1924 British Columbia general election

June 20, 1924
48 seats to the 16th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 25 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader John Oliver William John Bowser Alexander Duncan McRae Party Liberal Conservative Provincial Last election 25 seats, 37.89% 15 seats, 31.20% Did not contest Seats won 23 17 3 Seat change 2 2 3 Popular vote 108,323 101,765 83,517 Percentage 31.34% 29.45% 24.16% Swing 6.55pp 1.75pp Did not contest   Fourth party Fifth party   CLP IL Party Canadian Labour Independent Liberal Last election Did not contest 0 seats, 0.97% Seats won 3 2 Seat change 3 2 Popular vote 39,044 3,549 Percentage 11.30% 1.03% Swing Did not contest 0.06pp
Premier before election John Oliver Liberal Premier after election John Oliver Liberal

The 1924 British Columbia general election was the sixteenth 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 May 10, 1924, and held on June 20, 1924. The new legislature met for the first time on November 3, 1924.

The Liberal Party was re-elected to its third term in government, falling just short of a majority in the legislature even though it won less than a third of the popular vote. Two Independent Liberals were also elected. Premier John Oliver lost his own seat in Victoria City, but remained Premier until 1927.

The Conservative Party formed the official opposition, while two new parties, the Provincial Party and the Canadian Labour Party won three seats each, and a total of 35% of the vote.

1923 redistribution of ridings

An Act was passed in 1923, providing for an increase in the seats in the Assembly from 47 to 48 upon the next election.^[1] The following changes were made:

Campaign

The Provincial Party, which nominated candidates only in 1924, was formed by a group of British Columbia Conservative Party dissidents known as the "Committee of 100", led and funded by the wealthy General Alexander McRae and political elements from the United Farmers of British Columbia. McRae claimed that the Liberal government of John Oliver and the previous administrations of Conservative Premier William John Bowser, then the opposition leader, were corrupt. Many of his allegations were related to the funding of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway plan to reach Prince George in the Northern interior of the province, which was not achieved until many years later. He claimed that there were kickbacks, patronage and various wrongdoings. His allegations were never proven. The election was bitterly fought with sensational allegations against all three leaders. McRae was not elected. Both Bowser and Oliver lost their seats but Oliver continued to lead his Liberal Party as Premier of a minority government after the election.^[2]

In the single-member districts, there was only one two-way contest, and most were either two- or three-way battles:

Aftermath

All three major party leaders had lost their races. In McRae's case, he missed becoming MLA in Vancouver City only because his fellow candidate Andrew McCreight Creery obtained 63 more votes.^[4] In an August byelection, Oliver gained a seat in Nelson when Kenneth Campbell chose to stand aside.^[4] Bowser decided to retire from politics, and Robert Henry Pooley (Esquimalt) was selected as the new Conservative leader.^[4]

The Provincial and Labour members would support critical portions of the Liberal legislative programme in the following session of the Legislature.^[4]

Results

Elections to the 16th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1924)^[5]

Political party		Party leader	MLAs				Votes
			Candidates	1920	1924	±	#	±	%	± (pp)
	Liberal	John Oliver	46	25	23	2	108,323	25,844	31.34	6.55
	Conservative	William Bowser	47	15	17	2	101,765	8,710	29.45	1.75
	Provincial	Alexander Duncan McRae	45	–	3	3	83,517	83,517	24.16	New
	Canadian Labour[a 1]		15	3	3		39,044	6,814	11.30	2.20
	Independent Liberal		5	–	2	2	3,549	116	1.03	0.06
	Independent		3	3	–	3	2,520	34,216	0.73	9.64
	People's Party		–	1	–	1	Did not campaign
	Socialist		2	–	–	–	4,364	8,022	1.26	2.24
	Independent Conservative		4	–	–	–	2,046	444	0.59	0.14
	Farmer–Labour		1	–	–	–	478	478	0.14	New
Total			168	47	48		345,608		100.00%

MLAs elected

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties

References

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, ed. (1925). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1924–25. Toronto: The Annual Review Company.