British Columbia's 35th General Election was held on October 17th, 1991. Prior to the election the NDP held 22 seats in the legislature, and they emerged from the 1991 election with 51, taking power with Mike Harcourt as the newly elected Premier of British Columbia. Though the Social Credit party had previously been in power since 1975, a series of scandals and shifts in social policy negatively affected the party's public standing, culminating in the conflict of interest scandal surrounding Premier Bill Vander Zalm's sale of his Fantasy Gardens flower garden and theme park, which led to his resignation as premier. These events opened a window of opportunity for the BC ND, who campaigned strongly on the theme of "It's time for a change." The next general election was not held in British Columbia until 1996.

Records in this series have been created by two distinct creators:

• Files 400-02 to 404-11 created by Hans Brown, Provincial Secretary
• Files 404-12 to 407-03 created by Ron Johnson, Director of Communications
  Records include correspondence, drafts, notes, campaign literature and public communications, media clippings, budgetary documents, candidate biographies, strategy documents, minutes and agendas, polls, and other related materials.