Comox (electoral district)

Last updated November 06, 2024

Comox was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was one of the first twelve ridings representing that province upon its joining Confederation, and was a one-member constituency. The core of this once-vast riding, which at its inception stretched to the Yukon border, is now named Comox Valley.

Demographics

Population, 1986
Population change, 1903–1986
Area (km²)
Population density (people per km²)

Political geography

Nominally this riding included most of the Central Coast as well as all of northern Vancouver Island, but in practicality there were very few eligible voters as the vast majority of the area's population was from one of the many First Nations in the district.

Notable elections

First Nations

MLAs

Comox
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
1st	1871–1875		John Ash	Independent
2nd	1875–1878			Government
3rd	1878–1882
4th	1882–1886		William Munro Dingwall
5th	1886–1890		Anthony Maitland Stenhouse	Opposition
6th	1890–1894		Joseph Hunter	Government
7th	1894–1898		Joseph Hunter
8th	1898–1900		James Dunsmuir
9th	1900–1903		Lewis Alfred Mounce	Opposition
11th	1903–1907		Robert Grant	Conservative
12th	1907–1909		Robert Grant
12th	1909–1912		Michael Manson
13th	1912–1916		Michael Manson
14th	1916–1920		Hugh Stewart	Liberal
15th	1920–1924		Thomas Menzies	Farmer–Labour
16th	1924–1928		Paul Phillips Harrison	Independent Liberal
17th	1928–1933		George Kerr McNaughton	Conservative
18th	1933–1937		Laurence Arnold Hanna	Liberal
19th	1937–1941		Colin Cameron	Co-operative Commonwealth
20th	1941–1945		Colin Cameron	Co-operative Commonwealth
21st	1945–1949		Herbert John Welch	Coalition
22nd	1949–1952		Herbert John Welch	Coalition
23rd	1952–1952		William Campbell Moore	Co-operative Commonwealth
24th	1953–1956		William Campbell Moore	Co-operative Commonwealth
25th	1956–1960		Daniel Robert John Campbell	Social Credit
26th	1960–1963
27th	1963–1966
28th	1966–1969
29th	1969–1972
30th	1972–1975		Karen Sanford	New Democratic
31st	1975–1979
32nd	1979–1983
33rd	1983–1986
34th	1986–1991		Stan Hagen	Social Credit
Riding dissolved into Comox Valley, North Island and Parksville-Qualicum

Electoral history

Note: Winners in each election are in bold.

1st British Columbia election, 1871
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Independent	John Ash	16	66.67%	unknown
	Independent	Robert Cameron Coleman	8	33.33%	unknown
Total valid votes			24	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

British Columbia Byelection: Comox January 11, 1873¹
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Independent	John Ash	Acclaimed	-.- %	unknown
Total valid votes			n/a	-.- %
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%
¹The byelection was called due to J. Ash's resignation upon appointment to the Executive Council (cabinet) on December 23, 1872. This byelection was one of a series held to confirm appointments to the Executive Council, which was the old parliamentary convention. As this byelection writ was filled by acclamation, no polling day was required and the seat was filled within two weeks. The stated date is the date the return of writs was received by the Chief Electoral Officer.

2nd 1875 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	John Ash	36	78.26%	–	unknown
	Government	Robb James	10	21.74%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			46	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

3rd 1878 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Opposition	John Ash	31	59.62%	–	unknown
	Government	Reginald Terry Carwithen	21	40.38%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			52	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

4th 1882 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Opposition	Andrew Byron Crawford	14	16.87%
	Government	William Munro Dingwall	67	80.72%
	Unknown	Thomas Robson²	2	2.41%
Total valid votes			83
² Withdrew before polling day.

5th 1886 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	William Munro Dingwall	40	31.25%	–	unknown
	Government	Stafford McKelvey	10	7.81%	–	unknown
	Opposition	Robb James	33	25.78%	–	unknown
	Opposition	Anthony Maitland Stenhouse	45	35.16%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			128	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

6th 1890 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	Joseph Hunter	115	61.17%	–	unknown
	Opposition	Joseph McPhee	73	38.83%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			188	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

7th 1894 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	Joseph Hunter	239	64.95%	–	unknown
	Opposition	Percy Fremlin Scharschmidt	129	35.05%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			368	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

8th 1898 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	James Dunsmuir ³	297	64.71%	–	unknown
	Opposition	William James McAllan	162	35.29%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			459	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%
³Later 14th Premier of British Columbia 1900-1902

9th 1900 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	Joseph McPhee ⁴	279	45.22%	–	unknown
	Opposition	Lewis Alfred Mounce	338	54.78%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			617	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%
⁴3. McPhee was nominated as a Liberal candidate in opposition to Mounce who campaigned as a Conservative Party supporter. According to the Nanaimo Herald both were anti-Martin but the Vancouver Province and Victoria Times listed both as Government.

10th 1903 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Robert Grant	361	53.24%	unknown
	Liberal	Frederick McBain Young	317	46.76%	unknown
Total valid votes			678	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

11th British Columbia election, 1907
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Bertram Bennett	292	43.98%	unknown
	Conservative	Robert Grant	372	56.02%	unknown
Total valid votes			664	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

12th British Columbia election, 1909
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Socialist	James Cartwright	206	20.96%
	Independent Conservative	William Duncan	154	15.67%
	Liberal	James McKelvey Forrest	172	17.50%	unknown
	Conservative	Michael Manson	451	45.88%	unknown
Total valid votes			983	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

13th British Columbia election, 1912
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Socialist	Wallis Walter Lefeaux	355	33.84%	–	unknown
	Conservative	Michael Manson	694	66.16%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,049	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

14th British Columbia election, 1916
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Michael Manson	882	41.47%		unknown
	Socialist	William Arthur Pritchard	246	11.57%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Hugh Stewart	916	43.07%		unknown
	Social Democratic	George Edgar Winkler	83	3.90%
Total valid votes			812	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

15th British Columbia election, 1920
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Conservative	William Edward Anderson	1,233	29.90%	unknown
	Independent Liberal	William Wallace Burns McInnes	731	17.73%
	Peoples Party (Farmer-Labour)	Thomas Menzies	1,354	32.83%	unknown
	Liberal	Patrick Daly	806	19.54%	unknown
Total valid votes			4,124	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

16th British Columbia election, 1924
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	William Duncan	815	28.41%		unknown
	Provincial	George Every-Clayton	793	27.64%	–	unknown
	Independent Liberal	Paul Phillips Harrison	1,261	43.95%
Total valid votes			2,869	100.00%

v t e 1928 British Columbia general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	George Kerr McNaughton	2,058	53.85
	Liberal	John William McKenzie	1,497	39.17
	Independent Labour	William Law	267	6.99
Total valid votes			3,822	100.00
Total rejected ballots			70

18th British Columbia election, 1933
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Harold Tuttle Allen	1,590	36.03%	unknown
	Independent Co-operative Commonwealth	George Robert Bates	276	6.25%	unknown
	Liberal	Laurence Arnold Hanna	2,204	49.94%	unknown
	United Front (Workers and Farmers)	Hugh Gray Russell	259	5.87%
	Independent	Ernest Richard Tarling	84	1.90%	unknown
Total valid votes			4,413	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			34
Turnout			%

19th British Columbia election, 1937
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Colin Cameron	2,336	44.83%	unknown
	Liberal	Laurence Arnold Hanna	1,876	36.00%	unknown
	Conservative	Gordon Noel Money	999	19.17%	unknown
Total valid votes			5,211	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			80
Turnout			%

20th British Columbia election, 1941
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Colin Cameron	3,126	45.31%	unknown
	Liberal	William Edward Mantle	2,158	31.28%	unknown
	Conservative	Edward Roger Gibson Richardson	1,615	23.41%	unknown
Total valid votes			6,899	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			166
Turnout			%

21st British Columbia election, 1945
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Colin Cameron	3,362	44.69%		unknown
	Labor-Progressive	Thomas McEwen	729	9.69%		unknown
	Coalition	Herbert John Welch	3,432	45.62%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			7,523	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			161
Turnout			%

22nd British Columbia election, 1949
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Colin Cameron	5,238	40.81%		unknown
	Coalition	Herbert John Welch	7,596	59.19%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			12,834	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			435
Turnout			%

23rd British Columbia election, 1952 ⁵
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	W. Bruce Gordon	1,868	13.58%	--	--.--%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	William Campbell Moore	5,369	39.03%	7,098	57.67%		unknown
	Social Credit League	Cyril Hugh Poole	2,987	21.71%
	Liberal	Herbert John Welch	3,532	25.68%	5,210	42.33%		unknown
Total valid votes			13,756	100.00%	12,308	%
Total rejected ballots			446
Turnout			77.94%
⁵(Preferential ballot: 1st and 3rd counts of three shown only)

24th British Columbia election, 1953 ⁶
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Liberal	John Wesley Baikie	2,944	21.71%	-	-.-%		unknown
	Labor-Progressive	John Higgin	357	2.63%	-	-.-%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	William Campbell Moore	5,462	40.28%	6,717	53.83%		unknown
	Social Credit League	Cyril Hugh Poole	4,420	32.59%	5,762	46.17%
	Progressive Conservative	Nugent Watson Spinks	378	2.79%	--	--.--%		unknown
Total valid votes			13,561	100.00%	12,479	%
Total rejected ballots			717
Turnout			77.94%
⁶Preferential ballot: 1st and 4th counts of four shown only)

25th British Columbia election, 1956
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Daniel Robert John Campbell	4,916	41.63%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Robert George McPhee	2,339	19.81%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Cyril Newman	4,555	38.57%		unknown
Total valid votes			11,810	100.00%
Total valid votes			11,810	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			183
Turnout			%

26th British Columbia election, 1960
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	William Wallace Baikie	2,759	17.47%		unknown
	Social Credit	Daniel Robert John Campbell	6,100	38.63%	–	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Alan Gray	653	4.14%		unknown
	Communist	John Higgin	207	1.31%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Frederick Charles Wood	6,072	38.45%		unknown
Total valid votes			15,791	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			248
Turnout			%

27th British Columbia election, 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Daniel Robert John Campbell	6,598	42.38%	–	unknown
	Liberal	David Alexander Elrix	1,259	8.09%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Duncan McIntyre Fraser	1,475	9.47%		unknown
	New Democratic	Frederick Sidney Williams	6,238	40.06%		unknown
Total valid votes			15,570	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			150
Turnout			%

28th British Columbia election, 1966
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Daniel Robert John Campbell	5,449	49.39%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Joseph J. Cvetkovich	1,276	11.57%		unknown
	New Democratic	Neville Shanks	4,308	39.05%		unknown
Total valid votes			11,033	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			104
Turnout			%

29th British Columbia election, 1969
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Daniel Robert John Campbell	7,910	45.61%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Olga Ruth Henrietta Chown	2,303	13.28%		unknown
	New Democratic	Harry Harris	7,131	41.12%		unknown
Total valid votes			17,344	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			194
Turnout			%

30th British Columbia election, 1972
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Daniel Robert John Campbell	6,376	29.00%	–	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Lawrence Foort	1,166	5.30%		unknown
	New Democratic	Karen Sanford	12,540	57.40%		unknown
	Liberal	Patrick Melvin Thompson	1,903	8.66%		unknown
Total valid votes			21,985	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			135
Turnout			%

31st British Columbia election, 1975
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Daniel Edgard Hanuse	10,171	38.90%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Norman L. McLaren	1,381	5.28%		unknown
	New Democratic	Karen Sanford	10,650	40.73%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Victor Albert Stephens	3,906	15.09%		unknown
Total valid votes			26,148	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			454
Turnout			%

32nd British Columbia election, 1979
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Delbert Keith Doll	9,390	42.57%	–	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Eric Harry Kellow	2,251	10.20%		unknown
	New Democratic	Karen Sanford	10,420	47.23%		unknown
Total valid votes			22,061	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			315
Turnout			%

33rd British Columbia election, 1983
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Thomas John Finnie	502	1.71%		unknown
	Western Canada Concept	Allan Wayne Griffiths	1,104	3.75%		unknown
	New Democratic	Karen Sanford	13,719	46.58%		unknown
	Social Credit	George Herbert Parke Smith	13,422	45.57%	–	unknown
	Independent	Victor Albert Stephens	705	2.39%		unknown
Total valid votes			29,452	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			258
Turnout			%

44th British Columbia election, 1986
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Stan Hagen	15,833	51.15
	New Democratic	Karen Sanford	13,562	43.82%	unknown
	Liberal	John G. (Jack) Setter	985	3.18%	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Terry Ian	573	1.85%	unknown
Total valid votes			30,953	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			276
Turnout			%

Sources

Elections BC historical returns

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