ban in-kind donations of staff. While the bill did not proceed, the provisions were adopted in a more comprehensive government bill,Election Amendment Act, 2017 (Bill 3) that same year.^[24] On May 14, 2018, he introduced theStrata Pre-Sale Contract Flipping Tax Act, 2018 (Bill M-217) which sought to make 50% of the profit made in selling acondominium before it is available for occupancy subject to income tax. Again, while the bill did not proceed, the government, inReal Estate Development Marketing Amendment Act, 2018 (Bill 25), that same year made these contracts subject to the property transfer tax.^[25][26]

Once theBC Liberal Party leadership election was underway to replaceChristy Clark, who had announced her resignation on July 28, 2017, Wilkinson announced his candidacy on September 25. He made the announcement at the Pan Pacific Hotel inCoal Harbour with fellow BC Liberal MLAsMichelle Stilwell,Mary Polak andJohn Rustad,Doug Clovechok andTom Shypitka endorsing him.^[27] He was eventually endorsed by 13 MLAs, the most of any candidate. On the initial ballot he placed third, behindDianne Watts andMichael Lee, but the contest was decided byranked voting so that by the fifth and final ballot Wilkinson won with 53% and became leader of the BC Liberal Party and theofficial opposition on February 3, 2018.^[28] At its subsequent annual convention, the party under Wilkinson unveiled a new brand identity with the slogan "Opportunity for All of B.C." to replace Clark's "Today's BC Liberals".^[29]

In the2018 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, the BC Liberal Party under Wilkinson's leadership registered third-party advertising sponsors to support retaining the existingfirst-past-the-post voting system and reject aproportional representation system.^[30] On November 8 he participated in a province-wide televised debate against Premier John Horgan who argued in favour of proportional representation.^[31] The result of the referendum was a defeat for the NDP, with 61% voting in favour of continuing with the current first-past-the-post voting system.

On October 10, 2020, the host of This is Vancolour, Mo Amir, released footage of a BC Liberal roast for retiring MLA Ralph Sultan.^[32] On the leaked footage, BC Liberal candidateJane Thornthwaite can be seen making sexist comments of BC NDP candidateBowinn Ma.^[33] The video prompted Wilkinson, Thornthwaite and other BC Liberal Candidates to issue public apologies.^[34][35]

Wilkinson led the BC Liberals during the2020 British Columbia general election under the slogan "Restore Confidence, Rebuild BC." The platform was centred on a temporary suspension of sales tax, expanded child care and seniors' housing, expanded infrastructure spending, and introducing competition in the auto insurance market.^[36] The campaign was marked by controversies, including the ouster of Liberal candidate Laurie Throness, who compared birth control to eugenics, and sexist remarks made by Liberal candidate Jane Thornthwaite towards NDP MLA Bowinn Ma.^[37][38][39] Wilkinson resigned as leader following the election, in which the BC Liberals lost 14 seats. On November 23, 2020, the BC Liberal Caucus electedShirley Bond as interim leader.^[40] On February 17, 2022, he resigned from theLegislative Assembly of British Columbia to allow for newly-elected BC Liberal leaderKevin Falcon to run in a by-election.^[41]

• Andrew Wilkinson WebsiteArchived July 26, 2013, at theWayback Machine

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