1909 British Columbia general election

1909 British Columbia general election

← 1907 November 25, 1909 1912 →
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42 seats to the 12th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 22 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   BCLP SPC Leader Sir Richard McBride James Alexander MacDonald No leader Party Conservative Liberal Socialist Leader's seat Victoria City[a] Last election 26 seats, 48.70% 13 seats, 37.15% 3 seats, 8.87% Seats won 38 2 2 Seat change 12 11 1 Popular vote 53,074 33,675 11,665 Percentage 52.33% 33.21% 11.50% Swing 3.63pp 3.94pp 2.63pp
Premier before election Richard McBride Conservative Premier after election Richard McBride Conservative

The 1909 British Columbia general election was the twelfth general election for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on October 20, 1909, and held on November 25, 1909. The new legislature met for the first time on January 20, 1910.

The governing Conservative Party won its third consecutive term in government with over half of the popular vote and all but four of the 42 seats in the legislature, effectively a rout for the popular incumbent Premier, Sir Richard McBride.

Despite winning almost one-third of the popular vote, the Liberal Party won only two seats, the same number won by the Socialist Party with only 11.5% of the vote.

The first-past-the-post allocation of seats, combined with the multi-member constituencies in effect at the time, ensured that the Conservatives won with a lead of 34 seats, instead of only a lead of two seats that its proportion of the popular vote should have granted it.^[1]

Results[]

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

¹ Two candidates are counted twice: R. McBride (Conservative), who contested and was elected in both Victoria City and Yale, and J. Oliver (Liberal) who contested but was defeated in both Delta and Victoria City.

² Organized in 1906. Not the same as the CLP that contested the 1924 election.

Results by riding[]

Notes[]

See also[]

• List of British Columbia political parties

Further reading & references[]

• In the Sea of Sterile Mountains: The Chinese in British Columbia, Joseph Morton, J.J. Douglas, Vancouver (1974). Despite its title, a fairly thorough account of the politicians and electoral politics in early BC.
• Hopkins, J. Castell (1910). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1909. Toronto: The Annual Review Publishing Company.

References[]