Delta (provincial electoral district)

Delta was the name of a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia based on the municipality of Delta at the mouth of the Fraser River between the city of Vancouver and the US border. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the election of 1903 and its last in the election of 1986, after which it was succeeded by Delta North and Delta South, which are the current ridings in the area.

Demographics

Population, 1901
Population change, 1901–1961
Area (km²)
Population density (people per km²)

Political geography

Notable elections

Notable MLAs

• John Oliver
• Nehemiah George Massey, after whom the George Massey Tunnel is named

Electoral history

10th British Columbia election, 1903

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Oliver	447	59.13%		unknown
	Conservative	William Henry Ladner	309	40.87%		unknown
Total valid votes			756	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

11th British Columbia election, 1907

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Oliver	430	62.23%		unknown
	Conservative	Francis James Anderson MacKenzie	261	37.77%		unknown
Total valid votes			691	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

12th British Columbia election, 1909

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Francis James Anderson MacKenzie	765	58.13%		unknown
	Liberal	John Oliver	551	41.87%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,316	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%
^1 Results of recount as reported in New Westminster Columbian 29 November 1909, p. 1

13th British Columbia election, 1912

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Francis James Anderson MacKenzie	748	70.83%		unknown
	Liberal	John Oliver	308	29.17%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,056	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

14th British Columbia election, 1916

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Francis James Anderson MacKenzie	964	51.55%		unknown
	Liberal	Alexander McDonald Paterson	906	48.45%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,870	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

15th British Columbia election, 1920

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Oliver	1,334	37.50%		unknown
	Soldier-Farmer	Richmond Archie Payne	1,107	31.12%		unknown
	Conservative	Francis James Anderson MacKenzie	964	21.55%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,557	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

16th British Columbia election, 1924

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Alexander McDonald Paterson	1,677	46.13%
	Conservative	Archibald Woodbury McLelan	1,253	34.47%
	Provincial	Saul A. Bonnell	633	17.42%
	Independent Liberal	Hugh Williams	72	1.98%
Total valid votes			3,635	100.00%

17th British Columbia election, 1928

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	John Walter Berry	2,562	55.73%		unknown
	Liberal	Alexander McDonald Paterson	2,035	44.27%		unknown
Total valid votes			4,597	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			51
Turnout			%

18th British Columbia election, 1933

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Robert Swailes	2,631	36.95%		unknown
	Liberal	Alexander McDonald Paterson	2,093	29.40%		unknown
	Independent	Rudolph Martin Grauer	1,735	24.37%		unknown
	Independent Conservative	John Walter Berry^2	447	6.28%	–	unknown
	Independent Conservative	Christopher Thomas Lawrence ^2	165	2.32%	–	unknown
	United Front (Workers and Farmers)	Robert Kitchener Almas	49	0.69%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			7,120	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			64
Turnout			%
^2 Includes Conservatives who chose to run as straight Independents. They are shown in the Results by Electoral District, when so indicated by newspaper reports, as Ind.(Cons.). Because of internal discord, the provincial executive of the Conservative Party decided not to contest the election officially; each local association was to act on its own.

19th British Columbia election, 1937

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leonard Alec Shepherd	3,192	32.93%
	Liberal	Arthur Laing	3,102	32.01%
	Conservative	Rudolph Martin Grauer	2,815	29.04%
	Social Constructive	Robert Swailes	583	6.02%
Total valid votes			9,692	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			150

20th British Columbia election, 1941

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leonard Alec Shepherd	5,153	42.29%		unknown
	Liberal	Arthur Laing	3,554	29.17%		unknown
	Conservative	Alexander Campbell Hope	3,478	28.54%		unknown
Total valid votes			12,185	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			225
Turnout			%

21st British Columbia election, 1945

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Coalition	Alexander Campbell Hope	5,859	53.64%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leonard Alec Shepherd	5,063	46.36%		unknown
Total valid votes			10,922	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			138
Turnout			%

22nd British Columbia election, 1949

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Coalition	Alexander Campbell Hope	12,203	49.59%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leonard Alec Shepherd	11,110	45.15%		unknown
	Social Credit	Lyle Wicks	1,293	5.25%		unknown
Total valid votes			24,606	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			903
Turnout			%

23rd British Columbia election, 1952 ^3
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	B.C. Social Credit League	Thomas Irwin	11,759	37.22%	14,805	52.69%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leonard Alec Shepherd	10,853	34.35%	13,295	47.31%
	Progressive Conservative	Alexander Campbell Hope	4,688	14.84%	-	-.- %
	Liberal	Donald Alexander Sutherland Lanskail	4,293	13.59%	-	-.- %
Total valid votes			31,593	100.00%	28,100
Total rejected ballots			2,172
Turnout			%
^3 Preferential ballot. First and final of three counts only shown.

24th British Columbia election, 1953 ^4
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Social Credit	Thomas Irwin	13,079	42.20%	15,417	54.05%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leonard Alec Shepherd	11,095	35.80%	13,108	45.95%
	Liberal	Leslie Gilmore	5,500	17.75%		%
	Progressive Conservative	Robert William Pybus	591	1.91%	-	-.- %
	Labour Progressive	David Arnold Danielson	390	1.26%
	Christian Democratic	Cyril Anthony Brocking	315	1.02%
	People's Party of British Columbia^5	Edward Charles Mills	20	0.06%
Total valid votes			30,990	100.00%	28,525
Total rejected ballots			1,786
Turnout			%
^4 Preferential ballot. First and second of six counts only shown.
^5 Not the leftist People's Party of earlier times, but a populist one also identified as the Common Herd.

25th British Columbia election, 1956⁶

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Thomas Irwin	18,848	27.29%	–	unknown
	Social Credit	Nehemiah George Massey	17,762	25.72%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Walter H. Johnson	11,202	16.22%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	James Henry Rhodes	10,798	15.63%		unknown
	Liberal	Victor A. McPherson	5,149	7.46%		unknown
	Liberal	William Pearce Wilson	4,680	6.78%		unknown
	Labour Progressive	Myrtle Evelyn Burnell	355	0.51%		unknown
	Labour Progressive	Frank Gaspar	272	0.39%		unknown
Total valid votes			69,066	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			352
Turnout			%
^6 Seat increased to two members from one.

26th British Columbia election, 1960

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Camille Mather	21,839	20.54%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	James Henry Rhodes	21,559	20.28%		unknown
	Social Credit	Nehemiah George Massey	21,011	19.76%	–	unknown
	Social Credit	Donald H. Riggan	17,291	16.26%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Arthur R. Helps	8,529	8.02%		unknown
	Liberal	C. Douglas Morris	8,517	8.01%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	George Francis Crowe	2,280	2.14%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Dalton O. Jones	2,159	2.03%		unknown
	Independent	Gordon Lionel Gibson	2,010	1.89%		unknown
	Communist	Homer John Stevens	505	0.47%		unknown
	Communist	George Lakusta	408	0.38%		unknown
	Independent	Norman Baker	220	0.21%		unknown
Total valid votes			106,328	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			834
Turnout			%

27th British Columbia election, 1963

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Hunter Bertram Vogel	22,504	22.43%	–	unknown
	Social Credit	Ernest A. LeCours	22,067	22.00%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Camille Mather	18,690	18.63%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	James Henry Rhodes	17,661	17.60%		unknown
	Liberal	J.T. "Jock" Smith	5,553	5.53%		unknown
	Liberal	Harry Lewis Huff	5,342	5.32%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Theodore Kuhn	4,461	4.45%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Thomas Horan	4,049	4.04%		unknown
	Communist	Homer John Stevens	505	0.47%		unknown
Total valid votes			100,327	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			473
Turnout			%

28th British Columbia election, 1966 ⁷

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Robert Wenman	7,768	46.46%	–	unknown
	New Democrat	Thomas Jack Howard	6,078	36.35%		unknown
	Liberal	George Garrett	1,954	11.69%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Philip Govan	921	5.51%		unknown
Total valid votes			16,721	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			153
Turnout			%
^2 Seat decreased to one member from two.

29th British Columbia election, 1969

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Robert Wenman	14,145	51.35%	–	unknown
	New Democrat	Carl Liden	9,855	35.78%		unknown
	Liberal	Doral Hemm	3,545	12.87%		unknown
Total valid votes			27,545	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			295
Turnout			%

30th British Columbia election, 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democrat	Carl Liden	15,040	39.90%		unknown
	Social Credit	Robert Wenman	12,260	32.53%	–	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Marcia Ann Boyd	6,660	17.67%		unknown
	Liberal	Lorne L. Donnelly	3,730	9.90%		unknown
Total valid votes			37,690	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			378
Turnout			%

31st British Columbia election, 1975

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Kenneth Walter Davidson	25,892	53.32%	–	unknown
	New Democrat	Carl Liden	17,469	35.98%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	John O'Brien Bell	2,857	5.88%		unknown
	Liberal	Arthur Edward Bates	2,236	4.60%		unknown
	Communist	Michael Anthony Darnell	105	0.22%		unknown
Total valid votes			48,559	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			592
Turnout			%

32nd British Columbia election, 1979

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Kenneth Walter Davidson	16,421	55.10%	–	unknown
	New Democrat	Carl Liden	11,429	38.35%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Elsie Gwendolyn Burnett	1,877	6.30%		unknown
	Communist	John Michael Stevens	73	0.25%		unknown
Total valid votes			29,800	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			228
Turnout			%

33rd British Columbia election, 1983

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Kenneth Walter Davidson	21,496	58.37%	–	unknown
	New Democrat	Karl H. Moser	13,300	36.12%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	David Peter Hoyt	1,117	3.03%		unknown
	Liberal	Ken Buhay	464	1.26		unknown
	Western Canada Concept	Michael Terence Coggan	450	1.22%		unknown
Total valid votes			36,827	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			247
Turnout			%

34th British Columbia election, 1986⁸

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	John Lawrence Savage	20,950	29.22%	–	unknown
	Social Credit	Kenneth Walter Davidson	20,523	28.62%	–	unknown
	New Democrat	Karl H. Moser	13,581	18.94%		unknown
	New Democrat	Sylvia K. Bishop	11,984	16.72%		unknown
	Liberal	Samuel D. Stevens	2,855	3.98%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth Douglas Smith	1,804	2.52%		unknown
Total valid votes			71,697	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			722
Turnout			%
^8 Seat increased to two members from one.

The Delta riding was partitioned after the 1986 election into Delta North and Delta South.

Sources

Elections BC Historical Returns