Political context
Non-party system
There were to be no political parties in the new province. The designations "Government" and "Opposition" and "Independent" (and variations on these) functioned in place of parties, but they were very loose and do not represent formal coalitions, more alignments of support during the campaign. "Government" meant in support of the current Premier; "Opposition" meant campaigning against him, and often enough the Opposition would win and immediately become the Government.
Although Labour as a party had run candidates in previous election, this election saw the first victories by Labour candidates (in Nanaimo and Nanaimo City), and a "Farmer" candidate (in the second Nanaimo seat). There were five successful independents.
The Robson Government
The government of newspaperman John Robson received a mandate after assuming power the year before. Robson died in office in 1892, yielding to Theodore Davie.
John Robson was a Canadian journalist and politician, who served as the ninth Premier of the Province of British Columbia.
The Hon. Theodore Davie was a British Columbia lawyer, politician, and jurist. He practised law in Cassiar and Nanaimo before settling in Victoria and becoming a leading criminal lawyer. He was the brother of Alexander Edmund Batson Davie, who served as premier of British Columbia from 1887 to 1889. Theodore Davie was first elected to the provincial legislature in 1882. In 1889, he became Attorney-General under Premier John Robson, and succeeded Robson as premier in 1892.
Byelections not shown
Any changes due to byelections are shown below the main table showing the theoretical composition of the House after the election. A final table showing the composition of the House at the dissolution of the Legislature at the end of this Parliament can be found below the byelections. The main table represents the immediate results of the election only, not changes in governing coalitions or eventual changes due to byelections.
List of ridings
The original ridings were thirteen in number, and Cowichan was restored to a two-member seat while New Westminster was increased to three, with the new total being 33 members. There were no political parties were not acceptable in the House by convention, though some members were openly partisan at the federal level (usually Conservative, although both Liberal and Labour allegiance were on display by some candidates).
The British Columbia Conservative Party, formerly the British Columbia Progressive Conservative Party, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. From the early 1900s until the 1950s, the Conservatives were, along with the British Columbia Liberal Party, one of the two major parties in the province. Since the 1950s, the party has gradually declined in prominence, last winning a seat in a 1978 by-election. The Conservatives enjoyed a brief resurgence after Liberal MLA John van Dongen joined the party in 2012, and won nearly 5% of the vote in the 2013 provincial election. The party plays a minor role in provincial politics today.
The British Columbia Liberal Party is a centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The base of the BC Liberal Party is made up of supporters of both the federal Liberal Party and Conservative Party, and its policies are a mixture of Liberal and Conservative. The party forms the Official Opposition. Andrew Wilkinson became leader of the party on February 3, 2018, after winning the Leadership Election on the fifth ballot, making him the Leader of the Official Opposition of British Columbia.
These ridings were:
Alberni was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originally appeared in the 1890 election and then, after being merged into Cowichan-Alberni for the 1894 election, was renamed Alberni riding in the election of 1898. The riding lasted by that name until 1933 and 1937, when the name Alberni-Nanaimo was used. In 1941 the Alberni riding name was restored. The area is now represented by Alberni-Qualicum.
Cariboo was one of the twelve original electoral districts created when British Columbia became a Canadian province in 1871. Roughly corresponding to the old colonial electoral administrative district of the same name, it was a three-member riding until the 1894 election, when it was reduced through reapportionment and became a two-member riding until the 1916 election, after which it has been a single-member riding. It produced many notable Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), including George Anthony Boomer Walkem, third and fifth holder of the office of Premier of British Columbia and who was one of the first representatives elected from the riding; John Robson, ninth Premier of British Columbia; and Robert Bonner, a powerful minister in the W.A.C. Bennett cabinet, and later CEO of MacMillan Bloedel and BC Hydro.
Cassiar was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It first appeared in the British Columbia general election of 1882.
Polling conditions
Natives (First Nations) and Chinese were disallowed from voting, although naturalized Kanakas (Hawaiian colonists) and American and West Indian blacks and certain others participated. The requirement that knowledge of English be spoken for balloting was discussed but not applied.
The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is a social-democratic provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada, which currently governs the province, and previously governed from 1972 to 1975, and then again from 1991 to 2001. Following the 2017 provincial election in British Columbia, the party formed a minority government via a confidence and supply agreement with the British Columbia Green Party, following the defeat of Christy Clark's British Columbia Liberal Party government by a confidence vote in the legislature.
The British Columbia general election of 1903 was the tenth 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 September 5, 1903, and held on October 3, 1903. The new legislature met for the first time on November 26, 1903.
The British Columbia general election of 1907 was the eleventh general election for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election called on December 24, 1906, and held on February 2, 1907. The new legislature met for the first time on March 7, 1907.
Formerly a British colony, British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871. An interim Cabinet was appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, and election writs for the first general election as a province of Canada were issued to choose 25 members of the first provincial legislature from 12 ridings. These ridings were:
Cowichan-Alberni was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It appeared in the 1894 general election only. It was formed by combining the Alberni riding and parts of the older Cowichan riding. Alberni riding and Cowichan riding were restored for the 1898 election.
This was the second election held after British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871. Many of the politicians in the House had served with the Legislative Council or Assembly or the Executive Council, or had otherwise been stalwarts of the colonial era - some supporters of Confederation, others not. Some were ranchers or mining bosses from the Interior, others were colonial gentry from the Island and New Westminster, and others direct arrivals from Britain, Ireland or "Canada", which was still considered a different place not only in the minds of the politicians but in the language used in Hansard during this period.
This was the third election held after British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871.
This was the third election held after British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871.
This was the fourth election held after British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871. The number of members was increased for this election from 25 to 27, and the number of ridings increased to 13.
This was the seventh election held after British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871. The number of members remained at 33 with the number of ridings increased to 26 as a result of the partition of the Yale and Westminster ridings.
Reed Elley is a retired Baptist minister who was elected to the Canadian Parliament in 1997 as a member of the Reform Party. He was reelected in 2000 and retired in 2004.
Elley was born in Simcoe, Ontario and was educated at McMaster University in Hamilton, where he obtained a BA in History and an MDiv in theology. He pastored several churches in the Baptist denomination in three provinces, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. In 1967, he married Louise Plester from Chemainus, British Columbia and they raised eight children—four children of their own as well as four foster children, three of whom are First Nations. Along with his wife, they fostered more than 155 children.
Elley joined the Reform Party of Canada, then led by Preston Manning, in 1988 discovering that his political, social and faith views were very much aligned with Manning whom he admired. His first political activity was in 1992, when he ran a Vote No campaign on behalf of the Reform Party in the federal riding of Calgary Centre during the Charlottetown Accord constitutional referendum which he and the Party won. He then became an area manager for the Reform candidate Jim Silye. During that time he and his family moved to Vancouver Island, where he became involved in the winning campaign of Bob Ringma in 1993. After the election, he was asked to become president of the Nanaimo—Cowichan constituency association for the Reform Party.
The Socialist Party of British Columbia (SPBC) was a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada, from 1901 to 1905. In 1903, the SPBC won seats in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The SPC never won seats in the House of Commons of Canada.
The Legislative Council of British Columbia was an advisory body created in 1867 to the governor of the "new" Colony of British Columbia, which had been created from the merger of the old Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. The new colony, like its predecessors, did not have responsible government, and while its debates and resolutions carried considerable weight, executive power remained in the hands of the governor, who at the time of the council's founding was Frederick Seymour.
The British Columbia electoral redistribution of 2008 was undertaken over a lengthy period that began in late 2005 and was completed with the passage of the Electoral Districts Act, 2008 on April 10, 2008. The redistribution modified most electoral boundaries in the province, and increased the number of MLAs from 79 to 85. The electoral boundaries created by the redistribution were first used in the 2009 provincial election.
Bill Routley is a Canadian politician, who was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2009 provincial election. A member of the BC New Democratic Party, he was elected to represent the riding of Cowichan Valley. In the 39th Parliament, with his party forming the official opposition, Routley acted as the deputy critic for forests and range.
Alistair Bruce MacGregor is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election to represent the electoral district of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford. He is a member of the New Democratic Party. During the 42nd Canadian Parliament, MacGregor sponsored two private member bills, though neither reached second reading stage: Bill 252 to add Shawnigan Lake to the list of navigable waters regulated under the Navigation Protection Act, and Bill C-279 to limit federal election campaigns to a maximum of 46 days.
The British Columbia electoral redistribution of 2015 was a process undertaken by the BC Electoral Boundaries Commission starting in 2014 and formalized by the passing of Bill 42 - 2015 Electoral Districts Act during the 40th Parliament. The redistribution added two seats onto the previous total, raising the number of MLAs from 85 to 87. The electoral boundaries came into effect for the 2017 election.
