1903 British Columbia general election

The 1903 British Columbia general election was the tenth 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 September 5, 1903, and held on October 3, 1903. The new legislature met for the first time on November 26, 1903.

1903 British Columbia general election

October 3, 1903 (1903-10-03)
42 seats in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 22 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Richard McBride James Alexander MacDonald Party Conservative Liberal Leader since June 1, 1903 October 3, 1903 Leader's seat Dewdney Rossland City Seats won 22 17 Popular vote 27,913 22,715 Percentage 46.43% 37.78%   Third party Fourth party   Leader unknown vacant Party Socialist Labour Leader since unknown vacant Seats won 2 1 Popular vote 4,787 4,421 Percentage 7.96% 7.36%
Premier before election Richard McBride Conservative Premier-designate Richard McBride Conservative

This was the first election in British Columbia that was fought by political parties. Prior to this election, British Columbia politics were non-partisan.

The first election was dominated by the Conservative and Liberal parties, which were affiliated with existing parties at the federal level. See Conservative Party of Canada and Liberal Party of Canada.

The Conservative Party won over 46.4% of the popular vote and a slim majority of the seats in the legislature.

Results by party

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats	Popular vote
				Elected	#	%
	Conservative ^1	Richard McBride	41	22	27,913	46.43%
	Liberal	James Alexander MacDonald	39	17	22,715	37.78%
	Socialist		10	2	4,787	7.96%
	Labour ^2		5	1	4,421	7.36%
	Socialist Labour		1	-	284	0.47%
Total			95	42	60,120	100%
Sources: Elections BC

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

¹ The Conservative Party and the Liberal Party each elected one candidate by acclamation.

² There was no provincial "Labour Party" as such. Each of the three Electoral Districts with a Labour candidate (Nanaimo, Slocan, and Vancouver City) had a local, autonomous Labour Party. As well, some Liberal candidates appear to have run on a "Liberal-Labour" platform (Atlin, Victoria and Ymir).

Popular vote Conservative   46.43% Liberal   37.62% Socialist   7.96% Labour   7.36% Others   0.63%

Seats summary Conservative   52.38% Liberal   40.48% Socialist   4.76% Labour   2.38%

Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1903
Government				Opposition
	Member	Riding & party		Riding & party		Member
	Henry Esson Young	Atlin Conservative			Alberni Liberal	William Wallace Burns McInnes
	Robert Grant	Comox Conservative			Cariboo Liberal	Harry Jones
	Richard McBride^1	Dewdney Conservative			Cariboo Liberal	James Murphy
	Charles Edward Pooley	Esquimalt Conservative			Chilliwhack Liberal	Charles William Munro
	William Roderick Ross	Fernie Conservative			Columbia Liberal	Wilmer Cleveland Wells
	George Arthur Fraser	Grand Forks Conservative			Cowichan Liberal	John Newell Evans
	Frederick John Fulton	Kamloops Conservative			Cranbrook Liberal	James Horace King
	Robert Francis Green	Kaslo Conservative			Delta Liberal	John Oliver
	John Houston	Nelson City Conservative			Greenwood Liberal	John Robert Brown
	Thomas Gifford	New Westminster City Conservative			The Islands Liberal	Thomas Wilson Paterson
	Price Ellison	Okanagan Conservative			Rossland City Liberal	James Alexander MacDonald^2
	Thomas Taylor	Revelstoke Conservative			Saanich Liberal	Henry Ernest Tanner
	Francis Lovett Carter-Cotton	Richmond Conservative			Victoria City Liberal	William George Cameron
	Lytton Wilmot Shatford	Similkameen Conservative				Robert Low Drury
	Charles William Digby Clifford	Skeena Conservative				Richard Hall
	Charles William John Bowser	Vancouver City Conservative				James Dugald McNiven
	James Ford Garden				Yale Liberal	Stuart Alexander Henderson
	Alexander Henry Boswell MacGowan				Nanaimo City Socialist	James Hurst Hawthornthwaite
	Robert Garnett Tatlow				Newcastle Socialist	Parker Williams
	Charles Wilson				Slocan Labour	William Davidson
	Harry Wright	Ymir Conservative
	^1 Premier-Elect
		^2 Leader of the Opposition
Source: Elections BC

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.