Editing BC United (section)

=== Third party status: 1953–1979 ===
During the early period of this time, the Liberals' most prominent member was [[Gordon Gibson Sr.]] He was a [[cigar]]-smoking and gregarious logging contractor who could have been premier but for a major political error. He was elected in 1953 for the Lillooet riding. In 1955, the [[Robert Sommers#Scandal and trial|Sommers scandal]] surfaced, and he was the only leader in the legislature to make an issue of it. W. A. C. Bennett and his attorney general tried many tactics to stop the information from coming out.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} In frustration, Gibson resigned his seat and forced a by-election, hoping to make the Sommers scandal the issue. The voting system had changed, and he came a close second after Social Credit.

In the [[1956 British Columbia general election|1956 election]], with the Sommers scandal still not resolved, the Liberals fared worse than in 1953. [[Arthur Laing]] lost his seat, and the party was reduced to two MLAs and 20.9% of the vote. In the [[1960 British Columbia general election|1960 election]], the party won four seats with the same 20.9% of the popular vote as in 1956. In the [[1963 British Columbia general election|1963 election]], the party's caucus increased by one more MLA to five, but their share of the popular vote fell to 19.98%. In the [[1966 British Columbia general election|1966 election]], the party won another seat, bringing its caucus to six, and had an increase in the vote to 20.24%. In the [[1969 British Columbia general election|1969 vote]], the party lost one seat, and its share of the vote fell to 19.03%.

In 1972, the party was led into the election by a new leader, [[David Anderson (British Columbia politician)|David Anderson]], who had been elected in the [[1968 Canadian federal election|1968 federal election]] as an MP for the [[Liberal Party of Canada]]. He and four others managed to be elected to the legislature, but with the lowest vote in party history at 16.4%. After the [[British Columbia New Democratic Party]] (BC NDP) won the [[1972 British Columbia general election|1972 election]], many supporters of the Liberal and Conservative parties defected to the Social Credit League. This coalition was able to keep the New Democrats out of power from 1975 until the 1990s. MLAs [[Garde Gardom]], [[Pat McGeer]] and Allan Williams left the Liberals for Social Credit along with [[Hugh Curtis]] of the suddenly rejuvenated Tories. All of them became members of Social Credit Cabinets after 1975. In the [[1975 British Columbia general election|1975 election]], the only Liberal to be elected was [[Gordon Gibson (politician, born 1937)|Gordon Gibson Jr.]] as the party scored a dismal 7.24%. David Anderson was badly defeated in his Victoria riding, placing behind the New Democrats and Social Credit.