Fernie (electoral district)

Last updated May 21, 2022

Fernie was the name of a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia centred on the town of Fernie in the southern Rockies. It 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).

Demographics

Population, 1901
Population change, 1901–1961
Area (km²)
Population density (people per km²)

Political geography

Notable elections

Notable MLAs

William Roderick Ross
Thomas Aubert Uphill - represented Fernie as a Labour MLA for 40 years on behalf of a party named "Labour", of which he was the only successful candidate.

Electoral history

Note: Winners of each election are inbold.

10th British Columbia election, 1903
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Socialist	John Ross McPherson	221	26.12%	–	unknown
	Conservative	William Roderick Ross	316	37.35%		unknown
	Liberal	Edwin Clarke Smith	309	36.52%		unknown
Total valid votes			846	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

11th British Columbia election, 1907
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	William Martin Dicken	66	9.42%		unknown
	Socialist	Henry George Parson	285	40.66%	–	unknown
	Conservative	William Roderick Ross	350	49.93%		unknown
Total valid votes			701	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

12th British Columbia election, 1909
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Alexander Ingram Fisher	405	21.90%		unknown
	Socialist	John David Harrington	649	35.10%	–	unknown
	Conservative	William Roderick Ross	795	43.00%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,849	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

13th British Columbia election, 1912
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Socialist	William Davidson	763	41.69%	–	unknown
	Conservative	William Roderick Ross	1,067	58.31%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,830	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

14th British Columbia election, 1916
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Alexander Ingram Fisher	903	46.38%		unknown
	Socialist	John Amos McDonald	218	11.20%	–	unknown
	Conservative	Thomas Aubert Uphill	826	42.42%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,947	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

15th British Columbia election, 1920
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Alexander Ingram Fisher	723	29.77%	unknown
	Conservative	Laurence Sherwood K. Herchmer	774	31.86%	unknown
	Federated Labour Party	Thomas Aubert Uphill	932	38.37%	unknown
Total valid votes			2,429	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

16th British Columbia election, 1924
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Saul A. Bonnell	851	34.12%	unknown
	Liberal	James McLean	641	25.70%	unknown
	Federated Labour Party	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,002	40.18%	unknown
Total valid votes			2,494	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

17th British Columbia election, 1928
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Michael D. McLean	1,102	40.20%	unknown
	Independent Labour Party ¹	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,639	59.80%	unknown
Total valid votes			2,741	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			67
Turnout			%
¹ Labour in Summary of Votes.

18th British Columbia election, 1933
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Michael D. McLean	1,299	43.42%	unknown
	Labour (Party) ²	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,693	56.58%	unknown
Total valid votes			2,992	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			26
Turnout			%
² i.e. "Labour" was the name of the party.

18th British Columbia election, 1937
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Harry Wilfrid Colgan	1,470	46.36%	unknown
	Labour (Party)	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,701	53.64%	unknown
Total valid votes			3,171	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			71
Turnout			%

19th British Columbia election, 1941
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Harry Wilfrid Colgan	1,214	37.70%	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	James Lancaster	287	8.91%	unknown
	Labour (Party)	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,719	53.39%	unknown
Total valid votes			3,220	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			29
Turnout			%

19th British Columbia election, 1945
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Kenneth Claude Minifie	742	24.34%		unknown
	Coalition	Kenny Nash Stewart	1,018	33.39%	–	unknown
	Labour (Party)	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,289	42.28%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,049	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			10
Turnout			%

20th British Columbia election, 1949
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stephen Alexander Fleming	837	22.06%		unknown
	Coalition	Kenny Nash Stewart	1,474	38.85%	–	unknown
	Labour (Party)	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,483	39.09%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,794	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			68
Turnout			%

21st British Columbia election, 1952 ³
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Magnus Eliason	612	16.40%	-	-.- %		unknown
	B.C. Social Credit League	John Mackenzie Patterson	713	19.11%	-	-.- %		unknown
	Liberal	Stewart Kenny Nash	1,117	29.93%	1,329	43.05%		unknown
	Labour (Party)	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,290	34.57%	1,758	56.95%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,732	100.00%	3,087
Total rejected ballots			61
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	Henry Cartmell (Harry) McKay	1,229	34.80%	1,402	43.88%		unknown
	Social Credit	William Paniec	702	19.88%
	Labour (Party)	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,601	45.32%	1,793	56.12%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,532	100.00%	3,195
Total rejected ballots			145
Turnout			%
⁴ Preferential ballot. First and second of two counts only shown.

23rd British Columbia election, 1956
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Joseph Butala	1,181	37.94%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Kenny Nash Stewart	611	19.63%		unknown
	Labour (Party)	Thomas Aubert Uphill	1,321	42.43%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,113	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			112
Turnout			%

24th British Columbia election, 1960
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Joseph Butala	927	29.83%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Henry Cartmell (Harry) McKay	1,126	36.23%		unknown
	CCF	Lloyd Phillips	864	27.80%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Francis J. Ramage	191	6.15%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,108	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			29
Turnout			%

25th British Columbia election, 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Ezner De Anna	1,037	35.25%		unknown
	Liberal	Henry Cartmell (Harry) McKay	1,226	41.67%		unknown
	Social Credit	Maurice J. O'Rourke	679	23.08%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			2,942	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			22
Turnout			%

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

Sources

Elections BC Historical Returns

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