Oak Bay (electoral district)

Last updated December 15, 2023

Oak Bay was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It first appeared in the general election of 1941 and last appeared in the 1975 election. Its successor is the Oak Bay-Gordon Head riding. For other ridings in the area of Victoria, B.C. please see List of electoral districts in Greater Victoria.

Demographics

Population, 1941 census	Population, 1976 census
Population Change, 1941–1976
Area (km²)
Pop. Density (people per km²)

Political Geography

Notable Elections

Notable MLAs

Several British Columbia Conservative Party leaders have represented the riding including Herbert Anscomb who was Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier in the Liberal-Conservative coalition government. George Scott Wallace represented the district in the 1970s and his successor as Tory leader Victor Albert Stephens was its last MLA from 1978 until 1979.

Electoral history

Note: Winners in each election are shown inbold.

20th British Columbia election, 1941
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Herbert Anscomb	2,676	55.88%	unknown
	Liberal	Everett Stanley Farr	1,520	31.74%	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Geoffrey LeGallais	593	12.38%	unknown
Total valid votes			4,789	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			68
Turnout			%

21st British Columbia election, 1945
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Coalition	Herbert Anscomb	4,598	82.31%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Clare Nulalinda McAllister	988	17.69%		unknown
Total valid votes			5,586	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			40
Turnout			%

22nd British Columbia election, 1949
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Coalition	Herbert Anscomb	5,918	84.21%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Patricia Mary Luchinsky	890	12.66%		unknown
	Union of Electors	Claudius Edward Wright	220	3.13%
Total valid votes			7,028	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			183
Turnout			%

23rd British Columbia election, 1952 ¹
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Herbert Anscomb	2,843	34.45%	3,282	43.24%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Frederick James Bevis	707	8.57%	-	- %		unknown
	Liberal	Philip Archibald Gibbs	3,631	44.00%	4,308	56.76%		unknown
Total valid votes			8,252	%	7,590	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			130
Turnout			%
¹ Preferential ballot; 1st and final counts (of three) shown only.

24th British Columbia election, 1953 ²
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Frederick James Bevis	508	6.20%	-	- %		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Douglas Deane Finlayson	1,220	14.90%	-	- %		unknown
	Liberal	Philip Archibald Gibbs	3,182	38.85%	4,110	52.75%		unknown
	Social Credit League	Einar Maynard Gunderson	3,280	40.05 3%	3,681	47.25%
Total valid votes			8,190	100.00%	7,791	%
Total rejected ballots			192
Total Registered Voters
Turnout			%
² Preferential ballot; 1st and final counts (of three) shown only.

25th British Columbia election, 1956
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Philip Archibald Gibbs	3,940	49.38%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Justin Victor Harbord	919	11.52%		unknown
	Social Credit	Kenneth Oliver	2,691	33.73	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Patrick Holman Thomas	429	5.38%		unknown
Total valid votes			7,979	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			74
Turnout			%

26th British Columbia election, 1960
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	James Arthur Anderson	1,212	11.82%		unknown
	Liberal	Alan Brock MacFarlane	4,558	44.46%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Francis Harris Mitchell	701	6.84%		unknown
	Social Credit	George Murdoch	3,780	36.87%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			10,251	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			113
Turnout			%

27th British Columbia election, 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Charles McGregor Ennals	3,770	36.17%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Robert Wayne Harrigan	469	4.50%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Hugh Larratt Henderson	1,726	16.56%		unknown
	Liberal	Alan Brock MacFarlane	4,457	42.77%		unknown
Total valid votes			10,422	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			72
Turnout			%

28th British Columbia election, 1966
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Charles McGregor Ennals	5,808	38.97%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Alan Brock MacFarlane	8,118	54.48%		unknown
	New Democratic	Mira V. Yarwood	976	6.55%		unknown
Total valid votes			14,902	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			184
Turnout			%

29th British Columbia election, 1969
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Allan Leslie Cox	6,656	36.37%		unknown
	New Democratic	Kirby Gerald Seabrook	2,105	11.50%		unknown
	Social Credit	George Scott Wallace	9,542	52.13%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			18,303	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			174
Turnout			%

30th British Columbia election, 1972
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Mel Couvelier	3,253	16.47%		unknown
	Social Credit	Howard Richmond McDiarmid	4,752	24.06%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	John Gordon Neuls	1,423	7.21%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	George Scott Wallace	10,319	52.06%		unknown
Total valid votes			19,747	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			229
Turnout			%

31st British Columbia election, 1975
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Sherman Frank Byas Carson	8,274	37.29%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Sarah Elizabeth Jameson	359	1.62%		unknown
	New Democratic	Raymond Barrie Vickery	2,067	9.31%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	George Scott Wallace	11,489	51.78%		unknown
Total valid votes			22,189	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			229
Turnout			%

By-election, March 20, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Sherman Frank Byas Carson	5,109	28.52%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Denson Graham Ross-Smith	2,350	13.12%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Victor Albert Stephens	6,904	38.54%		unknown
	Socialist	Lawrence Richard Tickner	54	00.3%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			17,915	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			154
Turnout			%

The Oak Bay riding was redistributed and the new riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head created. It first appeared in the general election of 1979.

Sources

Elections BC Historical Returns

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