24th Parliament of British Columbia

The 24th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia sat from September 1953 to 1956. The members were elected in the British Columbia general election held in June 1953.[1] The Social Credit Party led by W. A. C. Bennett formed the government.[2] The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation led by Arnold Webster formed the official opposition.[3]

Thomas James Irwin served as speaker for the assembly.[4]

Members of the 24th General Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1953:[1]

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

Notes:

Party standings

Affiliation		Members
	Social Credit	28
	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	14
	Liberal	4
	Progressive Conservative	1
	Labour	1
Total		48
Government Majority		8

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons:[1]

Electoral district	Member elected	Party	Election date	Reason
Victoria City	George Frederick Thompson Gregory	Liberal	November 24, 1953	W.P. Wright resigned to provide seat for E.M. Gunderson
Lillooet	Donald Frederick Robinson	Social Credit	September 12, 1955	J.G. Gibson resigned to seek electoral vindication for allegations of fraud and patronage that he made in the legislature
Vancouver Centre	Leslie Raymond Peterson	Social Credit	September 12, 1955	death of G.C. Moxham November 10, 1955

Notes:

Other changes

• Lorenzo Giovando leaves the Progressive Conservatives to become an Independent in July 1954.[5]

References

1. "Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
2. "Premiers of British Columbia 1871-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
3. "Leaders of the Opposition in British Columbia 1903-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-20. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
4. "Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 1872-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
5. http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/reference/checklist_of_mlas.pdf