Alberni (electoral district)

Alberni was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originally appeared in the 1890 election and then, after being merged into Cowichan-Alberni for the 1894 election, was renamed Alberni riding in the election of 1898. The riding lasted by that name until 1933 and 1937, when the name Alberni-Nanaimo was used. In 1941 the Alberni riding name was restored. The area is now represented by Alberni-Qualicum.

Demographics

Population, 1891
Population Change, 1891–1926
Area (km²)
Pop. Density (people per km²)

Political Geography

Notable Elections

First Nations

Notable MLAs

Electoral history

Note: Winners in each election are in bold.

6th 1890 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	Thomas Fletcher	29	70.73%	–	unknown
	Government	John C. Mollett	12	29.27%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			41	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

In the seventh general election of 1894, the Alberni riding was merged with the Cowichan riding to form Cowichan-Alberni. The separate riding names were restored for the 1898 election.

8th 1898 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	George Albert Huff	70	39.33%	–	unknown
	Opposition	Alan Webster Neill	108	60.67%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			178	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

9th 1900 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Progressive	Alan Webster Neill	108	54.55%
	Government	James Redford	57	28.79%
	Conservative-Opposition	James Bain Thomson	33	16.67%
Total valid votes			198	100.00%

10th 1903 British Columbia general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Robert Hume F. Hickey	102	24.17%		unknown
	Liberal	William Wallace Burns McInnes	320	75.83%		unknown
Total valid votes			422	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

11th British Columbia election, 1907

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Harlan Carey Brewster	236	48.86%		unknown
	Socialist	James Cartwright	43	8.90%	–	unknown
	Conservative	William Manson	204	42.24%		unknown
Total valid votes			483	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

12th British Columbia election, 1909

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Harlan Carey Brewster	293	53.37%		unknown
	Conservative	Arthur David Morgan	256	46.63%		unknown
Total valid votes			549	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

13th British Columbia election, 1912

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	John George Corry Wood	Accl.	- %		unknown
Total valid votes			n/a	- %
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

14th British Columbia election, 1916

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Harlan Carey Brewster	393	39.26%		unknown
	Independent	Alan Webster Neill	253	25.27%		unknown
	Conservative	John George Corry Wood	355	35.46%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,001	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

1920 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Richard John Burde	841	43.94
	Soldier–Farmer	Noel Ernest Money	675	35.27
	Liberal	Henri Evariste Langis	398	20.79
Total valid votes			1,914	100.00

16th British Columbia election, 1924

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Independent Liberal	Richard John Burde	828	42.48%
	Conservative	James Cameron Johnstone	339	17.39%		unknown
	Provincial	Charles Arthur McNaughton	782	40.13%
Total valid votes			1,949	100.00%

1928 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Laurence Arnold Hanna	1,208	48.71
	Conservative	Percy Rushton	1,022	41.21
	Independent Labour	Thomas Albert Bernard	250	10.08
Total valid votes			2,480	100.00
Total rejected ballots			34

Alberni riding disappeared with redistribution following the 1928 election. Its successor in the 1933 and 1937 elections was Alberni-Nanaimo. For the 1941 election the Alberni riding name was restored:

1941 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	James Mowat	2,067	49.17
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Thomas Albert Bernard	1,903	45.27
	Independent Labour	Alex Harvey Rowan	234	5.57
Total valid votes			4,204	100.00
Total rejected ballots			56

21st British Columbia election, 1945

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Thomas Speakman Barnett	1,258	31.83%		unknown
	Labour Progressive	Alfred Dewhurst	559	14.14%		unknown
	Coalition	James Mowat	2,135	54.02%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			3,952	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			74
Turnout			%

22nd British Columbia election, 1949

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Coalition	Thomas Wellington Christie	1,638	21.33%	–	unknown
	Labour Progressive	Nigel Morgan	622	8.10%		unknown
	Independent	James Mowat	3,290	42.84 %		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Jack Whittall	2,129	27.72%		unknown
Total valid votes			7,679	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			200
Turnout			%

23rd British Columbia election, 1952
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Conservative	Pitt Clayton	1,204	15.03%	-	- %		unknown
	Labour Progressive	Alfred Dewhurst	196	2.45%	-	-.- %
	Liberal	James Mowat	2,176	27.17 %	3,030	42.77%		unknown
	Social Credit League	Jack Shulz	1,366	17.06%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stanley John Squire	3,067	38.29%	4,054	57.23%		unknown
Total valid votes			8,009	100.00%	7,084
Total rejected ballots			246
Turnout			%
^1 Preferential ballot. First and final of four counts shown only.

24thd British Columbia election, 1953
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Labour Progressive	Frank Wendell Bottner	139	1.92%	-	-.- %
	Liberal	Loran Kendall Jordon	2,022	27.95%	2,811	43.07%		unknown
	Social Credit	Thorwald Melanchton Peterson	1,637	22.63%
	Conservative	Oliver James Ruttan	320	4.42%	-	- %
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stanley John Squire	3,116	43.07%	3,715	56.93%		unknown
Total valid votes			7,234	100.00%	6,526
Total rejected ballots			336
Turnout			%
^1 Preferential ballot. First and final of four counts shown only.

25th British Columbia election, 1956

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	William James Carr	1,894	28.51%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Norman Leslie McKinnon	1,388	20.89%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stanley John Squire	3,362	50.60%		unknown
Total valid votes			6,644	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			80
Turnout			%

26th British Columbia election, 1960

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Eric Frederick Duncan	2,966	32.65%	–	unknown
	Conservative	Ronald George Lyon	514	5.66%		unknown
	Liberal	John Alexander McKenzie	1,305	14.36%		unknown
	Communist	Mark Fullmore Mosher	207	2.28%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stanley John Squire	4,093	45.05%		unknown
Total valid votes			9,085	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			315
Turnout			%

27th British Columbia election, 1963

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Eric Frederick Duncan	3,506	39.72%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Edward John (Jack) Luckhurst	1,071	12.13%		unknown
	New Democratic	Stanley John Squire	4,249	48.14%		unknown
Total valid votes			8,826	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			68
Turnout			%

28th British Columbia election, 1966

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Howard Richmond McDiarmid	6,039	55.55%	–	unknown
	Liberal	George McLean	511	4.70%		unknown
	New Democratic	Stanley John Squire	4,321	39.75%		unknown
Total valid votes			10,871	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			95
Turnout			%

29th British Columbia election, 1969

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Howard Richmond McDiarmid	7,209	47.08%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Eugene Edward Romaniuk	1,424	9.30%		unknown
	New Democratic	Stanley John Squire	6,680	43.62%		unknown
Total valid votes			15,313	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			131
Turnout			%

30th British Columbia election, 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Wayne Albert Ramsey Cathers	2,272	12.92%		unknown
	Social Credit	Thomas Johnstone	4,985	28.36%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	9,439	53.69%		unknown
	Conservative	Edna Delthene Souther	883	5.02%		unknown
Total valid votes			17,579	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			251
Turnout			%

31st British Columbia election, 1975

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Charles Ormond Haggard	7,988	40.01%	–	unknown
	Communist	Charles Ormond Haggard	84	0.42%		unknown
	Liberal	Cecile Marie T. McKinnon	1,018	5.10%		unknown
	Conservative	Allan Arthur Schroeder	1,278	6.40%		unknown
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	9,599	48.07%		unknown
Total valid votes			19,967	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			226
Turnout			%

32nd British Columbia election, 1979

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	7,935	57.63%		unknown
	Communist	Gary William Swann	97	0.71%		unknown
	Social Credit	Joseph Van Bergen	5,736	41.66%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			13,768	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			201
Turnout			%

33rd British Columbia election, 1983

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Alice Chiko	5,496	37.34%	–	unknown
	Western Canada Concept	Michael Thomas Gaughan	291	1.98%		unknown
	Liberal	Susan Patricia Hutchinson	183	1.24%		unknown
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	8,656	58.81%		unknown
	Communist	Gary William Swann	92	0.63%		unknown
Total valid votes			14,718	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			244
Turnout			%

1986 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Green	Ronald Daniel Craigie Aspinall	87	0.56%
	Liberal	William F. Mosdell	377	2.43%
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	8,597	55.29%
	Social Credit	Gillian Trumper	6,487	41.72%
Total valid votes			15,548	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			304

British Columbia provincial by-election, November 19, 1988
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Gerard A. Janssen	6,401	57.47	+2.18
	Social Credit	George S. Dryden	3,096	27.80	−13.92
	Liberal	Shirley M. Bonfield	1,640	14.73	+12.3
Total valid votes/Expense limit			11,137	100.0	–
Total rejected ballots			136	0.38
Turnout			11,273
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+8.05
By-election due to the Resignation of Robert Skelly to run for the Canadian House of Commons.
Source(s) "November 19, 1988 By-election" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. November 19, 1988. Retrieved January 19, 2017.

1991 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Gerard A. Janssen	7,136	53.39	-4.08
	Social Credit	Gillian Trumper	3,665	27.43	-0.37
	Liberal	Peter J. Tanner	2,358	17.64	+2.91
	Western Canada Concept	Alan W. Banford	206	1.54	–
Total valid votes			13,365	100.00
Total rejected ballots			372	0.27
Turnout			13,737
	New Democratic hold		Swing		-2.23

1996 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Gerard A. Janssen	7,398	52.01	-1.38
	Liberal	Gillian Trumper	5,099	35.85	+18.21
	Reform	V. Hansen	823	5.79	–
	Progressive Democrat	Ingrid Helen Rebar	578	4.06	–
	Green	Andre Sperling	195	1.37	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Karl Angus	72	0.51	–
	Natural Law	Kathleen Lapreyrouse	58	0.41	–
Total valid votes			14,223	100.00
Total rejected ballots			86	0.98
Turnout			14,309
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+9.80

The riding was redistributed after the 1996 election. The main successor riding is Alberni-Qualicum.

Sources

Elections BC historical returns