1920 British Columbia general election

December 1, 1920

47 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
24 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader John Oliver William John Bowser
Party Liberal Conservative
Leader's seat Victoria City[lower-alpha 1] Vancouver City
Last election 36 9
Seats won 26 14
Seat change Decrease10 Increase5
Popular vote 134,167 110,475
Percentage 37.89% 31.20%
Swing Decrease12.11pp Decrease9.32pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
FLP
PP
Party Federated Labour People's
Last election Did not contest Did not contest
Seats won 3 1
Seat change Increase3 Increase1
Popular vote 32,230 1,354
Percentage 9.10% 0.38%
Swing new new

Premier before election

John Oliver
Liberal

Premier after election

John Oliver
Liberal

The legislature of British Columbia in session, 1921

The 1920 British Columbia general election was the fifteenth general election for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on October 23, 1920, and held on December 1, 1920. The new legislature met for the first time on February 8, 1921.

Although it lost eleven seats in the legislature, and fell from 50% of the popular vote to under 38%, the governing Liberal Party was able to hold on to a slim majority in the legislature for its second consecutive term in government.

The Conservative Party also lost a significant share of its popular vote, but won six additional seats for a total of fifteen, and formed the Official Opposition.

Almost a third of the vote and seven seats were won by independents and by a wide variety of fringe parties.

This was the first general election in which women could vote and run for office.[1]

Results

Elections to the 15th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1920)[2]
Political party Party leader MLAs Votes
Candidates 1916 1920 ± # ± % ± (pp)
Liberal John Oliver[a 1] 45362610Decrease134,16744,275Increase37.8912.11Decrease
Conservative William Bowser 429145Increase110,47537,633Increase31.209.32Decrease
Independent[a 2]   18132Increase36,73631,810Increase10.377.63Increase
Federated Labour[a 3]   1433Increase32,23032,230Increase9.10New
  People's Party   111Increase1,3541,3540.38New
Independent Socialist   111Decrease419902Decrease0.120.62Decrease
Socialist[a 4]   7Steady12,38610,280Increase3.502.33Increase
Soldier[a 5]   1110,78010,780Increase3.04New
  Grand Army of United Veterans[a 6]   25,4415,441Increase1,54New
Independent Liberal   3Steady3,4331,915Increase0.970.13Increase
United Farmers   23,1783,178Increase0.90New
Independent Conservative   2Steady1,6021,412Decrease0.451.23Decrease
Independent Soldier   2907907Increase0.26New
Independent Farmer   3526526Increase0.15New
Liberal–Conservative   1424424Increase0.12New
Independent Labour   1Steady302,955Decrease0.011.65Decrease
Total 155 47 47 354,088 100.00%
  1. nominated and won in both Delta and Victoria City. He would opt to resign from the Delta seat.
  2. Includes candidates from the Liberty League of B.C. (2,466 votes), Vancouver Ratepayers Association (3,291 votes), and Women's Freedom League (4,166 votes).
  3. Includes candidates not directly nominated, but supported by, the Federated Labour Party.
  4. Includes John Henry Burrough, a Labour candidate in Prince Rupert running on a Socialist Party platform.
  5. Soldier-Farmer candidates ran in rural Districts (five candidates, 3361 votes) and Soldier-Labour candidates ran in urban ones (six candidates, 7419 votes).
  6. Some GAUV candidates ran on a joint Soldier-Labour ticket.
Seats and popular vote by party[2]
PartySeatsVotesChange (pp)
 Liberal
26 / 47
37.89%
-12.11
 
 Conservative
14 / 47
31.20%
-9.32
 
 Federated Labour
3 / 47
9.10%
9.10 9.1
 
 Independent
3 / 47
10.37%
7.63 7.63
 
 Soldier/GUAV
0 / 47
4.58%
4.58 4.58
 
 Socialist
0 / 47
3.50%
2.33 2.33
 
 Other
2 / 47
3.36%
-2.21
 

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1920 British Columbia general election (single-member districts)[3]
Riding Winning party Votes
Name 1916 Party Votes Share Margin
#
Margin
%
Lib Con FLP PP Soc Sol[a 1] UF I-Lib I-Con Ind Oth Total
 
Alberni Lib Ind 84143.94%1668.67%3986758411,914
Atlin Lib Lib 39036.69%908.47%390229300114301,063
Cariboo Lib Lib 56161.65%21228.30%561349910
Chilliwhack Lib Lib 1,91153.16%2276.32%1,9111,6843,595
Columbia Lib Lib 58460.58%20421.16%584380964
Comox Lib PP 1,35432.83%1212.93%8061,2331,3547314,124
Cowichan Ind Ind 1,14552.60%1135.20%1,0321,1452,177
Cranbrook Lib Lib 94150.98%361.96%9419051,846
Delta Con Lib 1,33437.50%2186.13%1,3341,1161,1073,557
Dewdney Lib Con 1,53545.45%1664.91%1,3691,5354733,377
Esquimalt Con Con 1,15849.87%47320.37%6851,1584792,322
Fernie Lib FLP 93238.37%1586.51%7237749322,429
Fort George Con Lib 1,14055.18%35317.09%1,1407871392,066
Grand Forks Lib Lib 39050.39%60.78%390384774
Greenwood Lib Lib 39249.06%10012.51%392292115799
The Islands Lib Lib 58140.86%1007.03%5814813601,422
Kamloops Lib Lib 1,61737.43%2094.84%1,6171,2951,4084,320
Kaslo Lib Con 76050.53%161.06%7447601,504
Lillooet Con Con 33947.48%12617.65%213339162714
Nanaimo Lib Lib 1,37041.19%1995.98%1,3707851,1713,326
Nelson Con Con 1,23261.75%46923.50%7631,2321,995
Newcastle I-Soc FLP 70442.00%28016.7%704972[a 2]1,676
New Westminster Lib Lib 1,98043.07%3698.03%1,9801,0061,6114,597
North Okanagan Lib Lib 2,03753.51%2677.02%2,0371,7703,807
North Vancouver Lib Ind 2,68154.68%1,50130.61%9131,1802,810[a 3]4,903
Omineca Lib Lib 63060.87%35734.49%6302731321,035
Prince Rupert Lib Lib 1,50143.70%80423.41%1,5015616766973,435
Revelstoke Lib Lib acclaimed
Richmond Lib Con 2,86337.89%1512.00%2,7122,8631,4992722107,556
Rossland Lib Con 25738.02%182.66%180257239676
Saanich Lib Lib 1,85839.78%1022.19%1,8581,7561,0574,671
Similkameen Con Con 1,35451.72%903.44%1,2641,3542,618
Slocan Lib Con 56841.55%977.09%4715683281,367
South Okanagan Con Con 1,88256.77%44913.54%1,4331,8823,315
South Vancouver Lib FLP 3,25537.75%8119.41%1,9692,4443,2559558,623
Trail Con Con 1,31560.80%46721.60%8481,3152,163
Yale Lib Con 91339.58%1767.63%7379136572,307
  1. Candidates in Esquimalt, New Westminster and Saanich were Soldier-Labour; others were Soldier-Farmer
  2. The incumbent James Hurst Hawthornthwaite (Ind-Soc), elected in a 1918 byelection, and formerly the Socialist MLA for Nanaimo City, came in third with 419 votes.
  3. The incumbent George Samuel Hanes, formerly elected as a Liberal, was the winning candidate with 2,681 votes. His candidacy was endorsed by the local Liberal association and the Great War Veterans Association.
  = open seat
  = 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
  = candidate repudiated by local association
  = multiple candidates
Results by riding - 1920 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts)[3]
PartyVancouver CityVictoria City
VotesShareChangeVotesShareChange
Liberal 78,78938.96%-10.42%19,93336.96%-14.33%
Conservative 60,57029.95%-10.85%17,68832.79%-4.11%
Federated Labour 22,11710.97%New1,2122.25%New
Independent 16,1217.97%5.02%4,4858.32%4.46%
Socialist 11,7105.79%4.35%-4.13%
  Grand Army of United Veterans 5,4412.69%New
Women's Freedom League 4,1662.06%New
Vancouver Ratepayers Association 3,2911.63%New
Soldier–Labour 5,3299.88%New
Liberty League of BC 2,4664.57%New
Independent Liberal 2,0453.79%-1.14%
Independent Soldier 7781.44%New
Independent Conservative -2.82%
Independent Labour -2.60%
Social Democratic -3.02%
Total202,205100.00%53,936100.00%
Seats won
  5
  1
  3
  1
Incumbents returned
  3
  1
  1

See also

Further reading

  • An Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871-1986 (PDF). Victoria: Elections British Columbia. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.
  • In the Sea of Sterile Mountains: The Chinese in British Columbia, Joseph Morton, J.J. Douglas, Vancouver (1974). Despite its title, a fairly thorough account of the politicians and electoral politics in early BC.
  • Hopkins, J. Castell (1921). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1920. Toronto: The Canadian Review Company.

Notes and references

Notes

  1. Oliver was also elected as member for Delta, but chose to resign from that seat.

References

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