1953 British Columbia general election

1953 British Columbia general election
← 1952 June 9, 1953 1956 →
48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
25 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
CCF
Leader W. A. C. Bennett Arnold Webster
Party Social Credit Co-operative Commonwealth
Leader since 1952 1953
Leader's seat South Okanagan Vancouver East
Last election 19 18
Seats won 28 14
Seat change Increase9 Decrease4
First count 274,771 224,513
  Percentage 37.75% 30.85%
  Swing Increase10.55pp Increase0.07pp
Final count 300,372 194,414
  Percentage 45.54% 29.48%
  Third party Fourth party
 
PC
Leader Arthur Laing Deane Finlayson
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since 1953 1952
Leader's seat Vancouver-Point Grey Ran in Oak Bay (lost)
Last election 6 4
Seats won 4 1
Seat change Decrease2 Decrease3
First count 171,671 40,780
  Percentage 23.59% 5.60%
  Swing Increase0.13pp Decrease11.24pp
Final count 154,090 7,326
  Percentage 23.36% 1.11%
Premier before election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

Premier after election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

The 1953 British Columbia general election was the 24th general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 10, 1953, and held on June 9, 1953. The new legislature met for the first time on September 15, 1953.

The minority government formed in 1952 by the conservative Social Credit party of Premier W.A.C. Bennett lasted only nine months before new elections were called. Social Credit was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a second term in government with almost 38% of the popular vote.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation formed the official opposition with the only significant opposition caucus (14 seats).

The British Columbia Liberal Party had a net loss of two of its six seats despite maintaining its 23% share of the popular vote. They lost five of the six seats they had won in 1952, but picked up three new seats.

The Progressive Conservative Party lost three of its four seats in the legislature, as its share of the popular vote fell from almost 17% to under 6%.

One seat was won by a Labour candidate.

Results

Elections to the 24th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1953)[1]
Party Leader Candidates First Preference Votes Seats
Votes ± % FPv ± 1952 1953 ±
Social Credit League W. A. C. Bennett 48 274,771 65,722Increase 37.75 10.55Increase 19
28 / 48
 9Increase
Co-operative Commonwealth Arnold Webster 47 224,513 12,049Decrease 30.85 0.07Increase 18
14 / 48
 4Decrease
Liberal Arthur Laing 48 171,761 8,528Decrease 23.59 0.13Increase 6
4 / 48
 2Decrease
Progressive Conservative Deane Finlayson 39 40,780 88,659Decrease 5.60 11.24Decrease 4
1 / 48
 3Decrease
Labour Tom Uphill 1 1,601 311Increase 0.22 0.06Increase 1
1 / 48
 Steady
Labor-Progressive 25 7,496 4,982Increase 1.03 0.70Increase
Christian Democratic 14 5,036 2,140Decrease 0.69 0.24Decrease
Independent[a 1] 7 1,971 659Increase 0.27 0.10Increase
Total 229 727,839 100.00
Rejected ballots[2] 43,766 1,883Decrease
Actual voters who voted[2] 522,052 21,404Decrease 70.55% 2.02Increase
Registered voters[2] 740,006 53,067Decrease
  1. ^ Includes a People's Party of BC candidate in Delta.

MLAs elected


Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1953 British Columbia general election (all districts)[1]
Riding First preference votes Final counts Winning party
Name SC CCF Lib PC Lab LPP CDP Ind Total # SC CCF Lib PC Lab CDP 1952 1953
 
Alberni 1,637 3,116 2,022 320 – 139 – – 7,234 4th – 3,715 2,811 – – – CCF CCF
Atlin 108 553 275 – – – – – 936 Elected on 1st count CCF CCF
Burnaby 8,151 12,689 3,351 641 – 367 396 – 25,595 2nd 8,161 12,947 3,364 646 – 401 CCF CCF
Cariboo 2,733 992 1,050 509 – – – – 5,284 Elected on 1st count SC SC
Chilliwack 8,776 2,456 2,631 589 – – – – 14,452 Elected on 1st count SC SC
Columbia 924[a 1] 481 676 80 – – – – 2,161 3rd 1,038 – 787 – – – SC SC
Comox 4,420 5,462 2,944 378 – 357 – – 13,561 4th 5,762 6,717 – – – – CCF CCF
Cowichan-Newcastle 2,686 4,517 2,330 510 – 168 – 118 10,329 5th 3,878 5,345 – – – – CCF CCF
Cranbrook 2,219 2,955 1,615 – – – – – 6,789 2nd 2,756 3,460 – – – – CCF CCF
Delta 13,079 11,095 5,500 591 – 390 315 20 30,990 6th 15,417 13,108 – – – – SC SC
Dewdney 7,307 7,003 3,715 559 – 250 72 – 18,906 5th 9,066 8,310 – – – – SC SC
Esquimalt 3,264 3,089 1,998 480 – – – – 8,831 3rd 4,147 3,848 – – – – CCF SC
Fernie 702 – 1,229 – 1,601 – – – 3,532 2nd – – 1,402 – 1,793 – Lab Lab
Fort George 3,160 1,677 1,802 – – – – – 6,639 Elected on 1st count SC SC
Grand Forks-Greenwood 583 995 324 177 – – – – 2,079 2nd 618 1,016 393 – – – CCF CCF
Kamloops 4,037 1,368 2,272 427 – 80 – – 8,184 3rd 4,171 1,434 2,503 – – – SC SC
Kaslo-Slocan 867 1,481 792 – – – – – 3,140 2nd 1,165 1,692 – – – – CCF CCF
Lillooet 1,065 1,372 1,103 452 – – – – 3,992 3rd – 1,694 1,830 – – – PC Lib
Mackenzie 2,687 4,468 3,397 230 – – – – 10,782 3rd – 5,191 4,497 – – – CCF CCF
Nanaimo and the Islands 2,626 3,631 1,375 2,046 – 115 – 32 9,825 5th – 4,358 – 4,376 – – PC PC
Nelson-Creston 3,450 2,636 1,803 772 – 99 – – 8,760 4th 4,199 3,404 – – – – SC SC
New Westminster 3,787 4,903 4,309 – – 157 89 – 13,245 4th – 5,970 5,658 – – – CCF CCF
North Okanagan 4,398 1,749 2,071 700 – 90 – – 9,008 3rd 4,578 1,868 2,407 – – – SC SC
North Vancouver 7,728 5,820 6,377 1,338 – 217 182 – 21,662 5th 9,291 – 9,134 – – – Lib SC
Oak Bay 3,280 508 3,182 1,220 – – – – 8,190 3rd 3,681 – 4,110 – – – Lib Lib
Omineca 1,390 952 1,145 172 – – – – 3,659 3rd 1,612 – 1,379 – – – SC SC
Peace River 2,481 1,921 1,378 – – – – – 5,780 2nd 3,022 2,216 – – – – SC SC
Prince Rupert 1,731 2,074 1,864 – – – – – 5,669 2nd – 2,578 2,611 – – – CCF Lib
Revelstoke 639 1,009 551 – – – – 522 2,721 3rd – 1,284 1,012 – – – CCF CCF
Rossland-Trail 4,182 3,470 2,899 621 – – – – 11,172 3rd 5,778 4,549 – – – – SC SC
Saanich 6,681 5,037 4,256 990 – – – – 16,964 3rd 8,876 6,466 – – – – CCF SC
Salmon Arm 1,627 1,341 623 600 – 101 – – 4,292 4th 2,013 1,806 – – – – SC SC
Similkameen 4,465 3,419 2,109 323 – – – – 10,316 3rd 5,418 4,105 – – – – SC SC
Skeena 1,372 1,768 1,413 220 – – – – 4,773 3rd – 2,110 2,097 – – – Lib CCF
South Okanagan 6,756 2,427 1,961 403 – – – – 11,547 Elected on 1st count SC SC
Yale 1,177 835 834 107 – – – – 2,953 3rd 1,354 – 1,137 – – – SC SC
Vancouver-Burrard (A) 11,527 9,216 5,936 1,259 – 360 658 – 28,956 5th 14,924 11,360 – – – – SC SC
Vancouver-Burrard (B) 11,273 9,323 5,858 1,276 – 367 643 – 28,740 5th 14,674 11,446 – – – – SC SC
Vancouver Centre (A) 7,066 6,238 4,079 971 – 572 505 – 19,431 5th 9,016 7,757 – – – – CCF SC
Vancouver Centre (B) 6,782 6,283 3,985 1,007 – 580 480 – 19,117 5th 8,679 7,707 – – – – CCF SC
Vancouver East (A) 13,225 19,475 5,272 747 – 842 743 – 40,304 4th 13,872 19,942 5,796 – – – CCF CCF
Vancouver East (B) 12,910 20,583 4,727 803 – 816 351 – 40,190 Elected on 1st count CCF CCF
Vancouver-Point Grey (A) 19,768 10,058 14,612 4,533 – 348 194 193 49,706 5th 22,503 – 20,567 – – – PC SC
Vancouver-Point Grey (B) 20,205 9,556 12,022 7,373 – 337 212 64 49,769 6th 24,144 – 18,928 – – – PC SC
Vancouver-Point Grey (C) 19,061 9,441 17,412 3,607 – 338 196 – 50,055 5th 21,354 – 22,730 – – – SC Lib
Victoria City (A) 8,616 4,881 6,915 1,227 – 126 – 1,022 22,787 5th 9,999 – 8,869 – – – Lib SC
Victoria City (B) 9,131[a 2] 5,267 6,484 1,383 – 153 – – 22,418 4th 10,330 – 8,344 – – – Lib SC
Victoria City (C) 9,032 4,923 7,193 1,139 – 127 – – 22,414 4th 10,084 – 8,907 – – – Lib SC
  1. ^ Richard Orr Newton had resigned in order to provide a seat for Robert Bonner. Bonner stood for election in Vancouver-Point Grey in 1953, while Newton sought reelection in his old seat.
  2. ^ William Chant was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.


  = open seat
  = candidate was in previous Legislature
  = incumbent had switched allegiance
  = previously incumbent in another riding
  = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
  = incumbency arose from byelection gain
  = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
  = multiple candidates

Analysis

Parties ranked by preference[3]
First preference Final count
Parties 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
█ Social Credit 30 10 8 – – 28 10 1 – –
█ Co-operative Commonwealth 17 15 14 1 – 14 17 5 – –
█ Liberal – 23 24 1 – 4 21 5 – –
█ Progressive Conservative – – 2 35 2 1 – – 4 1
█ Labour 1 – – – – 1 – – – –
█ Labor-Progressive – – – 3 18 – – – 1 –
█ Christian Democratic – – – – 4 – – – – 1
█ Independent – – – 1 1 – – – – –
Party candidates in 2nd place (first preference)[3]
Party in 1st place Party in 2nd place Total
Socred CCF Liberal
Social Credit – 15 15 30
Co-operative Commonwealth 10 – 7 17
Labour – – 1 1
Total 10 15 23 48
Party candidates in 2nd place (final count)[3]
Party in 1st place Party in 2nd place Total
Socred CCF Liberal
Social Credit – 14 14 28
Co-operative Commonwealth 8 – 6 14
Liberal 2 2 – 4
Progressive Conservative – 1 – 1
Labour – – 1 1
Total 10 17 21 1

See also

Further reading

  • Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986 (PDF). Elections BC. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.
  1. ^ a b Elections BC 1988, pp. 221–240, 243–262.
  2. ^ a b c Elections BC 1988, p. 2.
  3. ^ a b c Elections BC 1988, pp. 243–262.