Atlin (electoral district)

Atlin was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the 10th provincial general election in 1903 and last appeared in the 34th provincial general election in 1986, after which it was merged with the Skeena riding.

Demographics

Population, 1986
Population change, 1903-1986
Area (km²)
Population density

Political geography

Always one of the province's largest ridings by area, it was always among the smallest in population, and is often cited as an example of a lack of proper representation-by-population in the BC political system. From the perspective of riding residents, who are spread out in a handful of small settlements from the Nass River to the Yukon border, a riding incorporating larger population centres was unfair to them. Ultimately the pressure to redress lack of equality in voting-weight among BC ridings saw the Atlin riding became merged with Skeena riding.

Notable elections

Because of its small electorate, battles over spoiled ballots were critical in Atlin's electoral history:

• The 1928 election saw a 567/542/32 three-way split in favour of Herbert Frederick Kergin of the BC Liberal Party, with 22 rejected ballots
• The 1945 election saw a 297/292 split in favour of William Duncan Smith of the Liberal-Conservative Coalition, with no rejected ballots
• The 1949 election saw a 376/370 split in favour of Frank Calder, then a candidate for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) - with 190 rejected ballots.
• The 1956 election saw a 450/360/131 split in favour of William James Asselstine of the Social Credit, with 59 rejected ballots.
• the 1979 election saw a 750/749 split in favour of Al Passarell of the New Democratic Party over Frank Calder, who had switched sides to Social Credit in the 1975 British Columbia general election - with 39 rejected ballots

First Nations

Another important factor in the Atlin riding was the dominance of its First Nations population, including the whole of the Nisga'a Nation (Frank Calder and Larry Guno were both Nisga'a). Also in the riding in its entirety was the Tahltan Nation, centred on the isolated towns of Telegraph Creek and Dease Lake. The area of the town of Atlin is part of the Inland Tlingit Nation.

Towns and industry

Another factor in the riding was the dominance of working men in its handful of industrial towns (principally mining).

The main towns in the riding were:

• Atlin
• Teslin
• Dease Lake
• Telegraph Creek
• Anyox (now a ghost town, formerly a large smelter town)
• Stewart

Notable MLAs

The most notable Member of the Legislative Assembly from Atlin was Frank Calder. A Nisga'a, he originally ran for the CCF, and then the NDP, but in the 1975 election he switched sides to Social Credit, but went down to defeat under that party's banner in 1979 and retired from electoral politics.

Electoral history

Note: Winners of each election are in bold.

10th British Columbia election, 1903

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Kirkland	202	46.12%	–	unknown
	Conservative	Henry Essen Young	236	53.88%		unknown
Total valid votes			438	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

11th British Columbia election, 1907

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Irving	46	37.10%	–	unknown
	Conservative	Henry Essen Young	78	62.90%		unknown
Total valid votes			124	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

12th British Columbia election, 1909

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Irving	65	37.79%	–	unknown
	Conservative	Henry Essen Young	107	62.21%		unknown
Total valid votes			172	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

13th British Columbia election, 1912

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Henry Essen Young (acclamation)	n/a	%		unknown
Total valid votes			-	--.--%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

14th British Columbia election, 1916

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	William X. McDonald	277	45.71%		unknown
	Liberal	Frank Harry Mobley	329	54.29%		unknown
Total valid votes			606	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

1920 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Herbert Frederick Kergin	390	36.69
	Federated Labour	George Bernard Casey	300	28.22
	Conservative	William Cameron Ross	229	21.542
	Independent	Harold Randolph King	86	8.09
	Independent Labour	Patrick Daly	30	2.8
	Independent	Oakley Beauport Bush	28	2.63
Total valid votes			1,063	100.00

16th British Columbia election, 1924

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Provincial	Robert Armour	380	31.77%	–	unknown
	Conservative	Edmund John Conway	353	29.52%		unknown
	Liberal	Herbert Frederick Kergin	463	38.71%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,196	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

17th British Columbia election, 1928

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Thomas Wilbert Falconer	542	46.68%		unknown
	Liberal	Herbert Frederick Kergin	567	50.56%		unknown
	Independent	William Herbert Moult	32	2.76%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,161	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			22
Turnout			%

18th British Columbia election, 1933

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	William James Asselstine	419	32.63%		unknown
	Independent Conservative	Thomas Wilbert Falconer	136	10.59%
	Independent	Herbert Frederick Kergin	267	20.79%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,284	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			34
Turnout			%

19th British Columbia election, 1937

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	William James Asselstine	562	54.46%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Charles H. Lake	263	25.53%		unknown
	Conservative	Ernest Love	205	19.90%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,030	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			31
Turnout			%

20th British Columbia election, 1941

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	William James Asselstine	454	54.83%		unknown
	Labour	John Scott	374	45.17%		unknown
Total valid votes			828	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			24
Turnout			%

21st British Columbia election, 1945

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Norman Cunningham	292	49.58%
	Coalition	William Duncan Smith	297	50.42%
Total valid votes			589	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			0

22nd British Columbia election, 1949

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Frank Arthur Calder	376	50.40%
	Coalition	William Duncan Smith	370	49.60%
Total valid votes			746	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			190
Turnout			%

23rd British Columbia election, 1952^1
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Frank Arthur Calder	595	56.61%	595	56.61%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Thomas Sutherland MacKay	164	15.60%	164	15.60%		unknown
	Liberal	William Duncan Smith	292	27.78%	292	27.78%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,051	100.00%	1,051	%
Total rejected ballots			44
Turnout			%
^1 preferential ballot - only 1 count needed

24th British Columbia election, 1953 ^2
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Social Credit	Frank Assu	108	11.54%	108	11.54%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Frank Arthur Calder	553	59.08%	553	59.08%		unknown
	Liberal	William Duncan Smith	275	29.38%	275	29.38%		unknown
Total valid votes			936	100.00%	936	%
Total rejected ballots			125
Total Registered Voters			5,933 (1952 list)
Turnout			%
Preferential ballot; only one count needed

25th British Columbia election, 1956

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	William James Asselstine	454	48.04%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Frank Arthur Calder	360	38.10%		unknown
	Liberal	George Douglas Frizzell	131	13.86%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			945	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			59
Turnout			%

26th British Columbia election, 1960

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	William James Asselstine	267	32.05%	–	unknown
	Conservative	Charles Jewell Brown	122	14.65%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Frank Arthur Calder	444	53.30%		unknown
Total valid votes			833	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			85
Turnout			%

27th British Columbia election, 1963

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	William James Asselstine	308	30.56%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Frank Arthur Calder	549	54.46%		unknown
	Liberal	Cyril Felix Dopson	444	53.30%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			1,008	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			19
Turnout			%

28th British Columbia election, 1966

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Frank Arthur Calder	572	59.71%		unknown
	Liberal	Robin Roy Datziel	125	13.05%	–	unknown
	Social Credit	Kirkwood, Thomas James	271	27.24%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			958	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			10
Turnout			%

29th British Columbia election, 1969

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Frank Arthur Calder	639	53.12%		unknown
	Social Credit	Peter John Curran	230	19.12%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Basil Edward Studer	334	27.76%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			1,203	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			13
Turnout			%

30th British Columbia election, 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	John Norman Anderson	245	14.88%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Frank Arthur Calder	675	40.98%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Glen Leslie Clayton	65	3.95%		unknown
	Independent	Peter John Curran	242	14.69%		unknown
	Liberal	Basil Edward Studer	242	14.69%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			1,467	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			27
Turnout			%

31st British Columbia election, 1975

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Arthur Calder	984	55.50%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Peter John Curran	292	16.47%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Gordon Steidl	497	28.03%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,773	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			22
Turnout			%

32nd British Columbia election, 1979

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Arthur Calder	749	49.97%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Al Passarell	750	50.03%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,499	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			39
Turnout			%

33rd British Columbia election, 1983

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Robert Edmund Allen (Bobby) Ball	1,208	40.48%	–	unknown
	Independent	Paul Danny Brohman	84	2.82%		unknown
	Independent	Burgess A. Longson	105	3.52%		unknown
	New Democratic	Al Passarell	1,587	53.18%		unknown
Total valid votes			2,984	70.76%
Total rejected ballots			393
Turnout			%

34th British Columbia election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Andrew (Andy) Burton	858	37.29%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Larry Guno	1,443	62.71%		unknown
Total valid votes			2,301	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			31
Turnout			%