1953 British Columbia general election

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox election The 1953 British Columbia general election was the 24th 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 April 10, 1953, and held on June 9, 1953. The new legislature met for the first time on September 15, 1953.

The minority government formed in 1952 by the conservative Social Credit party of Premier W.A.C. Bennett lasted only nine months before new elections were called. Social Credit was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a second term in government with almost 38% of the popular vote.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation formed the official opposition with the only significant opposition caucus (14 seats).

The British Columbia Liberal Party had a net loss of two of its six seats despite maintaining its 23% share of the popular vote. They lost five of the six seats they had won in 1952, but picked up three new seats.

The Progressive Conservative Party lost three of its four seats in the legislature, as its share of the popular vote fell from almost 17% to under 6%.

One seat was won by a Labour candidate.

Results

Elections to the 24th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1953)Template:Sfn

Party		Leader	Candidates	First Preference Votes				Seats
				Votes	±	% FPv	±	1952	1953	±	W. A. C. Bennett	48	274,771	65,722Template:Increase	37.75	10.55Template:Increase	19	Template:Composition bar	9Template:Increase	Arnold Webster	47	224,513	12,049Template:Decrease	30.85	0.07Template:Increase	18	Template:Composition bar	4Template:Decrease	Arthur Laing	48	171,761	8,528Template:Decrease	23.59	0.13Template:Increase	6	Template:Composition bar	2Template:Decrease	Deane Finlayson	39	40,780	88,659Template:Decrease	5.60	11.24Template:Decrease	4	Template:Composition bar	3Template:Decrease	Tom Uphill	1	1,601	311Template:Increase	0.22	0.06Template:Increase	1	Template:Composition bar	Template:No change		25	7,496	4,982Template:Increase	1.03	0.70Template:Increase		14	5,036	2,140Template:Decrease	0.69	0.24Template:Decrease Template:Canadian party colour<ref group=a>Includes a People's Party of BC candidate in Delta.</ref>		7	1,971	659Template:Increase	0.27	0.10Template:Increase
Total			229	727,839		100.00
Rejected ballotsTemplate:Sfn				43,766	1,883Template:Decrease
Actual voters who votedTemplate:Sfn				522,052	21,404Template:Decrease	70.55%	2.02Template:Increase
Registered votersTemplate:Sfn				740,006	53,067Template:Decrease

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1953 British Columbia general election (all districts)Template:Sfn

Riding	First preference votes									Final counts							Winning party
Name	Template:Abbr	CCF	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Total	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	CCF	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	1952		1953
Alberni	1,637	3,116	2,022	320	–	139	–	–	7,234	4th	–	3,715	2,811	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Atlin	108	553	275	–	–	–	–	–	936	Elected on 1st count								CCF		CCF
Burnaby	8,151	12,689	3,351	641	–	367	396	–	25,595	2nd	8,161	12,947	3,364	646	–	401		CCF		CCF
Cariboo	2,733	992	1,050	509	–	–	–	–	5,284	Elected on 1st count								SC		SC
Chilliwack	8,776	2,456	2,631	589	–	–	–	–	14,452	Elected on 1st count								SC		SC
Columbia	924<ref group=a>Richard Orr Newton had resigned in order to provide a seat for Robert Bonner. Bonner stood for election in Vancouver-Point Grey in 1953, while Newton sought reelection in his old seat.</ref>	481	676	80	–	–	–	–	2,161	3rd	1,038	–	787	–	–	–		SC		SC
Comox	4,420	5,462	2,944	378	–	357	–	–	13,561	4th	5,762	6,717	–	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Cowichan-Newcastle	2,686	4,517	2,330	510	–	168	–	118	10,329	5th	3,878	5,345	–	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Cranbrook	2,219	2,955	1,615	–	–	–	–	–	6,789	2nd	2,756	3,460	–	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Delta	13,079	11,095	5,500	591	–	390	315	20	30,990	6th	15,417	13,108	–	–	–	–		SC		SC
Dewdney	7,307	7,003	3,715	559	–	250	72	–	18,906	5th	9,066	8,310	–	–	–	–		SC		SC
Esquimalt	3,264	3,089	1,998	480	–	–	–	–	8,831	3rd	4,147	3,848	–	–	–	–		CCF		SC
Fernie	702	–	1,229	–	1,601	–	–	–	3,532	2nd	–	–	1,402	–	1,793	–		Lab		Lab
Fort George	3,160	1,677	1,802	–	–	–	–	–	6,639	Elected on 1st count								SC		SC
Grand Forks-Greenwood	583	995	324	177	–	–	–	–	2,079	2nd	618	1,016	393	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Kamloops	4,037	1,368	2,272	427	–	80	–	–	8,184	3rd	4,171	1,434	2,503	–	–	–		SC		SC
Kaslo-Slocan	867	1,481	792	–	–	–	–	–	3,140	2nd	1,165	1,692	–	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Lillooet	1,065	1,372	1,103	452	–	–	–	–	3,992	3rd	–	1,694	1,830	–	–	–		PC		Lib
Mackenzie	2,687	4,468	3,397	230	–	–	–	–	10,782	3rd	–	5,191	4,497	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Nanaimo and the Islands	2,626	3,631	1,375	2,046	–	115	–	32	9,825	5th	–	4,358	–	4,376	–	–		PC		PC
Nelson-Creston	3,450	2,636	1,803	772	–	99	–	–	8,760	4th	4,199	3,404	–	–	–	–		SC		SC
New Westminster	3,787	4,903	4,309	–	–	157	89	–	13,245	4th	–	5,970	5,658	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
North Okanagan	4,398	1,749	2,071	700	–	90	–	–	9,008	3rd	4,578	1,868	2,407	–	–	–		SC		SC
North Vancouver	7,728	5,820	6,377	1,338	–	217	182	–	21,662	5th	9,291	–	9,134	–	–	–		Lib		SC
Oak Bay	3,280	508	3,182	1,220	–	–	–	–	8,190	3rd	3,681	–	4,110	–	–	–		Lib		Lib
Omineca	1,390	952	1,145	172	–	–	–	–	3,659	3rd	1,612	–	1,379	–	–	–		SC		SC
Peace River	2,481	1,921	1,378	–	–	–	–	–	5,780	2nd	3,022	2,216	–	–	–	–		SC		SC
Prince Rupert	1,731	2,074	1,864	–	–	–	–	–	5,669	2nd	–	2,578	2,611	–	–	–		CCF		Lib
Revelstoke	639	1,009	551	–	–	–	–	522	2,721	3rd	–	1,284	1,012	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Rossland-Trail	4,182	3,470	2,899	621	–	–	–	–	11,172	3rd	5,778	4,549	–	–	–	–		SC		SC
Saanich	6,681	5,037	4,256	990	–	–	–	–	16,964	3rd	8,876	6,466	–	–	–	–		CCF		SC
Salmon Arm	1,627	1,341	623	600	–	101	–	–	4,292	4th	2,013	1,806	–	–	–	–		SC		SC
Similkameen	4,465	3,419	2,109	323	–	–	–	–	10,316	3rd	5,418	4,105	–	–	–	–		SC		SC
Skeena	1,372	1,768	1,413	220	–	–	–	–	4,773	3rd	–	2,110	2,097	–	–	–		Lib		CCF
South Okanagan	6,756	2,427	1,961	403	–	–	–	–	11,547	Elected on 1st count								SC		SC
Yale	1,177	835	834	107	–	–	–	–	2,953	3rd	1,354	–	1,137	–	–	–		SC		SC
Vancouver-Burrard (A)	11,527	9,216	5,936	1,259	–	360	658	–	28,956	5th	14,924	11,360	–	–	–	–		SC		SC
Vancouver-Burrard (B)	11,273	9,323	5,858	1,276	–	367	643	–	28,740	5th	14,674	11,446	–	–	–	–		SC		SC
Vancouver Centre (A)	7,066	6,238	4,079	971	–	572	505	–	19,431	5th	9,016	7,757	–	–	–	–		CCF		SC
Vancouver Centre (B)	6,782	6,283	3,985	1,007	–	580	480	–	19,117	5th	8,679	7,707	–	–	–	–		CCF		SC
Vancouver East (A)	13,225	19,475	5,272	747	–	842	743	–	40,304	4th	13,872	19,942	5,796	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Vancouver East (B)	12,910	20,583	4,727	803	–	816	351	–	40,190	Elected on 1st count								CCF		CCF
Vancouver-Point Grey (A)	19,768	10,058	14,612	4,533	–	348	194	193	49,706	5th	22,503	–	20,567	–	–	–		PC		SC
Vancouver-Point Grey (B)	20,205	9,556	12,022	7,373	–	337	212	64	49,769	6th	24,144	–	18,928	–	–	–		PC		SC
Vancouver-Point Grey (C)	19,061	9,441	17,412	3,607	–	338	196	–	50,055	5th	21,354	–	22,730	–	–	–		SC		Lib
Victoria City (A)	8,616	4,881	6,915	1,227	–	126	–	1,022	22,787	5th	9,999	–	8,869	–	–	–		Lib		SC
Victoria City (B)	9,131<ref group=a>William Chant was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.</ref>	5,267	6,484	1,383	–	153	–	–	22,418	4th	10,330	–	8,344	–	–	–		Lib		SC
Victoria City (C)	9,032	4,923	7,193	1,139	–	127	–	–	22,414	4th	10,084	–	8,907	–	–	–		Lib		SC

Template:Color box = open seat

Template:Color box = candidate was in previous Legislature

Template:Color box = incumbent had switched allegiance

Template:Color box = previously incumbent in another riding

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

Template:Color box = incumbency arose from byelection gain

Template:Color box = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada

Template:Color box = multiple candidates

Analysis

Parties ranked by preferenceTemplate:Sfn

First preference						Final count
Parties	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Template:Canadian party colour	30	10	8	–	–	28	10	1	–	–
Template:Canadian party colour	17	15	14	1	–	14	17	5	–	–
Template:Canadian party colour	–	23	24	1	–	4	21	5	–	–
Template:Canadian party colour	–	–	2	35	2	1	–	–	4	1
Template:Canadian party colour	1	–	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–
Template:Canadian party colour	–	–	–	3	18	–	–	–	1	–
Template:Canadian party colour	–	–	–	–	4	–	–	–	–	1
Template:Canadian party colour	–	–	–	1	1	–	–	–	–	–

Template:Canadian party colourTemplate:Canadian party colourTemplate:Canadian party colour

Party candidates in 2nd place (first preference)Template:Sfn

Party in 1st place		Party in 2nd place			Total
		Socred	CCF	Liberal
–	15	15	30
10	–	7	17
–	–	1	1
Total		10	15	23	48

Template:Canadian party colourTemplate:Canadian party colourTemplate:Canadian party colourTemplate:Canadian party colourTemplate:Canadian party colour

Party candidates in 2nd place (final count)Template:Sfn

Party in 1st place		Party in 2nd place			Total
		Socred	CCF	Liberal
–	14	14	28
8	–	6	14
2	2	–	4
–	1	–	1
–	–	1	1
Total		10	17	21	1

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties
• History and use of the Single Transferable Vote

Further reading

• 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]]