1941 British Columbia general election

1941 British Columbia general election

←  1937 October 21, 1941 1945  →
←  outgoing members elected members  →
48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 25 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader John Hart [a] Harold Winch Royal Lethington Maitland Party Liberal Co-operative Commonwealth Conservative Leader since 1928 1938 1938 Leader's seat Victoria City Vancouver East Vancouver-Point Grey Last election 31 7 8 Seats won 21 14 12 Seat change 10 7 4 Popular vote 149,525 151,440 140,282 Percentage 32.94% 33.36% 30.91% Swing 4.40pp 4.79pp 2.31pp
Premier before election Duff Pattullo Liberal Premier after election John Hart Coalition

The 1941 British Columbia general election was the twentieth 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 September 9, 1941, and held on October 21, 1941.

No party took a majority of votes, and no party took a majority of seats. After the election, Conservative and Liberal members voted to form a Coalition government. Liberal Party leader Thomas Dufferin Pattullo objected, stepped down as leader and sat as a Liberal separate from the Coalition. This reduced the Coalition caucus to thirty two MLAs.

1938 redistribution of ridings

An Act was passed in 1938 providing for a rearrangement of certain seats in the Assembly, maintaining the total at 48, upon the next election. ^[1] The following changes were made:

Abolished ridings	New ridings
Reorganization of districts
Alberni-Nanaimo The Islands	Alberni Nanaimo and the Islands
Division of district
Victoria City (4 MLAs)	Oak Bay Victoria City (3 MLAs)

Results

Elections to the 20th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1941) ^[2]

Political party		Party leader	MLAs				Votes
			Candidates	1937	1941	±	#	±	%	± (pp)
	Coalition
	█  Liberal	John Hart [b]	47	31	20	11	147,844	8,230	32.57	4.77
	█  Conservative	Royal Maitland	43	8	12	4	140,282	20,761	30.91	2.31
	Coalition total				32	7	288,126	12,531	63.48	2.46
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Harold Winch	45	7	14	7	151,440	32,040	33.36	4.79
	Liberal		1	–	1	1	1,681	1,681	0.37	Not part of Coalition
	Labour (all factions)		6	1	1		7,141	5,354	1.57	1.14
	Official Conservative [c]		1	–	–	–	2,161	2,161	0.48	New
	Independent		4	1	–	1	1,638	5,703	0.36	1.40
	Socialist Labour		4	–	–	–	683	683	0.15	New
	Independent Farmer		1	–	–	–	388	388	0.09	New
	Emancipation		1	–	–	–	265	265	0.06	New
	Victory Without Debt		1	–	–	–	209	209	0.05	New
	Religious Political Brotherhood		1	–	–	–	105	105	0.02	New
	Independent Socialist		1	–	–	–	56	56	0.01	Returned
Total			156	48	48		453,893		100.00%
Rejected ballots [3]							4,797	654
Actual voters who voted [3]							303,901	38,455	72.73%	1.53
Registered voters [3]							417,839	45,058

Seats and popular vote by party ^[2]

Party	Seats	Votes	Change (pp)
█  Coalition	32 / 48	63.48%	-2.46
█  Co-operative Commonwealth	14 / 48	33.36%	4.79
█  Social Constructive	0 / 48	0%	-1.93
█  Social Credit League	0 / 48	0%	-1.15
█ Other	2 / 48	3.16%	0.75

MLAs elected

Alberni: James Mowat    Atlin: William James Asselstine    Burnaby: Ernest Winch    Cariboo: Louis LeBourdais    Chilliwack: Leslie Harvey Eyres    Columbia: Thomas King    Comox: Colin Cameron    Cowichan-Newcastle: Samuel Guthrie    Cranbrook: Frank William Green    Delta: Leonard Shepherd    Dewdney: Roderick Charles MacDonald    Esquimalt: Elmer Victor Finland    Fernie: Thomas Aubert Uphill (ILP)    Fort George: Henry George Thomas Perry    Grand Forks-Greenwood: Thomas Alfred Love    Kamloops: Robert Henry Carson

Kaslo-Slocan: Charles Sidney Leary    Lillooet: Ernest Crawford Carson    Mackenzie: Herbert Gargrave    Nanaimo and the Islands: George Sharratt Pearson    Nelson-Creston: Frank Putnam    New Westminster: Wells Gray    North Okanagan: Kenneth Cattanach MacDonald    North Vancouver: Dorothy Steeves    Oak Bay: Herbert Anscomb    Omineca: Mark Matthew Connelly    Peace River: Glen Everton Braden    Prince Rupert: Duff Pattullo    Revelstoke: Harry Johnston    Rossland-Trail: Herbert Wilfred Herridge    Saanich: Norman William Whittaker    Salmon Arm: Rolf Wallgren Bruhn

Similkameen: Bernard George Webber    Skeena: Edward Tourtellotte Kenney    South Okanagan: W. A. C. Bennett    Vancouver-Burrard: Grace MacInnis    Vancouver-Burrard: Charles Grant MacNeil    Vancouver Centre: Laura Emma Marshall Jamieson    Vancouver Centre: Wallis Walter LeFeaux    Vancouver East: James Lyle Telford    Vancouver East: Harold Winch    Vancouver-Point Grey: Royal Maitland    Vancouver-Point Grey: James Alexander Paton    Vancouver-Point Grey: Tilly Rolston    Victoria City: John Hart    Victoria City: Nancy Hodges    Victoria City: William Thomas Straith    Yale: John J. Gillis

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1941 British Columbia general election (single-member districts) ^[4]

Riding	Winning party								Votes
Name	1937		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %	Lib	Con	CCF	Ind	Oth	Total
Alberni	New			Lib	2,067	49.17%	164	3.90%	2,067	–	1,903	–	234	4,204
Atlin		Lib		Lib	454	54.83%	80	9.66%	454	–	–	–	374	828
Burnaby		CCF		CCF	6,444	49.50%	2,682	20.60%	3,762	2,707	6,444	–	105	13,018
Cariboo		Lib		Lib	1,429	50.16%	1,008	35.38%	1,429	421	338	661	–	2,849
Chilliwack		Con		Con	2,704	37.78%	60	0.84%	2,644	2,704	1,810	–	–	7,158
Columbia		Lib		Lib	648	42.66%	161	10.60%	648	384	487	–	–	1,519
Comox		CCF		CCF	3,126	45.31%	968	14.03%	2,158	1,615	3,126	–	–	6,899
Cowichan-Newcastle		CCF		CCF	2,757	47.22%	1,018	17.44%	1,739	1,343	2,757	–	–	5,839
Cranbrook		Lib		Con	1,615	35.35%	67	1.46%	1,405	1,615	1,548	–	–	4,568
Delta		CCF		CCF	5,153	42.29%	1,599	13.12%	3,554	3,478	5,153	–	–	12,185
Dewdney		Con		Con	2,995	37.13%	456	5.65%	2,532	2,995	2,539	–	–	8,066
Esquimalt		Con		Con	1,554	40.42%	206	5.36%	1,348	1,554	943	–	–	3,845
Fernie		ILP		ILP	1,719	53.39%	505	15.69%	1,214	–	287	–	1,719	3,220
Fort George		Lib		Lib	1,334	51.15%	406	15.57%	1,334	346	928	–	–	2,608
Grand Forks-Greenwood		Lib		Con	642	39.05%	5	0.30%	637	642	365	–	–	1,644
Kamloops		Lib		Lib	1,933	40.14%	221	4.59%	1,933	1,138	1,712	14	19	4,816
Kaslo-Slocan		Lib		Lib	941	42.18%	187	8.38%	941	754	536	–	–	2,231
Lillooet		Lib		Con	1,017	38.39%	176	6.64%	791	1,017	841	–	–	2,649
Mackenzie		Lib		CCF	2,909	45.75%	830	13.05%	2,079	1,370	2,909	–	–	6,358
Nanaimo and the Islands	New			Lib	2,175	43.52%	560	11.21%	2,175	1,208	1,615	–	–	4,998
Nelson-Creston		Lib		Lib	2,144	33.46%	4	0.25%	2,144	2,140	2,124	–	–	6,408
New Westminster		Lib		Lib	3,694	41.74%	1,307	14.77%	3,694	1,923	2,387	–	845	8,849
North Okanagan		Lib		Lib	2,508	42.52%	188	3.19%	2,508	2,320	1,071	–	–	5,899
North Vancouver		CCF		CCF	4,209	40.37%	1,264	12.13%	2,945 [a 1]	1,056 [a 2]	4,209	–	2,217 [a 3]	10,427
Oak Bay	New			Con	2,676	55.88%	1,156	24.14%	1,520	2,676	593	–	–	4,789
Omineca		Lib		Lib	839	49.50%	285	16.82%	839	302	554	–	–	1,695
Peace River		Lib		Lib	1,436	51.16%	453	16.14%	1,436	–	983	–	388	2,807
Prince Rupert		Lib		Lib	1,681	51.82%	118	3.64%	1,681	–	1,563	–	–	3,244
Revelstoke		Lib		Lib	1,065	49.08%	387	17.84%	1,065	427	678	–	–	2,170
Rossland-Trail		Lib		CCF	3,621	49.40%	1,738	23.71%	1,789	1,883	3,621	–	37	7,330
Saanich		Lib		Lib	3,017	36.17%	78	0.93%	3,017	2,939	2,385	–	–	8,341
Salmon Arm		Ind		Con	1,561	60.22%	998	38.50%	468	1,561	563	–	–	2,592
Similkameen		Lib		CCF	2,601	41.16%	636	10.06%	1,965	1,753	2,601	–	–	6,319
Skeena		Lib		Lib	877	61.89%	337	23.78%	877	540	–	–	–	1,417
South Okanagan		Lib		Con	2,009	37.69%	240	4.50%	1,769	2,009	1,552	–	–	5,330
Yale		Lib		Lib	1,148	65.08%	532	30.16%	1,148	616	–	–	–	1,764

1. Francis Walker was previously an MLA in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
2. Joshua Hinchcliffe had previously been an MLA for Victoria City
3. A.H. Bayne, the Official Conservative candidate supported by the Conservative Party, received 2,161 votes

  = open seat

  = winning 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

  = other incumbents renominated

  = candidate repudiated by party

  = multiple candidates

Results by riding - 1941 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts) ^[4]

Riding		Winning party		Votes
Name	MLAs	1937	1941	Lib	Con	CCF	Ind	Oth	Total
Vancouver-Burrard	2	2	2	14,781	16,564	18,998	–	267	50,610
Vancouver Centre	2	2	2	13,723	12,523	14,805	–	602	41,653
Vancouver East	2	2	2	9,495	7,332	23,328	–	3,936	44,091
Vancouver-Point Grey	3	2   1	3	29,046	42,400	23,448	–	265	95,159
Victoria City	3	2   2	3	18,771	14,027	9,736	963	–	43,497

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties

Notes

1. Took over as party leader and Premier after Duff Pattullo refused to be part of the new Coalition.
2. Duff Pattullo stepped aside as party leader and Premier, after refusing to participate in the formation of the Coalition. He would remain as a Liberal outside that group as MLA for Prince Rupert. 1941 Liberal numbers are adjusted to reflect the departure.
3. Joshua Hinchcliffe was nominated by the North Vancouver Conservative Association, but when he disagreed with the party's road policy, he was repudiated by Maitland. A group called the Conservative Active Club nominated A. H. Bayne who received the party's support. Bayne, however, could not run as a Conservative since Hinchcliffe's nomination papers had already been filed.

References

1. Constitution Act Amendment Act, 1938 , S.B.C. 1938, c. 8
2. Elections BC 1988, pp. 173, 183.
3. Elections BC 1988, p. 2.
4. Elections BC 1988, pp. 175–180, 185–189.

Sources

• Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986 (PDF). Elections BC. 1988. ISBN   0-7718-8677-2.