1909 British Columbia general election

November 25, 1909
42 seats to the 12th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 22 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   SPC Leader Sir Richard McBride John Oliver No leader Party Conservative Liberal Socialist Leader's seat Victoria City Last election 26 seats, 48.70% 13 seats, 37.15% 3 seats, 8.87% Seats won 38 2 2 Seat change 12 11 1 Popular vote 53,074 33,675 11,665 Percentage 52.33% 33.21% 11.50% Swing 3.63pp 3.94pp 2.63pp
Premier before election Richard McBride Conservative Premier after election Richard McBride Conservative

The 1909 British Columbia general election was the twelfth general election for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on October 20, 1909, and held on November 25, 1909. The new legislature met for the first time on January 20, 1910.

The governing Conservative Party won its third consecutive term in government with over half of the popular vote and all but four of the 42 seats in the legislature, effectively a rout for the popular incumbent Premier, Sir Richard McBride.

Ten days after the dissolution of the Legislature, James Alexander MacDonald announced his retirement from the leadership of the Liberal Party to become Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court, and John Oliver was selected to take his place.^[1] Despite winning almost one-third of the popular vote, the Liberals won only two seats, the same number won by the Socialist Party with only 11.5% of the vote.

The first-past-the-post allocation of seats, combined with the multi-member constituencies in effect at the time, ensured that the Conservatives won with a lead of 34 seats, instead of only a lead of two seats that its proportion of the popular vote should have granted it.^[2]

Two candidates campaigned in multiple ridings. McBride won in both Yale and Victoria City, while Oliver was defeated in Delta and Victoria City.^[3]

Results

^[4]

Elections to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1909)

Political party		Party leader	MLAs				Votes
			Candidates	1907	1909	±	#	±	%	± (pp)
	Conservative	Richard McBride	42	26	38	12	53,074	22,293	52.33%	3.63
	Liberal	John Oliver	36	13	2	11	33,675	10,194	33.21%	3.94
	Socialist		20	3	2	1	11,665	6,062	11.50%	2.63
	Independent		3	–	–	–	2,625	2,478	2.59%	2.36
	Canadian Labour		1	–	–	–	165	2,330	0.16%	3.79
	Independent Conservative		1	–	–	–	154	154	0.15%	New
	Independent Labour		1	–	–	–	57	430	0.06%	0.71
Total			104	42	42		101,415		100.00%

Results by riding

The following MLAs were elected:^[5]

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1909 British Columbia general election (single-member districts)^[6]

Riding	Winning party								Votes
Name	1907		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %	Con	Lib	Soc	Ind	Oth	Total
Alberni		Lib		Lib	293	53.37%	37	6.74%	256	293	–	–	–	549
Atlin		Con		Con	107	62.21%	42	24.42%	107	65	–	–	–	172
Chilliwhack		Lib		Con	604	54.07%	91	8.14%	604	513	–	–	–	1,117
Columbia		Con		Con	262	51.68%	17	3.36%	262	245	–	–	–	507
Comox		Con		Con	451	45.88%	245	24.92%	451	172	206	–	154	983
Cowichan		Con		Con	365	67.59%	190	35.18%	365	175	–	–	–	540
Cranbrook		Lib		Con	761	54.16%	260	18.50%	761	501	143	–	–	1,405
Delta		Lib		Con	765	58.13%	214	16.26%	765	551	–	–	–	1,316
Dewdney		Con		Con	625	67.42%	323	34.84%	625	302	–	–	–	927
Esquimalt		Lib		Lib	436	54.64%	74	9.28%	362	436	–	–	–	798
Fernie		Con		Con	795	43.00%	146	7.90%	795	405	649	–	–	1,849
Grand Forks		Soc		Con	516	51.60%	182	18.20%	516	150	334	–	–	1,000
Greenwood		Lib		Con	260	42.07%	56	9.06%	260	154	204	–	–	618
The Islands		Con		Con	270	56.60%	63	13.20%	270	207	–	–	–	477
Kamloops		Con		Con	872	64.40%	390	28.80%	872	482	–	–	–	1,354
Kaslo		Con		Con	293	68.62%	159	37.24%	293	134	–	–	–	427
Lillooet		Lib		Con	167	58.80%	50	17.60%	167	117	–	–	–	284
Nanaimo City		Soc		Soc	786	62.88%	322	25.76%	464	–	786	–	–	1,250
Nelson City		Lib		Con	565	54.54%	242	23.36%	565	323	148	–	–	1,036
Newcastle		Soc		Soc	379	52.64%	105	14.58%	274	–	379	67	–	720
New Westminster City		Con		Con	881	52.98%	264	25.88%	881	617	–	–	165	1,663
Okanagan		Con		Con	1,538	62.34%	797	32.30%	1,538	741	188	–	–	2,467
Revelstoke		Con		Con	758	62.18%	418	34.29%	758	–	121	340	–	1,219
Richmond		Con		Con	918	57.92%	251	15.84%	918	667	–	–	–	1,585
Rossland City		Lib		Con	237	38.60%	20	3.26%	237	217	160	–	–	614
Saanich		Con		Con	412	57.62%	109	15.24%	412	303	–	–	–	715
Similkameen		Con		Con	440	68.22%	235	36.44%	440	205	–	–	–	645
Skeena		Lib		Con	822	60.35%	445	32.67%	822	377	163	–	–	1,362
Slocan		Con		Con	309	57.43%		%	309	–	172	–	57	538
Yale		Lib		Con	455	63.19%	190	26.38%	455	265	–	–	–	720
Ymir		Con		Con	699	65.63%	333	31.26%	699	–	366	–	–	1,065

  = open seat

  = turnout is above provincial average

  = winning candidate was in previous Legislature

  = incumbent had switched allegiance

  = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

  = incumbency arose from byelection gain

  = other incumbents renominated

  = endorsed by the Liberals

  = multiple candidates

Results by riding - 1909 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts)^[6]

Party		Cariboo			Vancouver City			Victoria City
		Votes	Share	Change	Votes	Share	Change	Votes	Share	Change
	Conservative	540	63.01%	19.13%	25,710	50.10%	-1.28%	10,321	53.42%	5.88%
	Liberal	317	36.99%	-19.13%	18,619	36.28%	-0.03%	6,122	31.69%	-3.97%
	Socialist	–	–	–	6,987	13.62%	3.57%	659	3.41%	-0.12%
	Independent	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,218	11.48%	11.48%
	Canadian Labour	–	–	–	–	–	-2.26%	–	–	-13.28%
Total		857	100.00%		51,316	100.00%		19,320	100.00%
Seats won		2			5			4
Incumbents returned		–			3			4
Seat change		2			–			–

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties

Notes

References

Further reading

• In the Sea of Sterile Mountains: The Chinese in British Columbia, Joseph Morton, J.J. Douglas, Vancouver (1974). Despite its title, a fairly thorough account of the politicians and electoral politics in early BC.
• Hopkins, J. Castell (1910). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1909. Toronto: The Annual Review Publishing Company.
• Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986 (PDF). Elections BC. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.