1956 British Columbia general election

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1956 British Columbia general election
Flag of British Columbia.svg
←  1953 September 19, 1956 1960  →
52 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
27 seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
CCF
 Canadas-Minister-of-Northern-Affairs-visit-to-Sweden-142352846895 (cropped).jpg
Leader W. A. C. Bennett Robert Strachan Arthur Laing
Party Social Credit CCF Liberal
Leader since195219561953
Leader's seat South Okanagan Cowichan-Newcastle Vancouver-Point Grey (lost re-election)
Last election28144
Seats won39102
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 11Decrease2.svg 4Decrease2.svg 2
Popular vote374,711231,511177,922
Percentage45.84%28.32%21.77%
SwingIncrease2.svg 8.09Decrease2.svg 2.53Decrease2.svg 1.82
Premier before election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

Premier after election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

The 1956 British Columbia general election was the 25th general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on August 13, 1956, and held on September 19, 1956. The new legislature met for the first time on February 7, 1957.

Contents

The conservative Social Credit of Premier W.A.C. Bennett was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a third term in government with over 45% of the popular vote.

The social democratic CCF formed the official opposition.

The British Columbia Liberal Party lost two of its four seats despite winning over 20% of the popular vote.

The Progressive Conservative Party lost its single seat in the legislature, and would not win a seat again until the 1972 election.

One seat was won by a Labour candidate, Tom Uphill of Fernie.

Changes to election laws

In 1953, as part of a revision to the Provincial Elections Act, the voting age was reduced from 21 to 19. [1] As well, the instant runoff voting system that was in effect for the 1952 and 1953 elections was abolished and the previous first past the post rules were revived.

In 1955, a further Act was passed that increased the Legislative from 48 members to 52 through the following changes: [2]

Results

Elections to the 25th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1956) [3]
Political partyParty leaderMLAsVotes [a 1]
Candidates 1953 1956±#±%± (pp)
Social Credit W.A.C. Bennett 52283911Increase2.svg374,71199,940Increase2.svg45.848.09Increase2.svg
Co-operative Commonwealth Bob Strachan 5114104Decrease2.svg231,5116,998Increase2.svg28.322.53Decrease2.svg
Liberal Arthur Laing 52422Decrease2.svg177,9226,161Increase2.svg21.771.82Decrease2.svg
Progressive Conservative Deane Finlayson 221–1Decrease2.svg25,37315,407Decrease2.svg3.112.49Decrease2.svg
Labour Tom Uphill 111Steady2.svg1,321280Decrease2.svg0.160.06Decrease2.svg
Labour Progressive 14–––3,3814,115Decrease2.svg0.410.62Decrease2.svg
Independent 7–––3,1781,207Increase2.svg0.390.12Increase2.svg
Total1994852817,397100.00%
Rejected ballots [4] 6,64237,124Decrease2.svg
Actual voters who voted [4] 509,40912,643Decrease2.svg65.43%5.12Decrease2.svg
Registered voters [4] 778,58738,581Increase2.svg
  1. ↑ Measured against 1953 first-preference votes.
Seats and popular vote by party [3]
PartySeatsVotesChange (pp)
█  Social Credit
39 / 52
45.84%
8.098.09
 
█  Co-operative Commonwealth
10 / 52
28.52%
-2.53
 
█  Liberal
2 / 52
21.77%
-1.82
 
█  Progressive Conservative
0 / 52
3.11%
-2.49
 
█ Other
1 / 52
0.76%
-1.25
 

MLAs elected

  1. ↑ Died before the opening of the new Legislative Assembly. His son-in-law Cedric Cox won the subsequent byelection.

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1956 British Columbia general election (single-member districts) [5]
RidingWinning partyVotes
Name 1953 PartyVotesShareMargin
#		Margin
%		SCCCFLibPCLPPIndTotal
 
Alberni CCFCCF3,36250.60%1,46822.09%1,8943,3621,388–––6,644
Atlin CCFSC45448.04%949.94%454360131–––945
Cariboo SCSC3,01460.86%1,87337.82%3,0147971,141–––4,952
Chilliwack SCSC9,00857.10%5,89037.34%9,0082,9923,118658––15,776
Columbia SCSC1,07454.41%42221.38%1,074248652–––1,974
Comox CCFSC4,91641.63%3613.06%4,9164,5552,339–––11,810
Cowichan-Newcastle CCFCCF5,01551.18%1,84218.80%3,1735,0151,611–––9,799
Cranbrook CCFCCF3,32153.26%1,30920.99%2,0123,321902–––6,235
Dewdney SCSC10,26747.49%3,05614.14%10,2677,2114,141–––21,619
Esquimalt SCSC3,53043.70%1,51718.78%3,5302,0131,714821––8,078
Fernie LabLab1,32142.43%1404.49%1,181–611––1,3213,113
Fort George SCSC3,77458.48%2,39837.16%3,7741,3041,376–––6,454
Grand Forks-Greenwood CCFCCF87742.57%110.53%866877 [a 1] 317–––2,060
Kamloops SCSC4,94861.02%2,93136.15%4,9481,1442,017–––8,109
Kaslo-Slocan CCFCCF1,51254.31%53719.29%9751,512297–––2,784
Lillooet LibSC2,05552.41%1,09627.95%2,055907959–––3,921
Mackenzie CCFCCF4,50248.41%1,25613.50%3,2464,5021,362189––9,299
Nanaimo and the Islands PCSC3,82745.52%86412.60%3,8272,9632,142––699,001
Nelson-Creston SCSC4,19051.02%1,85922.64%4,1902,3311,622–70–8,213
New Westminster CCFCCF4,46938.83%2932.55%4,1764,4692,220––64511,510
North Okanagan SCSC4,58354.74%2,31127.60%4,5831,4292,272–88–8,372
North Peace River NewSC1,08753.23%66432.52%1,087359423––173 [a 2] 2,042
Oak Bay LibLib3,94049.38%1,24915.65%2,6914293,940919––7,979
Omineca SCSC1,68554.06%83826.89%1,685585847–––3,117
Prince Rupert LibSC2,15142.39%4879.60%2,1511,2591,664–––5,074
Revelstoke CCFSC1,33949.81%35413.17%1,339985364–––2,688
Rossland-Trail SCSC5,09750.23%2,25822.25%5,0972,8391,960252––10,148
Saanich SCSC6,54239.45%1,1036.65%6,5425,4393,3441,257––16,582
Salmon Arm SCSC2,13151.24%67716.28%2,1311,454339487––4,159
Similkameen SCSC5,18953.94%2,98931.07%5,1892,2001,744487––9,620
Skeena CCFSC1,88637.01%631.24%1,8861,8231,387–––5,096
South Okanagan SCSC7,69469.70%6,03154.63%7,6941,6631,230451––11,038
South Peace River NewSC1,78750.80%51214.56%1,7871,275456–––3,518
Yale SCSC1,31547.34%61222.03%1,315599703161––2,778
  1. ↑ Lois Haggen accepted the nomination after her husband Rupert Haggen chose to retire because of health problems.
  2. ↑ Campaigned as People's Party of BC.
  = open seat
  = turnout is above provincial average
  = winning candidate was in previous Legislature
  = incumbent had switched allegiance
  = previously incumbent in another riding
  = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
  = incumbency arose from byelection gain
  = other incumbents renominated
  = campaigned as Independent SC
  = multiple candidates
Results by riding - 1956 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts) [5]
RidingWinning partyVotesVoters
who voted [6]
NameMLAs 1953 1956SCCCFLibPCLPPIndTotal
Burnaby 2
  1
  2
12,10315,3043,972513––60,54031,243
11,58312,6923,895478––
Delta 2
  1
  2
18,84811,2025,149–355–69,06635,578
17,76210,7984,680–272–
North Vancouver 2
  1
  2
11,9744,7188,4255,121211902 [a 1] 53,71928,602
11,2984,2666,386–191227
Vancouver-Burrard 2
  2
  2
12,8247,8264,9721,09526020352,36927,798
12,1807,3224,4241,006257–
Vancouver Centre 2
  2
  2
9,1124,5613,996969485–36,30219,128
8,6144,3933,727–445–
Vancouver East 2
  2
  1
  1
18,64019,7744,229720––84,42244,795
17,82118,5414,156541––
Vancouver-Point Grey 3
  2
  1
  3
25,61511,36517,8013,324318959155,95353,152
23,6968,43515,5992,878––
23,2387,97912,9241,822––
Victoria City 3
  3
  2
  1
9,1993,4328,408 [a 2] 1,476162–60,51921,474
8,6203,4177,241–143–
7,8273,2657,205–124–
  1. ↑ George Henry Tomlinson Jr., a Socred MLA in the previous Legislature.
  2. ↑ George Frederick Thompson Gregory (Liberal)won the seat in a 1953 byelection, taking it from the Socreds.

Bold indicates incumbent in last Legislature.

  = winning candidate

See also

Further reading

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References

  1. ↑ Provincial Elections Act, 1953 , S.B.C. 1953 (2nd session), c. 5, s. 3
  2. ↑ Constitution Act Amendment Act, 1955 , S.B.C. 1955, c. 11
  3. 1 2 Elections BC 1988, pp. 243, 265.
  4. 1 2 3 Elections BC 1988, pp. 2–3.
  5. 1 2 Elections BC 1988, pp. 267–271.
  6. ↑ Elections BC 1988, p. 536.
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