1952 British Columbia general election

1952 British Columbia general election

← 1949 June 12, 1952 1953 →

48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
25 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
SC
CCF
Leader Rev. Ernest George Hansell[1] Harold Winch
Party Social Credit Co-operative Commonwealth
Leader since 1938
Leader's seat Vancouver East
Last election 0 7
Seats won 19 18
Seat change Increase19 Increase11
First count 209,049 236,562
  Percentage 27.20% 30.78%
  Swing Increase25.99pp Decrease4.32pp
Final count 203,932 231,756
  Percentage 30.18% 34.3%

  Third party Fourth party
  Byron Johnson.jpg
PC
Leader Byron Ingemar Johnson Herbert Anscomb
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since 1947 1946
Leader's seat New Westminster (lost re-election) Oak Bay (lost re-election)
Last election 39[2] 39[2]
Seats won 6 4
Seat change n/a[2] n/a[2]
First count 180,289 129,439
  Percentage 23.46% 16.84%
  Swing n/a[2] n/a[2]
Final count 170,674 65,285
  Percentage 25.26% 9.66%

Premier before election

Byron Ingemar Johnson
Coalition

Premier after election

W. A. C. Bennett[1]
Social Credit

The 1952 British Columbia general election was the 23rd general election in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, alongside a plebiscite on daylight saving time and liquor. The election was called on April 10, 1952, and held on June 12, 1952. The new legislature met for the first time on February 3, 1953.

It was the first BC general election to use a preferential ballot, a short-lived phenomenon in the province. The presence of multi-member districts, such as Victoria City with 3 MLAs, in conjunction with the alternative voting system called for an innovation where the district's candidates were split into three "ballots", each with one candidate from each party.[3]

The government until not long before the election had been a Liberal / Progressive Conservative coalition (the Conservatives had recently changed their name to match that of their federal cousins). After the coalition had collapsed, the Liberals felt threatened by the rising popularity of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. To lock out the CCF, the government adopted the alternative voting system instead of leaving the existing system in place or switching to STV. While they ran candidates separately under their own names, Liberal and Conservative party leaders believed that if Liberal voters picked the local Tory candidate as their second preference and vice versa, one of the candidates of the two parties would have enough votes to be elected in many districts, hopefully ensuring the coalition's retention of power.

However, the Liberal and PC leaders had not reckoned on being so unpopular with the province's voters. The combined Liberal and PC vote total was 120,000 fewer votes than in the previous election, while the Social Credit party received almost 200,000 more votes than in 1949. The combined Liberal and Conservative vote totals surpassed 50 percent in only eight seat contests, so even if the party voters had adhered to coalition discipline, the coalition did not have enough votes to be elected in most of the districts. They received only a comparative few votes through vote transfers from CCF and SC candidates, whose supporters aided each other where possible.[4]

In districts where CCF candidates were eliminated, back-up preferences were marked overwhelmingly for the British Columbia Social Credit League (BCSCL). Combined with many second-preference votes transferred from eliminated Liberal and Conservative candidates, this gave the Social Credit party five seats in addition to the 14 seats where its candidates had a plurality in the first counts. In the end, the Social Credit party captured 19 seats. The CCF received 18 seats, helped in many cases by transfers from eliminated SC candidates. The coalition was decimated, winning only 10 seats between both parties. Both Premier Byron "Boss" Johnson and Tory leader Herbert Anscomb lost their seats.

Not even the Socreds had expected to win the election. The party had no official leader. Alberta Social Credit Member of Parliament Ernest George Hansell had led the party during the election campaign without contesting a seat himself. The Socreds persuaded Tom Uphill, a Labour member of the Legislature (MLA), to support the party, and so the Socreds were able to form a minority government. (Otherwise, having to provide the Speaker meant that the SC seat total would have been reduced to only the same as the CCF's seat count.)

The party's next task was to choose the province's new premier. In a vote of the newly elected caucus, W.A.C. Bennett, a former Conservative MLA who joined the Socreds after losing a bid for the Tory leadership, won a caucus vote and became premier-elect on July 15, 1952. This began what would be 21 years straight – and 36 of the next 39 years – of Social Credit rule in British Columbia. This would also be the last election to produce a minority government until 2017.

In hopes of getting a stronger mandate, Bennett deliberately lost a confidence vote in 1953. This forced an election in June 1953 in which Social Credit won a majority of the seats.

Results

Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1949 Elected % Change First count % Change Final count %
Social Credit Ernest George Hansell 47 - 19 - 209,049 27.20% +25.99% 203,932 30.18%
  Co-operative Commonwealth Fed. Harold Winch 48 7 18 +157.1% 236,562 30.78% -4.32% 231,756 34.3%
Liberal Byron Ingemar Johnson 48 391 6 n/a1 180,289 23.46% n/a1 170,674 25.26%
  Progressive Conservative Herbert Anscomb 48 4 129,439 16.84% 65,285 9.66%
  Labour Tom Uphill 1 1 1 - 1,290 0.16% -0.05% 1,758 0.26%
Christian Democratic   8 * 0 * 7,176 0.93% * 1,318 0.2%
Labour Progressive   5 - - - 2,514 0.33% +0.09% 931 0.14%
  Independents 5 1 - -100% 1,312 0.17% -0.57% - -
  Labour Representation Committee   1 * 0 * 654 0.09% * - -
Socialist   1 * 0 * 276 0.04% * - -
Total 212 48 48 - 768,561 100% - 675,654 100%
Source: Elections BC

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

1 In the previous election, the Liberal and Conservative parties ran candidates jointly as "Coalition" candidates, electing 39 MLAs. The Conservatives withdrew from the coalition in 1951 hastening the government's collapse.

Popular vote (first count)
CCF
30.78%
Social Credit
27.20%
Liberal
23.46%
PC
16.84%
Labour
0.16%
Others
1.56%
Popular vote (final count)
CCF
34.30%
Social Credit
30.18%
Liberal
25.26%
PC
9.66%
Labour
0.26%
Others
0.34%
Seats summary
Social Credit
39.58%
CCF
37.50%
Liberal
12.50%
PC
8.33%
Labour
2.08%

Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1952
Government Opposition
Member Riding
& party
Riding
& party
Member
     William Ralph Talbot Chetwynd
Cariboo
BC Social Credit League
          Alberni
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Stanley John Squire
    
     William Kenneth Kiernan
Chilliwack
BC Social Credit League
          Atlin
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Frank Calder
    
     Richard Orr Newton
Columbia
BC Social Credit League
          Burnaby
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Ernest Edward Winch
    
     Thomas Irwin
Delta
BC Social Credit League
          Comox
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
William Campbell Moore     
     Lyle Wicks
Dewdney
BC Social Credit League
          Cowichan-Newcastle
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Robert Martin Strachan     
     Llewllyn Leslie King
Fort George
BC Social Credit League
          Cranbrook
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Leo Thomas Nimsick     
     Philip Arthur Gaglardi
Kamloops
BC Social Credit League
          Esquimalt
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Frank Mitchell     
     Wesley Drewett Black
Nelson-Creston
BC Social Credit League
          Grand Forks-Greenwood
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Rupert Haggen     
     Lorne Shantz
North Okanagan
BC Social Credit League
          Kaslo-Slocan
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Randolph Harding     
     Cyril Morley Shelford
Omineca
BC Social Credit League
          Mackenzie
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Anthony John Gargrave     
     Charles William Parker
Peace River
BC Social Credit League
          New Westminster
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Rae Eddie     
     Robert Edward Sommers
Rossland-Trail
BC Social Credit League
          Prince Rupert
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
George Edwin Hills     
     James Allan Reid
Salmon Arm
BC Social Credit League
          Revelstoke
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Vincent Segur     
     Harry Denyer Francis
Similkameen
BC Social Credit League
          Saanich
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Frank Snowsell     
     William Andrew Cecil Bennett
South Okanagan
BC Social Credit League
          Vancouver Centre
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
James Campbell Bury     
     Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin
Vancouver-Burrard
BC Social Credit League
          Laura Emma Marshall Jamieson     
     Bert Price
          Vancouver East
Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.
Arthur James Turner     
     Tilly Rolston
Vancouver-Point Grey
BC Social Credit League
          Harold Edward Winch     
     Irvine Finlay Corbett
Yale
BC Social Credit League
          Fernie
Labour
Thomas Aubert Uphill     
     Lillooet
Progressive Conservative
Ernest Crawford Carson     
     Nanaimo and the Islands
Progressive Conservative
Larry Giovando     
     Vancouver-Point Grey
Progressive Conservative
Albert Reginald MacDougall     
     George Clark Miller     
     Skeena
Liberal
Edward Tourtellotte Kenney     
     North Vancouver
Liberal
Martin Elliott Sowden     
     Oak Bay
Liberal
Philip Archibald Gibbs     
     Victoria City
Liberal
Nancy Hodges     
     Daniel John Proudfoot     
     William Thomas Straith     
Source: Elections BC

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Hansell was an Alberta Member of Parliament and was appointed to lead the BC party during the election but did not contest a seat, himself. Following the election, W. A. C. Bennett was elected as the leader of the Social Credit party by the newly-elected caucus and became Premier-elect on July 15, 1952.
  2. ^ a b c d e f The Liberal and Conservative parties ran as a coalition in the 1949 election.
  3. ^ "1871-1986 Electoral History of BC", p. 231-2
  4. ^ "1871-1986 Electoral History of BC"

Further reading

  • Argyle, Ray (2004). Turning Points: The Campaigns that Changed Canada 2004 and Before. Toronto: White Knight Publications. ISBN 978-0-9734186-6-8.

See also


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