1909 British Columbia general election

The 1909 British Columbia general election was the twelfth 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 20, 1909, and held on November 25, 1909'. The new legislature met for the first time on January 20, 1910.

1909 British Columbia general election

November 25, 1909
48 seats to the 12th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 25 seats were needed for a majority
BCLP SPC Leader Sir Richard McBride James Alexander MacDonald No leader Party Conservative Liberal Socialist Leader's seat Victoria City[lower-alpha 1] Last election 26 seats, 48.70% 13 seats, 37.15% 3 seats, 8.87% Seats won 38 2 2 Seat change 12 11 1 Popular vote 53,074 33,675 11,665 Percentage 52.33% 33.21% 11.50% Swing 3.63pp 3.94pp 2.63pp
Premier before election Richard McBride Conservative Elected Premier Richard McBride Conservative

The governing Conservative Party won its third consecutive term in government with over half of the popular vote and all but four of the 42 seats in the legislature, effectively a rout for the popular incumbent Premier, Sir Richard McBride.

Despite winning almost one-third of the popular vote, the Liberal Party won only two seats, the same number won by the Socialist Party with only 11.5% of the vote.

The first-past-the-post allocation of seats, combined with the multi-member constituencies in effect at the time, ensured that the Conservatives won with a lead of 34 seats, instead of only a lead of two seats that its proportion of the popular vote should have granted it.[1]

Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1907	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Conservative ^1	Richard McBride	42	26	38	+46.2%	53,074	52.33%	+3.63%
	Liberal	James Alexander MacDonald	36	13	2	-84.6%	33,675	33.21%	-3.94%
	Socialist		20	3	2	-33.3%	11,665	11.50%	+2.63%
	Independent		3	-	-	-	2,625	2.59%	+2.36%
	Canadian Labour ^2		1	-	-	-	165	0.16%	-3.79%
	Independent Conservative		1	*	-	*	154	0.15%	*
	Independent Labour		1	-	-	-	57	0.06%	-0.71%
Total			104	42	42	-	101,415	100%
Sources: Elections BC

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

¹ Two candidates are counted twice: R. McBride (Conservative), who contested and was elected in both Victoria City and Yale, and J. Oliver (Liberal) who contested but was defeated in both Delta and Victoria City.

² Organized in 1906. Not the same as the CLP that contested the 1924 election.

Popular vote Conservative   52.33% Liberal   33.21% Socialist   11.50% Others   2.96%

Seats summary Conservative   90.48% Liberal   4.76% Socialist   4.76%

Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1909
Government				Opposition
	Member	Riding & party		Riding & party		Member
	Henry Esson Young	Atlin Conservative			Alberni Liberal	Harlan Carey Brewster
	Michael Callanan	Cariboo Conservative			Esquimalt Liberal	John Jardine
	John Anderson Fraser				Nanaimo City Socialist	James Hurst Hawthornthwaite
	Samuel Arthur Cawley	Chilliwhack Conservative			Newcastle Socialist	Parker Williams
	Henry George Parson	Columbia Conservative
	Michael Manson	Comox Conservative
	William Henry Hayward	Cowichan Conservative
	Thomas Donald Caven	Cranbrook Conservative
	Francis James Anderson MacKenzie	Delta Conservative
	William J. Manson	Dewdney Conservative
	William Roderick Ross	Fernie Conservative
	Ernest Miller	Grand Forks Conservative
	John Robert Jackson	Greenwood Conservative
	Albert Edward McPhillips	The Islands Conservative
	James Pearson Shaw	Kamloops Conservative
	Neil Franklin MacKay	Kaslo Conservative
	Archibald McDonald	Lillooet Conservative
	Harry Wright	Nelson City Conservative
	Thomas Gifford	New Westminster City Conservative
	Price Ellison	Okanagan Conservative
	Thomas Taylor	Revelstoke Conservative
	Francis Lovett Carter-Cotton	Richmond Conservative
	William Robert Braden	Rossland City Conservative
	David McEwen Eberts	Saanich Conservative
	Lytton Wilmot Shatford	Similkameen Conservative
	William Manson	Skeena Conservative
	William Hunter	Slocan Conservative
	William John Bowser	Vancouver City Conservative
	Alexander Henry Boswell MacGowan
	George Albert McGuire
	Charles Edward Tisdall
	Henry Holgate Watson
	Henry Frederick William Behnsen	Victoria City Conservative
	Frederick Davey
	Richard McBride ^1 Premier
	Henry Broughton Thomson
	Richard McBride Premier^1	Yale Conservative
	James Hargrave Schofield	Ymir Conservative
	^1 Elected simultaneously in Yale and Victoria City.
Source: Elections BC

Notes

1. Not the incumbent, but stood in this seat and won

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties

Further reading & references

• 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.

References

1. Grain Growers Guide, September 29, 1915, p. 7