1916 British Columbia general election

1916 British Columbia general election
47 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia; 24 seats needed for a majority
Premier before election; William John Bowser; Conservative	Premier after election ; Harlan Carey Brewster; Liberal

The 1916 British Columbia general election was the fourteenth 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 July 5, 1916, and held on September 14, 1916. The new legislature met for the first time on March 1, 1917.

The Liberal Party defeated the governing Conservative Party, winning 50% of the vote, almost double its share from the previous election. The Liberals won 36 of the 47 seats in the legislature.

The Conservatives' popular vote fell from almost 60% to just over 40%, and took nine seats, forming the Official Opposition.

Two other seats were won by independents.

Unlike in the previous BC general election, in 1916 of the 47 MLAs 37 were elected in single member districts. There were also one 4-member district and one 6-member district. Each voter could cast as many votes as there were seats to fill in the district.^[1]

Results[]

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
Party		Party leader	# of candidates	1912	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Liberal ¹	Harlan Carey Brewster	45	-	36		89,892	50.00%	+24.63%
	Conservative ²	William John Bowser	46	39	9	-76.9%	72,842	40.52%	-19.13%
	Independent		7	-	1	-	4,926	2.74%	+0.95%
	Independent Socialist		3	*	1	*	1,321	0.74%	*
	Independent Conservative		4	1	-	-100%	3,014	1.68%	+0.31%
	Independent Labour		2	*	-	*	2,985	1.66%	*
	Socialist		4	1	-	-100%	2,106	1.17%	-9.91%
	Independent Liberal		1	*	-	*	1,518	0.84%	*
	Social Democratic		3	1	-	-100%	1,012	0.56%	-0.18%
	Independent Progressive		1	*	-	*	158	0.09%	*
Total			116	42	47	+11.9%	179,774	100%
Sources: Elections BC

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

¹ One candidate, H.C. Brewster (Liberal) who contested and was elected in both Alberni and Victoria City, is counted twice.

² Also included as a candidate is R. McBride (Conservative, Richmond) who withdrew before the 14 September polling day but received some overseas votes.

Popular vote

Liberal			50.00%
Conservative			40.52%
Others			9.48%

Seats summary

Liberal			76.60%
Conservative			19.15%
Others			4.26%

Results by riding[]

Results of British Columbia general election, 1916
Government			Opposition
	Member	Riding & party	Riding & party		Member
	Harlan Carey Brewster ¹	Alberni Liberal		Cowichan Independent	William Henry Hayward
	Frank Harry Mobley	Atlin Liberal		Delta Conservative	Francis James Anderson MacKenzie
	John MacKay Yorston	Cariboo Liberal		Esquimalt Liberal	Robert Henry Pooley
	Edward Dodsley Barrow	Chilliwhack Liberal		Fort George Conservative	William Roderick Ross
	John Andrew Buckham	Columbia Liberal		Lillooet Conservative	Archibald McDonald
	Hugh Stewart	Comox Liberal		Nelson Conservative	William Oliver Rose
	James Horace King	Cranbrook Liberal		Similkameen Conservative	Lytton Wilmot Shatford
	John Oliver	Dewdney Liberal		South Okanagan Conservative	James William Jones
	Alexander Ingram Fisher	Fernie Liberal		Trail Conservative	James Hargrave Schofield
	James Edwin Wallace Thompson	Grand Forks Liberal		Vancouver City Conservative	William John Bowser^[2]
	John Duncan MacLean	Greenwood Liberal		Newcastle Independent Socialist	Parker Williams
	Malcolm Bruce Jackson	The Islands Liberal
	Frederick William Anderson	Kamloops Liberal
	John Keen	Kaslo
	William Sloan	Nanaimo Liberal
	David Whiteside	New Westminster Liberal
	Kenneth Cattanach MacDonald	North Okanagan Liberal
	George Samuel Hanes	North Vancouver Liberal
	Alexander Malcolm Manson	Omineca Liberal
	Thomas Dufferin Pattullo	Prince Rupert Liberal
	William Henry Sutherland	Revelstoke Liberal
	Gerald Grattan McGeer	Richmond Liberal
		Rossland Liberal
	Frederick Arthur Pauline	Saanich Liberal
	Charles Franklin Nelson	Slocan Liberal
	John Walter Weart	South Vancouver Liberal
	John Sedgwick Cowper	Vancouver City Liberal
	John Wallace deBeque Farris
	Malcolm Archibald Macdonald
	John William McIntosh
	Ralph Smith
	George Bell	Victoria City Liberal
	Harlan Carey Brewster^[3]
	Henry Charles Hall
	John Hart
		Yale Liberal
Source: Elections BC

^ Electoral History of BC, 1871-1986, p. 545
^ Leader of the Conservative Party and incumbent Premier
^ Leader of the Liberal Party and Premier-designate

Notes[]

^ ^a ^b Brewster was elected as member for both Alberni and Victoria City, and is counted twice.
^ One Conservative candidate withdrew before the election but still received 34 overseas votes, which are counted.

v t Elections and referendums in British Columbia
General elections	1856 1860 1863 1866 1869 1871 1875 1878 1882 1886 1890 1894 1898 1900 1903 1907 1909 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1933 1937 1941 1945 1949 1952 1953 1956 1960 1963 1966 1969 1972 1975 1979 1983 1986 1991 1996 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2020 Next
Municipal elections	2005 2008 2011 2014 2018 2022
Referendums	1952 1972 1991 2002 2005 2009 2011 2018
See also: List of British Columbia by-elections

1916 British Columbia general election

Contents

Results[]

Results by riding[]

See also[]

Notes[]

Further reading & references[]