24th Parliament of British Columbia

The 24th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia sat from September 1953 to 1956. The members were elected in the British Columbia general election held in June 1953. ^[1] The Social Credit Party led by W. A. C. Bennett formed the government. ^[2] The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation led by Arnold Webster formed the official opposition. ^[3]

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

Members of the 24th Parliament

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1953: ^[1]

	Member	Electoral district	Party	First elected / previously elected	No.# of term(s)
	Stanley John Squire	Alberni	CCF	1952	2nd term
	Frank Arthur Calder	Atlin	CCF	1949	3rd term
	Ernest Edward Winch	Burnaby	CCF	1933	7th term
	William Ralph Talbot Chetwynd	Cariboo	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	William Kenneth Kiernan	Chilliwack	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	Richard Orr Newton	Columbia	Social Credit	1952, 1953	2nd term*
	William Campbell Moore	Comox	CCF	1952	2nd term
	Robert Martin Strachan	Cowichan-Newcastle	CCF	1952	2nd term
	Leo Thomas Nimsick	Cranbrook	CCF	1949	3rd term
	Thomas Irwin	Delta	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	Lyle Wicks	Dewdney	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	Herbert Joseph Bruch	Esquimalt	Social Credit	1953	1st term
	Thomas Aubert Uphill	Fernie	Labour	1920	10th term
	Ray Gillis Williston	Fort George	Social Credit	1953	1st term
	Rupert Williams Haggen	Grand Forks-Greenwood	CCF	1949	3rd term
	Philip Arthur Gaglardi	Kamloops	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	Randolph Harding	Kaslo-Slocan	CCF	1945	4th term
	James Gordon Gibson	Lillooet	Liberal	1953	1st term
	Donald Frederick Robinson (1955)		Social Credit	1955	1st term
	Anthony John Gargrave	Mackenzie	CCF	1952	2nd term
	Lorenzo (Larry) Giovando	Nanaimo and the Islands	Progressive Conservative	1952	2nd term
			Independent
	Wesley Drewett Black	Nelson-Creston	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	John McRae (Rae) Eddie	New Westminster	CCF	1952	2nd term
	Lorne Shantz	North Okanagan	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	George Henry Tomlinson, Jr.	North Vancouver	Social Credit	1953	1st term
	Philip Archibald Gibbs	Oak Bay	Liberal	1952	2nd term
	Cyril Morley Shelford	Omineca	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	Charles William Parker	Peace River	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	Arthur Bruce Brown	Prince Rupert	Liberal	1953	1st term
	Vincent Segur	Revelstoke	CCF	1943, 1952	3rd term*
	Robert Edward Sommers	Rossland-Trail	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	John Douglas Tidball Tisdalle	Saanich	Social Credit	1953	1st term
	James Allan Reid	Salmon Arm	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	Francis Xavier Richter	Similkameen	Social Credit	1953	1st term
	Frank Howard	Skeena	CCF	1953	1st term
	William Andrew Cecil Bennett	South Okanagan	Social Credit	1941, [a] 1949	5th term*
	Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin	Vancouver-Burrard	Social Credit	1952	2nd term
	Bert Price			1952	2nd term
	Alexander Small Matthew	Vancouver Centre	Social Credit	1953	1st term
	George Churchill Moxham			1953	1st term
	Leslie Raymond Peterson (1955)			1955	1st term
	Arthur James Turner	Vancouver East	CCF	1941	5th term
	Arnold Alexander Webster			1953	1st term
	Thomas Audley Bate	Vancouver-Point Grey	Social Credit	1953	1st term
	Robert William Bonner			1952	2nd term
	Arthur Laing		Liberal	1953	1st term
	Lydia Augusta Arsens	Victoria City	Social Credit	1953	1st term
	William Neelands Chant			1953	1st term
	Walter Percival Wright			1953	1st term
	George Frederick Thompson Gregory (1953)		Liberal	1953	1st term
	Irvine Finlay Corbett	Yale	Social Credit	1952	2nd term

Party standings

Affiliation		Members
	Social Credit	28
	Co-operative Commonwealth	14
	Liberal	4
	Progressive Conservative	1
	Labour	1
Total		48
Government Majority		8

By-elections

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

Electoral district	Member elected	Party	Election date	Reason
Victoria City	George Frederick Thompson Gregory	Liberal	November 24, 1953	W.P. Wright resigned to provide seat for E.M. Gunderson
Lillooet	Donald Frederick Robinson	Social Credit	September 12, 1955	J.G. Gibson resigned to seek electoral vindication for allegations of fraud and patronage that he made in the legislature
Vancouver Centre	Leslie Raymond Peterson	Social Credit	September 12, 1955	death of G.C. Moxham November 10, 1955

Other changes

• Lorenzo Giovando leaves the Progressive Conservatives to become an Independent in July 1954. ^[5]

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. "A checklist of members of the Legislature of British Columbia" (PDF). Legislative Library of British Columbia. 2013-05-16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-27. Retrieved 2022-03-26.