Cranbrook (electoral district)

Cranbrook was the name of a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia centred on the town of Cranbrook in the southern Rockies and including nearby Kimberley and other towns in the southern end of the Rocky Mountain Trench.

Cranbrook riding made its first appearance on the hustings in the election of 1903. In a redistribution after the 1963 election the area covered by this riding was incorporated into the new Kootenay riding (same name but smaller than the original 1871-vintage Kootenay riding).^{[ citation needed ]}

Electoral history

Cranbrook elected members to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1903 to 1963. The results of these elections were: ^[1]

Note: Winners of each election are inbold.

10th British Columbia election, 1903

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Thomas Donald Caven	435	46.52%		unknown
	Liberal	James Horace King	500	53.48%		unknown
Total valid votes			935	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

11th British Columbia election, 1907

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Albert Harvey	378	35.59 %		unknown
	Independent Socialist	Edward Kelley	211	19.87%		unknown
	Liberal	James Horace King	473	44.54%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,062	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

12th British Columbia election, 1909

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Thomas Donald Caven	761	54.16%		unknown
	Socialist	John William Fitch	143	10.18%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Malcolm Archibald MacDonald	501	35.66%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,405	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

13th British Columbia election, 1912

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Thomas Donald Caven	Accl.	-.- %		unknown
Total valid votes			n/a	-.-%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

14th British Columbia election, 1916

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Thomas Donald Caven	504	40.94%		unknown
	Liberal	James Horace King	727	59.06%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,231	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

15th British Columbia election, 1920

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Independent Conservative	Thomas Donald Caven	905	49.02%
	Liberal	James Horace King	941	50.98%
Total valid votes			1,846	100.00%

16th British Columbia election, 1924

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Taylor	1,062	44.47%		unknown
	Conservative	Noel Stirling Austin Arnold Wallinger	1,326	55.53%		unknown
Total valid votes			2,388	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

17th British Columbia election, 1928

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Frank Mitchell MacPherson	1,833	52.46%		unknown
	Conservative	Noel Stirling Austin Arnold Wallinger	1,661	47.54%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,494	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			55
Turnout			%

18th British Columbia election, 1933

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	United Front (Workers and Farmers)	Robert Adams	62	1.46%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Charles Bennett	1,231	29.01%		unknown
	Liberal	Frank Mitchell MacPherson	2,951	69.53%		unknown
Total valid votes			4,244	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			33
Turnout			%

18th British Columbia election, 1937

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Frank Mitchell MacPherson	3,110	76.73%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Samuel Smith Shearer	943	23.27%		unknown
Total valid votes			4,053	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			79
Turnout			%

19th British Columbia election, 1941

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Oscar Albin Eliasin	1,548	33.89%		unknown
	Conservative	Frank William Green	1,615	35.35%		unknown
	Liberal	Arnold Joseph McGrath	1,405	30.76%		unknown
Total valid votes			4,568	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			52
Turnout			%

19th British Columbia election, 1945

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Labor-Progressive	William Brown	193	4.56%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Henry Gammon	1,965	46.40%		unknown
	Coalition	Frank William Green	2,077	49.04%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			4,235	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			40
Turnout			%

20th British Columbia election, 1949

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leo Thomas Nimsick	3,026	50.53%		unknown
	Coalition	Clifford Swan	2,963	49.47%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			5,989	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			87
Turnout			%

21st British Columbia election, 1952 3
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	B.C. Social Credit League	Howard Cressman King	2,328	34.23%	3,044	48.67%		unknown
	Liberal	Maurice Gregory Klinkhammer	1,111	16.33%	-	-.- %		unknown
	Conservative	George England Kerr MacDonald	675	9.92%	-	-.- %		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leo Thomas Nimsick	2,688	39.52%	3,210	51.33%		unknown
Total valid votes			6,802	100.00%	6,254
Total rejected ballots			168
Turnout			%
3 Preferential ballot. First and final of three counts only shown.

22nd British Columbia election, 1953 4
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Liberal	George Wayne Haddad	1,615	23.79%	-	-.- %		unknown
	Social Credit	Howard Cressman King	2,219	32.69%	2,756	44.34%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leo Thomas Nimsick	2,955	43.52%	3,460	555.66%		unknown
Total valid votes			6,789	100.00%	6,216
Total rejected ballots			238
Turnout			%
4 Preferential ballot. First and second of two counts only shown.

23rd British Columbia election, 1956

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Francis Vincent Downey	902	14.47%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leo Thomas Nimsick	3,321	53.26%
	Social Credit	Robert Earl Sang	2,012	32.27%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			6,235	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			54
Turnout			%

24th British Columbia election, 1960

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Jack Glennie	1,475	23.39 %		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leo Thomas Nimsick	2,786	44.18%		unknown
	Social Credit	Frank Joseph Butala	1,700	26.96%	–	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Willie Harvey Webber	345	5.47%		unknown
Total valid votes			6,306	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			67
Turnout			%

25th British Columbia election, 1963

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	William Otis Green	1,526	23.27%		unknown
	Liberal	Lloyd James Hoole	835	12.73%		unknown
	Social Credit	Robert Owen Jones	1,633	24.90%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Leo Thomas Nimsick	2,563	39.09%		unknown
Total valid votes			6,557	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			35
Turnout			%

Following the 1963 election the Cranbrook riding was redistributed ^[2] and a new riding, Kootenay was formed (same name as the original 1871 Kootenay riding, but much smaller in scope). The Kootenay riding combined Cranbrook with the riding of Fernie and parts of the Columbia ridings.^{[ citation needed ]}

See also

• List of British Columbia provincial electoral districts
• Canadian provincial electoral districts

References

1. Sayers, Anthony (2017). "Cranbrook (British Columbia)". Canadian Elections Database. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
2. Greer, David M. (1978). "Redistribution of Seats in the British Columbia Legislature, 1952-1978". BC Studies. 38: 24–46 – via University of British Columbia.