1953 British Columbia general 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.

1953 British Columbia general election

June 9, 1953
48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 25 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   SC CCF Leader W. A. C. Bennett Arnold Webster Party Social Credit Co-operative Commonwealth Leader since 1952 1953 Leader's seat South Okanagan Vancouver East Last election 19 18 Seats won 28 14 Seat change 9 4 First count 274,771 224,513   Percentage 37.75% 30.85%   Swing 10.55pp 0.07pp Final count 300,372 194,414   Percentage 45.54% 29.48%   Third party Fourth party   PC Leader Arthur Laing Deane Finlayson Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since 1953 1952 Leader's seat Vancouver-Point Grey Ran in Oak Bay (lost) Last election 6 4 Seats won 4 1 Seat change 2 3 First count 171,671 40,780   Percentage 23.59% 5.60%   Swing 0.13pp 11.24pp Final count 154,090 7,326   Percentage 23.36% 1.11%
Premier before election W. A. C. Bennett Social Credit Premier after election W. A. C. Bennett Social Credit

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 lost two of its six seats despite maintaining its 23% share of the popular vote.

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

↓

28	14	4	1	1
Social Credit	CCF	Lib	PC	Lr

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1952	Elected	% Change	First count	%	Change	Final count	%
	Social Credit	W.A.C. Bennett	48	19	28	+47.4%	274,771	37.75%	+10.55%	300,372	45.54%
	CCF	Arnold Webster	47	18	14	-22.2%	224,513	30.85%	+0.07%	194,414	29.48%
	Liberal	Arthur Laing	48	6	4	-33.3%	171,671	23.59%	+0.13%	154,090	23.36%
	Progressive Conservative	Deane Finlayson	39	4	1	-75.0%	40,780	5.60%	-11.24%	7,326	1.11%
	Labour	Tom Uphill	1	1	1	-	1,601	0.22%	+0.06%	1,793	0.27%
	Labour Progressive		25	-	-	-	7,496	1.03%	+0.70%	816	0.12%
	Christian Democratic		14	-	-	-	5,036	0.69%	-0.24%	752	0.12%
	Independents		6	-	-	-	1,951	0.27%	0.10%	-	-
	People's		1	*	-	*	20	x	*	-	-
Total			229	48	48	-	727,839	100%	-	659,563	100%
Source: Elections BC

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote.

Popular vote (First count) Social Credit   37.75% CCF   30.85% Liberal   23.59% PC   5.60% Labour   0.22% Others   1.99%

Popular vote (Final count) Social Credit   45.54% CCF   29.48% Liberal   23.36% PC   1.11% Labour   0.27% Others   0.24%

Seats summary Social Credit   58.33% CCF   29.17% Liberal   8.33% PC   2.08% Labour   2.08%

Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1953
Government				Opposition
	Member	Riding & party		Riding & party		Member
	William Ralph Talbot Chetwynd	Cariboo Social Credit			Alberni CCF	Stanley John Squire
	William Kenneth Kiernan	Chilliwack Social Credit			Atlin CCF	Frank Calder
	Richard Orr Newton	Columbia Social Credit			Burnaby CCF	Ernest Edward Winch
	Thomas Irwin	Delta Social Credit			Comox CCF	William Campbell Moore
	Lyle Wicks	Dewdney Social Credit			Cowichan-Newcastle CCF	Robert Martin Strachan^2
	Llewllyn Leslie King	Fort George Social Credit			Cranbrook CCF	Leo Thomas Nimsick
	Philip Arthur Gaglardi	Kamloops Social Credit			Grand Forks-Greenwood CCF	Rupert Haggen
	Herbert Joseph Bruch	Esquimalt Social Credit			Kaslo-Slocan CCF	Randolph Harding
	Wesley Drewett Black	Nelson-Creston Social Credit			Mackenzie CCF	Anthony John Gargrave
	Lorne Shantz	North Okanagan Social Credit			New Westminster CCF	Rae Eddie
	George Henry Tomlinson Jr.	North Vancouver Social Credit			Revelstoke CCF	Vincent Segur
	Cyril Morley Shelford	Omineca Social Credit			Skeena CCF	Frank Howard
	Charles William Parker	Peace River Social Credit			Vancouver East CCF	Arthur James Turner
	Robert Edward Sommers	Rossland-Trail Social Credit				Arnold Alexander Webster
	John Douglas Tidball Tisdalle	Saanich Social Credit			Fernie Labour (Party)	Thomas Aubert Uphill
	James Allan Reid	Salmon Arm Social Credit			Lillooet Liberal	James Gordon Gibson
	Frank Richter, Jr.	Similkameen Social Credit			Oak Bay Liberal	Philip Archibald Gibbs
	William Andrew Cecil Bennett^1	South Okanagan Social Credit			Prince Rupert Liberal	Arthur Bruce Brown
	Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin	Vancouver-Burrard Social Credit			Vancouver-Point Grey Liberal	Arthur Laing
	Bert Price				Nanaimo and the Islands Progressive Conservative	Larry Giovando
	Alexander Small Matthew	Vancouver Centre Social Credit
	George Churchill Moxham
	Thomas Audley Bate	Vancouver-Point Grey Social Credit
	Robert William Bonner
	Lydia Arsens	Victoria City Social Credit
	William Neelands Chant
	Walter Percival Wright
	Irvine Finlay Corbett	Yale Social Credit
	^1 Premier-Elect	^2 Leader of the Opposition
Source: Elections BC

See also

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