23rd Parliament of British Columbia

The 23rd Legislative Assembly of British Columbia sat from February 1953 to March 1953. The members were elected in the British Columbia general election held in June 1952. ^[1] The Social Credit Party led by W. A. C. Bennett formed the government. ^[2] The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation led by Harold Winch formed the official opposition. ^[3]

Thomas James Irwin served as speaker for the assembly. ^[4]

The government was defeated on Bill 79, known as the "Rolston formula", on March 24. ^[5]

Members of the 23rd Parliament

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1952: ^[1]

	Member	Electoral district	Party	First elected / previously elected
	Stanley John Squire	Alberni	CCF	1952
	Frank Arthur Calder	Atlin	CCF	1949
	Ernest Edward Winch	Burnaby	CCF	1933
	William Ralph Talbot Chetwynd	Cariboo	Social Credit	1952
	William Kenneth Kiernan	Chilliwack	Social Credit	1952
	Richard Orr Newton	Columbia	Social Credit	1952
	Robert William Bonner (1952)		Social Credit	1952
	William Campbell Moore	Comox	CCF	1952
	Robert Martin Strachan	Cowichan-Newcastle	CCF	1952
	Leo Thomas Nimsick	Cranbrook	CCF	1949
	Thomas Irwin	Delta	Social Credit	1952
	Lyle Wicks	Dewdney	Social Credit	1952
	Frank Mitchell	Esquimalt	CCF	1951
	Thomas Aubert Uphill	Fernie	Labour	1920
	Llewellyn Leslie King	Fort George	Social Credit	1952
	Rupert Williams Haggen	Grand Forks-Greenwood	CCF	1949
	Philip Arthur Gaglardi	Kamloops	Social Credit	1952
	Randolph Harding	Kaslo-Slocan	CCF	1945
	Ernest Crawford Carson	Lillooet	Progressive Conservative	1928, 1941
	Anthony John Gargrave	Mackenzie	CCF	1952
	Lorenzo (Larry) Giovando	Nanaimo and the Islands	Progressive Conservative	1952
	Wesley Drewett Black	Nelson-Creston	Social Credit	1952
	John McRae (Rae) Eddie	New Westminster	CCF	1952
	Lorne Shantz	North Okanagan	Social Credit	1952
	Martin Elliott Sowden	North Vancouver	Liberal	1952
	Philip Archibald Gibbs	Oak Bay	Liberal	1952
	Cyril Morley Shelford	Omineca	Social Credit	1952
	Charles William Parker	Peace River	Social Credit	1952
	George Edwin Hills	Prince Rupert	CCF	1952
	Vincent Segur	Revelstoke	CCF	1943, 1952
	Robert Edward Sommers	Rossland-Trail	Social Credit	1952
	Frank Snowsell	Saanich	CCF	1952
	James Allan Reid	Salmon Arm	Social Credit	1952
	Harry Denyer Francis	Similkameen	Social Credit	1952
	Einar Maynard Gunderson (1952)		Social Credit	1952
	Edward Tourtellotte Kenney	Skeena	Liberal	1933
	William Andrew Cecil Bennett	South Okanagan	Social Credit	1941, [a] 1949
	Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin	Vancouver-Burrard	Social Credit	1952
	Bert Price			1952
	James Campbell Bury	Vancouver Centre	CCF	1952
	Laura Emma Marshall Jamieson			1939, 1952
	Arthur James Turner	Vancouver East	CCF	1941
	Harold Edward Winch			1933
	Albert Reginald MacDougall	Vancouver-Point Grey	Progressive Conservative	1946
	George Clark Miller			1952
	Tilly Jean Rolston		Social Credit	1941 [a]
	Nancy Hodges	Victoria City	Liberal	1941
	Daniel John Proudfoot			1949
	William Thomas Straith			1937
	Irvine Finlay Corbett	Yale	Social Credit	1952

Party standings

Affiliation		Members
	Social Credit	19
	Co-operative Commonwealth	18
	Liberal	6
	Progressive Conservative	4
	Labour	1
Total		48
Government Majority		-10

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons: ^[1]

Electoral district	Member elected	Party	Election date	Reason
Columbia	Robert William Bonner	Social Credit	November 24, 1952	R.O. Newton resigned to provide seat for R.W. Bonner
Similkameen	Einar Maynard Gunderson	Social Credit	November 24, 1952	H.D. Francis resigned to provide seat for E.M. Gunderson

Other changes

• Lillooet (dec. Ernest Crawford Carson October 21, 1952)
• Vancouver-Point Grey (dec. Albert Reginald MacDougall January 20, 1953) ^[6]

Notes

1. First elected as a Conservative

References

1. "Electoral History of British Columbia 1871-1986" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
2. "Premiers of British Columbia 1871-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
3. "Leaders of the Opposition in British Columbia 1903-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-20. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
4. "Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 1872-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
5. "Bennett, W.A.C. (William Andrew Cecil)". British Columbia Archival Information Network. Retrieved 2011-12-07.
6. "The Vancouver Sun - Google News Archive Search".