1975 British Columbia general election

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1975 British Columbia general election
Flag of British Columbia.svg
  1972 December 11, 1975 1979  

55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
28 seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Bill Bennett (cropped).jpg Dave Barrett, 1975.jpg
Leader Bill Bennett Dave Barrett
Party Social Credit New Democratic
Leader since19731969
Leader's seat South Okanagan Coquitlam (lost re-election)
Last election10 seats, 31.16%38 seats, 39.59%
Seats won3518
Seat changeIncrease2.svg25Decrease2.svg20
Popular vote635,482505,396
Percentage49.25%39.16%
SwingIncrease2.svg18.09Decrease2.svg0.43

 Third partyFourth party
 
BCLP
PC
Leader Gordon Gibson George Scott Wallace
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since19751973
Leader's seat North Vancouver-Capilano Oak Bay
Last election5 seats, 16.40%2 seats, 12.67%
Seats won11
Seat changeDecrease2.svg4Decrease2.svg1
Popular vote93,39749,796
Percentage7.24%3.86%
SwingDecrease2.svg9.16Decrease2.svg8.81

Premier before election

Dave Barrett
New Democratic

Premier after election

Bill Bennett
Social Credit

The 1975 British Columbia general election was the 31st 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 November 3, 1975, and held on December 11, 1975. The new legislature met for the first time on March 17, 1976.

Contents

The governing New Democratic Party of Dave Barrett was defeated after three years in government. Bill Bennett, son of long-time Social Credit Party leader and BC premier, W.A.C. Bennett, led Social Credit back to power, winning close to half of the popular vote, and a solid majority in the legislature.

Voters abandoned the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties as the centre and right-wing vote coalesced around Social Credit. The defeated social democratic NDP suffered only a marginal decrease in its vote share. However, NDP support outside Vancouver tailed off, resulting in a 20-seat loss. Barrett was one of the casualties; he was narrowly defeated by a Socred challenger (though he returned to the legislature a few months later in a by-election).

This was the last election until 2024 that the Conservative Party won a seat.

Results

Summary of the 1975 Legislative Assembly of British Columbia election results
PartyParty leader# of
candidates
SeatsPopular vote
1972 Elected% Change#%% Change
Social Credit Bill Bennett 551035+250%635,48249.25%+18.09%
New Democratic Dave Barrett 553818-52.6%505,39639.16%-0.43%
Liberal Gordon Gibson 4951-80.0%93,3797.24%-9.16%
Progressive Conservative George Scott Wallace 2921-50.0%49,7963.86%-8.81%
 Independent12---4,6880.36%+0.26%
  Communist 13---1,4410.11%+0.03%
  North American Labour 4*-*1410.01%*
  Revolutionary Marxist Group 3*-*940.01%*
  League for Socialist Action 1*-*34x*
Total2215555-1,290,451100% 
Source: [1]

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Popular vote
Social Credit
49.25%
NDP
39.16%
Liberal
7.24%
PC
3.86%
Others
0.49%
Seats summary
Social Credit
63.64%
NDP
32.73%
Liberal
1.82%
PC
1.82%

See also

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References

  1. "Electoral History of British Columbia 1871-1986 Part One 31st General Election 1975". elections.bc.ca. Archived from the original on December 21, 2004.

Further reading