1952 British Columbia general election

1952 British Columbia general election
← 1949 June 12, 1952 1953 →
← outgoing members elected members →
48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia; 25 seats needed for a majority
Premier before election; Byron Ingemar Johnson; Coalition	Premier after election ; W. A. C. Bennett; Social Credit

The 1952 British Columbia general election was the 23rd general election in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, alongside a plebiscite on daylight saving time and liquor. The election was called on April 10, 1952, and held on June 12, 1952. The new legislature met for the first time on February 3, 1953.

In 1951, the Legislative Assembly passed an act that allowed the use of preferential ballots in the next election.^[2] The voting system used was instant-runoff voting (IRV). The presence of multi-member districts, such as Victoria City with 3 MLAs, was handled by an innovation where the district's candidates were split into separate "ballots", each with no more than one candidate from each party, with the member in each being elected by separate use of IRV.^[3] The voting age was also lowered from 21 to 19 prior to this election.^[4]

Due to the preferential ballot and a large increase in SC support, the election resulted in a surprise victory for the new Social Credit Party. Not even the Socreds had expected to win the election; the party had no official leader, and was nominally lead through the election by Ernest George Hansell, an Alberta MP who did not contest a BC seat himself. The newly elected caucus selected W. A. C. Bennett, a former Conservative MLA, to be their leader and premier-designate.

This began what would be 20 years of uninterrupted Social Credit rule in British Columbia, and a period of 39 years overall in which the party would dominate the legislative assembly, interrupted only by an NDP government from 1972 to 1975. This would also be the last election to produce a minority government until the 2017 election.

Background

The government until not long before the election had been a Liberal–Progressive Conservative coalition (the Conservatives had recently changed their name to match that of the federal party). After the coalition had collapsed, the Liberals felt threatened by the rising popularity of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. To attempt to lock out the CCF, the government adopted the instant-runoff voting election system instead of leaving the existing system in place or switching to the single transferable vote system that was being used in neighbouring Alberta. The instant-runoff voting election system is a single-winner election system that uses transferable votes. While the Liberal and Conservative parties ran candidates separately under their own names, the leaders of those two parties hoped that if Liberal voters picked the local Tory candidate as their second preference and vice versa, one of the candidates of the two parties would have enough votes to be elected in many districts, hopefully ensuring the retention of power by the former coalition partners.

Vote count results

However, the Liberal and PC leaders had not reckoned on being so unpopular with the province's voters. The combined Liberal and PC vote total was 120,000 fewer votes than in the previous election, while the Social Credit party received almost 200,000 more votes than in 1949. In only eight seat contests did the combined Liberal and Conservative vote total surpass 50 per cent, so even if the party voters had adhered to coalition discipline, in most of the seat contests the coalition did not have enough votes to be elected. They received only a comparative few votes through vote transfers from CCF and SC candidates, whose supporters aided each other where possible.^[5]

In districts where CCF candidates were eliminated, back-up preferences were marked overwhelmingly for the British Columbia Social Credit League (BCSCL). Combined with many second-preference votes transferred from eliminated Liberal and Conservative candidates, this gave the Social Credit party five seats in addition to the 14 seats where its candidates had a plurality or a majority in the first counts. In the end, the Social Credit party captured 19 seats. The CCF received 18 seats, helped in many cases by transfers from eliminated SC candidates. The coalition was almost wiped out, winning only 10 seats between both parties. Both Premier Byron "Boss" Johnson and Tory leader Herbert Anscomb lost their seats.

Not even the Socreds had expected to win the election. The party had no official leader. Alberta Social Credit Member of Parliament Ernest George Hansell had led the party during the election campaign without contesting a seat himself. The Socreds persuaded Tom Uphill, a Labour member of the Legislature (MLA), to support the party, and so the Socreds were able to form a minority government. (Otherwise, having to provide the Speaker meant that the SC seat total would have been reduced to only the same as the CCF's seat count.)

Aftermath

The party's next task was to choose the province's new premier. In a vote of the newly elected caucus, W. A. C. Bennett, a former Conservative MLA who joined the Socreds after losing a bid for the Tory leadership, won a caucus vote and became premier-designate on July 15, 1952. This began what would be 20 years of uninterrupted Social Credit rule in British Columbia. The party held power for 36 of the following 39 years. It would also be the last British Columbia election to produce a minority government until the 2017 election.

In hopes of getting a stronger mandate, Bennett deliberately lost a confidence vote in 1953. This forced an election in June 1953 in which Social Credit won a majority of the seats.

Results

Elections to the 23rd Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1952)^[6]
Party		Leader	Candidates	First-preference votes				Seats
Party		Leader	Candidates	Votes	±	% Fpv	±	1949	1952	±
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Harold Winch	48	236,562	8,722	30.78	4.32	7	18 / 48	11
	Social Credit League	Ernest George Hansell	47	209,049	194,723	27.20	25.15	–	19 / 48	19
	Liberal	Boss Johnson	48	180,289	120,045	23.46	21.05	39	6 / 48	29
	Progressive Conservative	Herbert Anscomb	47	129,439	120,045	16.84	21.05	39	4 / 48	29
	Labour	Tom Uphill	1	1,290	193	0.16	0.05	1	1 / 48
	Independent		6	1,312	3,851	0.17	0.57	1	0 / 48	1
	Christian Democratic		8	7,176	7,176	0.93	New
	Labor-Progressive		5	2,514	854	0.33	0.09
	Labour Representation Committee		1	654	654	0.09	New
	Socialist		1	276	276	0.04	Returned
Total			212	768,561		100.00
Rejected ballots^[7]				45,649	35,758
Actual voters who voted^[7]				543,456	65,457	68.53%	5.11
Registered voters^[7]				793,073	144,054

MLAs elected

Alberni: Stanley John Squire

Atlin: Frank Calder

Burnaby: Ernest Winch

Cariboo: Ralph Chetwynd

Chilliwack: William Kenneth Kiernan

Columbia: Richard Orr Newton

Comox: William Campbell Moore

Cowichan-Newcastle: Robert Strachan

Cranbrook: Leo Nimsick

Delta: Thomas Irwin

Dewdney: Lyle Wicks

Esquimalt: Frank Mitchell

Fernie: Thomas Aubert Uphill

Fort George: Llewellyn Leslie King

Grand Forks-Greenwood: Rupert Haggen

Kamloops: Phil Gaglardi

Kaslo-Slocan: Randolph Harding

Lillooet: Ernest Crawford Carson

Mackenzie: Anthony Gargrave

Nanaimo and the Islands: Larry Giovando

Nelson-Creston: Wesley Drewett Black

New Westminster: Rae Eddie

North Okanagan: Lorne Shantz

North Vancouver: Martin Elliott Sowden

Oak Bay: Philip Archibald Gibbs

Omineca: Cyril Morley Shelford

Peace River: Charles William Parker

Prince Rupert: George Edwin Hills

Revelstoke: Vincent Segur

Rossland-Trail: Robert Sommers

Saanich: Frank Snowsell

Salmon Arm: James Allan Reid

Similkameen: Harry Denyer Francis

Skeena: Edward Tourtellotte Kenney

South Okanagan: W. A. C. Bennett

Vancouver-Burrard: Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin

Vancouver-Burrard: Bert Price

Vancouver Centre: James Campbell Bury

Vancouver Centre: Laura Emma Marshall Jamieson

Vancouver East: Arthur James Turner

Vancouver East: Harold Winch

Vancouver-Point Grey: Albert Reginald MacDougall

Vancouver-Point Grey: George Clark Miller

Vancouver-Point Grey: Tilly Rolston

Victoria City: Nancy Hodges

Victoria City: Daniel John Proudfoot

Victoria City: William Thomas Straith

Yale: Irvine Finlay Corbett

Synopsis of results

Results by riding – 1952 British Columbia general election (all districts)^[6]
Riding	First-preference votes								Final counts						Winning party
Name	CCF	SC	Lib	PC	Lab	Ind	Oth	Total	#	CCF	SC	Lib	PC	Lab	1949		1952
Name								Total	#						1949		1952

Alberni	3,067	1,366	2,176	1,204	–	–	196	8,009	4th	4,054	–	3,030	–	–		Ind		CCF
Atlin	595	–	292	164	–	–	–	1,051	Elected on 1st count							CCF		CCF
Burnaby	12,933	6,750	3,816	2,807	–	–	662	26,968	3rd	13,416	7,780	4,919	–	–		CCF		CCF
Cariboo	689	2,684	1,029	775	–	–	–	5,177	Elected on 1st count							Coal		SC
Chilliwack	2,242	8,509	2,543	2,097	–	–	–	15,391	Elected on 1st count							Coal		SC
Columbia	365	841	649	360	–	–	–	2,215	3rd	–	1,174	860	–	–		Coal		SC
Comox	5,369	2,987	3,532	1,868	–	–	–	13,756	3rd	7,098	–	5,210	–	–		Coal		CCF
Cowichan-Newcastle	4,636	1,886	2,711	1,463	–	–	–	10,696	3rd	5,697	–	4,064	–	–		Coal		CCF
Cranbrook	2,688	2,328	1,111	675	–	–	–	6,802	3rd	3,210	3,044	–	–	–		CCF		CCF
Delta	10,853	11,759	4,293	4,688	–	–	–	31,593	3rd	13,295	14,805	–	–	–		Coal		SC
Dewdney	6,024	7,600	3,631	2,233	–	–	–	19,488	3rd	7,248	9,813	–	–	–		Coal		SC
Esquimalt	3,607	1,606^[b]	2,294	1,550	–	–	–	9,057	3rd	4,741	–	3,597	–	–		Coal		CCF
Fernie	612	713	1,117	–	1,290	–	–	3,732	3rd	–	–	1,329	–	1,758		Lab		Lab
Fort George	1,593	2,009	2,022	371	–	–	–	5,995	3rd	–	2,760	2,468	–	–		Coal		SC
Grand Forks-Greenwood	826	292	252	706	–	–	–	2,076	3rd	1,043	–	–	922	–		CCF		CCF
Kamloops	1,311	3,108	2,708	959	–	–	–	8,086	3rd	–	4,002	3,366	–	–		Coal		SC
Kaslo-Slocan	1,411	597	617	522	–	–	–	3,147	3rd	1,792	–	1,000	–	–		CCF		CCF
Lillooet	1,074	450	725	1,301	–	96	–	3,646	4th	1,416	–	–	1,847	–		Coal		PC
Mackenzie	4,230	1,795	3,752	1,285	–	–	–	11,062	3rd	5,373	–	4,669	–	–		Coal		CCF
Nanaimo and the Islands	3,715	951	2,263	3,346	–	–	207	10,482	4th	4,581	–	–	5,144	–		Coal		PC
Nelson-Creston	2,473	2,975	2,572	774	–	–	–	8,794	3rd	–	4,265	3,351	–	–		Coal		SC
New Westminster	4,262	3,616	4,317	2,163	–	–	–	14,358	3rd	6,475	–	5,768	–	–		Coal		CCF
North Okanagan	1,786	4,347	2,104	1,240	–	–	–	9,477	3rd	–	5,447	3,063	–	–		Coal		SC
North Vancouver	6,268	4,947	6,695	4,061	–	216	604	22,791	6th	8,980	–	10,292	–	–		Coal		Lib
Oak Bay	707	1,071	3,631	2,843	–	–	–	8,252	3rd	–	–	4,308	3,282	–		Coal		Lib
Omineca	838	1,137	1,099	574	–	–	–	3,648	3rd	–	1,607	1,437	–	–		Coal		SC
Peace River	1,571	2,178	1,425	278	–	–	–	5,452	3rd	1,865	2,942	–	–	–		Coal		SC
Prince Rupert	2,292	1,104	2,001	687	–	–	–	6,084	3rd	2,903	–	2,754	–	–		Coal		CCF
Revelstoke	942	598	636	555	–	–	–	2,731	3rd	1,320	–	1,015	–	–		Coal		CCF
Rossland-Trail	2,541	3,979	3,331	1,690	–	–	–	11,541	3rd	–	5,917	4,803	–	–		Coal		SC
Saanich	5,862	2,947	4,964	3,407	–	–	–	17,181	3rd	7,867	–	7,599	–	–		Coal		CCF
Salmon Arm	1,236	1,462	669	896	–	–	–	4,263	3rd	1,617	1,979	–	–	–		Coal		SC
Similkameen	3,433	3,344	2,545	1,401	–	–	–	10,723	3rd	4,668	4,712	–	–	–		Coal		SC
Skeena	1,048	501	1,500	586	–	–	–	3,635	3rd	1,318	–	1,865	–	–		Coal		Lib
South Okanagan	2,654	6,082	1,763	1,371	–	–	–	11,870	Elected on 1st count							Coal		SC
Yale	659	1,024	1,067	338	–	60	–	3,148	4th	–	1,390	1,311	–	–		Coal		SC
Vancouver-Burrard (A)	10,037	9,166	6,166	5,765	–	577	1,064	32,775	5th	12,578	13,222	–	–	–		Coal		SC
Vancouver-Burrard (B)	10,397	9,002	6,358	5,615	–	–	1,046	32,418	4th	12,920	13,166	–	–	–		Coal		SC
Vancouver Centre (A)	6,912	4,694	5,234	4,120	–	–	1,321	22,281	5th	9,363	–	7,956	–	–		Coal		CCF
Vancouver Centre (B)	7,350	4,497	5,394	3,951	–	–	967	22,159	5th	9,893	–	8,496	–	–		Coal		CCF
Vancouver East (A)	21,006	11,536	6,574	2,850	–	–	2,304	44,270	4th	21,960	12,433	8,263	–	–		CCF		CCF
Vancouver East (B)	23,051	11,202	5,286	3,045	–	–	2,249	44,833	Elected on 1st count							CCF		CCF
Vancouver-Point Grey (A)	11,267	13,771	13,406	14,042	–	–	–	52,495	3rd	–	20,645	–	22,549	–		Coal		PC
Vancouver-Point Grey (B)	11,366	12,882	12,828	14,886	–	–	–	51,962	3rd	–	18,603	–	24,089	–		Coal		PC
Vancouver-Point Grey (C)	10,451	19,236	12,087	10,356	–	–	–	52,130	3rd	–	25,749	18,078	–	–		Coal		SC
Victoria City (A)	6,008	4,518	8,805	4,362	–	137	–	23,830	4th	8,421	–	12,071	–	–		Coal		Lib
Victoria City (B)	6,329	4,365	7,842	4,608	–	226	–	23,370	4th	8,902	–	11,057	–	–		Coal		Lib
Victoria City (C)	5,975	4,637	8,457	4,601	–	–	–	23,670	3rd	8,511	–	11,762	–	–		Coal		Lib

= Open seat

= Candidate was in previous Legislature

= Incumbent had switched allegiance

= Previously incumbent in another riding

= Not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

= Incumbency arose from by-election gain

= Multiple candidates

Analysis

Party popularity ranked, numbers of districts^[8]
First preference					Final count
Parties	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	1st	2nd	3rd
█ Co-operative Commonwealth	21	12	10	5	18	14	–
█ Social Credit	14	11	17	5	19	5	–
█ Liberal	9	22	14	3	6	22	2
█ Progressive Conservative	3	3	7	34	4	2	–
█ Labour	1	–	–	–	1	–	–

Party candidates in 2nd place (first preference)^[8]
Party in 1st place		Party in 2nd place				Total
Party in 1st place		Socred	CCF	Liberal	PC	Total
	Social Credit	–	5	9	–	14
	Co-operative Commonwealth	7	–	12	2	21
	Liberal	2	6	–	1	9
	Progressive Conservative	2	1	–	–	3
	Labour	–	–	1	–	1
Total		11	12	22	3	48

1st and 2nd place candidates (final count) by party^[8]
Party in 1st place		Total	Party in 2nd place
Party in 1st place		Total	Socred	CCF	Liberal	PC
	Social Credit	19		8	11	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	18	4	–	13	1
	Liberal	6	5	–	–	1
	Progressive Conservative	4	2	2	–	–
	Labour	1		–	1	–
Total		48	11	10	25	2

Notes

↑ The nominal Socred leader, Ernest George Hansell, was an Alberta member of Parliament and was appointed to lead the British Columbia party during the election but did not contest a seat himself. Following the election, Bennett was elected as the leader of the Social Credit party by the newly-elected caucus and became Premier-elect on July 15, 1952.
↑ William Chant was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 The Liberal and Conservative parties ran as a coalition in the 1949 election.
↑ Provincial Elections Act Amendment Act, 1951, S.B.C. 1951, c. 25
↑ Elections BC 1988, pp. 231–232.
↑ "Electoral History of B.C." Elections BC. May 9, 2008. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
↑ "1871-1986 Electoral History of BC"
1 2 Elections BC 1988, pp. 213–219, 221–240.
1 2 3 Elections BC 1988, p. 2.
1 2 3 Elections BC 1988, pp. 221–240.