1909 British Columbia general election

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox electionThe 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.

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.

Ten days after the dissolution of the Legislature, James Alexander MacDonald announced his retirement from the leadership of the Liberal Party to become Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court, and John Oliver was selected to take his place.Template:Sfn Despite winning almost one-third of the popular vote, the Liberals 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Two candidates campaigned in multiple ridings. McBride won in both Yale and Victoria City, while Oliver was defeated in Delta and Victoria City.Template:Sfn

Results

Template:Election tableTemplate:Sfn |- ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MLAs ! colspan=4 | Votes |- ! Candidates !1907 !1909 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp) Template:Canadian party colour |style="text-align:left;"|Richard McBride | 42 || 26 || 38 || 12Template:Increase || 53,074 || 22,293Template:Increase || 52.33% || 3.63Template:Increase Template:Canadian party colour |style="text-align:left;"|John Oliver | 36 || 13 || 2 || 11Template:Decrease || 33,675 || 10,194Template:Increase || 33.21% || 3.94Template:Decrease Template:Canadian party colour |style="text-align:left;"| | 20 || 3 || 2 || 1Template:Decrease || 11,665 || 6,062Template:Increase || 11.50% || 2.63Template:Increase Template:Canadian party colour |style="text-align:left;"| | 3 || – || – || – || 2,625 || 2,478Template:Increase || 2.59% || 2.36Template:Increase Template:Canadian party colour |style="text-align:left;"|Canadian Labour |style="text-align:left;"| | 1 || – || – || – || 165 || 2,330Template:Decrease || 0.16% || 3.79Template:Decrease Template:Canadian party colour |style="text-align:left;"| | 1 || – || – || – || 154 || 154Template:Increase || 0.15% ||New Template:Canadian party colour |style="text-align:left;"| | 1 || – || – || – || 57 || 430Template:Decrease || 0.06% || 0.71Template:Decrease |- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total |104||42 ! " colspan="2"|42 ! " colspan="2"|101,415 ! " colspan="2"| 100.00% |} Template:Reflist

Seats and popular vote by partyTemplate:Sfn

Party	Seats	Votes	Change (pp)
Template:Canadian party colour	Template:Composition bar	Template:Percentage bar	Template:Bartable
Template:Canadian party colour	Template:Composition bar	Template:Percentage bar	Template:Bartable
Template:Canadian party colour	Template:Composition bar	Template:Percentage bar	Template:Bartable
Template:Canadian party colour	Template:Composition bar	Template:Percentage bar	Template:Bartable
Template:Canadian party colour	Template:Composition bar	Template:Percentage bar	Template:Bartable

Results by riding

The following MLAs were elected:Template:Sfn

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1909 British Columbia general election (single-member districts)Template:Sfn

Riding	Winning party								Votes
Name	1907		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %	Con	Lib	Soc	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Total
Alberni		Lib		Lib	293	53.37%	37	6.74%	256	293	–	–	–	549
Atlin		Con		Con	107	62.21%	42	24.42%	107	65	–	–	–	172
Chilliwhack		Lib		Con	604	54.07%	91	8.14%	604	513	–	–	–	1,117
Columbia		Con		Con	262	51.68%	17	3.36%	262	245	–	–	–	507
Comox		Con		Con	451	45.88%	245	24.92%	451	172	206	–	154	983
Cowichan		Con		Con	365	67.59%	190	35.18%	365	175	–	–	–	540
Cranbrook		Lib		Con	761	54.16%	260	18.50%	761	501	143	–	–	1,405
Delta		Lib		Con	765	58.13%	214	16.26%	765	551	–	–	–	1,316
Dewdney		Con		Con	625	67.42%	323	34.84%	625	302	–	–	–	927
Esquimalt		Lib		Lib	436	54.64%	74	9.28%	362	436	–	–	–	798
Fernie		Con		Con	795	43.00%	146	7.90%	795	405	649	–	–	1,849
Grand Forks		Soc		Con	516	51.60%	182	18.20%	516	150	334	–	–	1,000
Greenwood		Lib		Con	260	42.07%	56	9.06%	260	154	204	–	–	618
The Islands		Con		Con	270	56.60%	63	13.20%	270	207	–	–	–	477
Kamloops		Con		Con	872	64.40%	390	28.80%	872	482	–	–	–	1,354
Kaslo		Con		Con	293	68.62%	159	37.24%	293	134	–	–	–	427
Lillooet		Lib		Con	167	58.80%	50	17.60%	167	117	–	–	–	284
Nanaimo City		Soc		Soc	786	62.88%	322	25.76%	464	–	786	–	–	1,250
Nelson City		Lib		Con	565	54.54%	242	23.36%	565	323	148	–	–	1,036
Newcastle		Soc		Soc	379	52.64%	105	14.58%	274	–	379	67	–	720
New Westminster City		Con		Con	881	52.98%	264	25.88%	881	617	–	–	165	1,663
Okanagan		Con		Con	1,538	62.34%	797	32.30%	1,538	741	188	–	–	2,467
Revelstoke		Con		Con	758	62.18%	418	34.29%	758	–	121	340	–	1,219
Richmond		Con		Con	918	57.92%	251	15.84%	918	667	–	–	–	1,585
Rossland City		Lib		Con	237	38.60%	20	3.26%	237	217	160	–	–	614
Saanich		Con		Con	412	57.62%	109	15.24%	412	303	–	–	–	715
Similkameen		Con		Con	440	68.22%	235	36.44%	440	205	–	–	–	645
Skeena		Lib		Con	822	60.35%	445	32.67%	822	377	163	–	–	1,362
Slocan		Con		Con	309	57.43%		%	309	–	172	–	57	538
Yale		Lib		Con	455	63.19%	190	26.38%	455	265	–	–	–	720
Ymir		Con		Con	699	65.63%	333	31.26%	699	–	366	–	–	1,065

Template:Color box = open seat

Template:Color box = turnout is above provincial average

Template:Color box = winning candidate was in previous Legislature

Template:Color box = incumbent had switched allegiance

Template:Color box = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

Template:Color box = incumbency arose from byelection gain

Template:Color box = other incumbents renominated

Template:Color box = endorsed by the Liberals

Template:Color box = multiple candidates

Results by riding - 1909 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts)Template:Sfn

Party		Cariboo			Vancouver City			Victoria City
		Votes	Share	Change	Votes	Share	Change	Votes	Share	Change	540	63.01%	19.13%	25,710	50.10%	-1.28%	10,321	53.42%	5.88%	317	36.99%	-19.13%	18,619	36.28%	-0.03%	6,122	31.69%	-3.97%	–	–	–	6,987	13.62%	3.57%	659	3.41%	-0.12%	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,218	11.48%	11.48%	Canadian Labour	–	–	–	–	–	-2.26%	–	–	-13.28%
Total		857	100.00%		51,316	100.00%		19,320	100.00%
Seats won		Template:Legend			Template:Legend			Template:Legend
Incumbents returned		–			3			4
Seat change		Template:Legend			–			–

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties

Further reading

• 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.
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

[[Category:General elections in British Columbia|Template:Title year]] [[Category:Template:Title year elections in Canada]] [[Category:Template:Title year in British Columbia|General election]]