1979 British Columbia general election

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1979 British Columbia general election

← 1975 May 10, 1979 1983 →

57 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
29 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
  Bill Bennett (cropped).jpg
NDP
PC
Leader Bill Bennett Dave Barrett Victor Stephens
Party Social Credit New Democratic Progressive Conservative
Leader since 1973 1969 1977
Leader's seat South Okanagan Vancouver East Oak Bay-Gordon Head (lost re-election)
Last election 35 seats, 49.25% 18 seats, 39.16% 1 seat, 3.86%
Seats won 31 26 0
Seat change Decrease4 Increase8 Decrease1
Popular vote 677,607 646,188 71,078
Percentage 48.23% 45.99% 5.06%
Swing Decrease1.02 Increase6.83 Increase1.20

Premier before election

Bill Bennett
Social Credit

Premier after election

Bill Bennett
Social Credit

The 1979 British Columbia general election was the 32nd general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 3, 1979. The election was held on May 10, 1979, and the new legislature met for the first time on June 6, 1979.

The governing Social Credit Party of British Columbia of Bill Bennett was re-elected with a majority government, and won almost half of the popular vote. The electorate was polarized between the Socreds and the social democratic New Democratic Party of former premier Dave Barrett, which won just under 46% of the popular vote and all of the remaining seats in the legislature. The NDP made up much of the ground it had lost in its severe defeat of four years earlier. However, the Socreds dominated the Fraser Valley and the Interior, allowing Bennett to cling to government by three seats.

Of the other parties only the Progressive Conservatives won over 1% of the popular vote, but their 5% of the vote did not enable them to hold on to their single seat in the legislature. Party leader Victor Stephens complained during the campaign that the federal PC Party was providing no assistance to the provincial party, favouring Social Credit instead. The caused embarrassment for federal party leader Joe Clark, who was leading his own election campaign for the May 22, 1979 federal election.

Results[]

Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1975 Elected % Change # % % Change
Social Credit Bill Bennett 57 35 31 -11.4% 677,607 48.23% -1.02%
  New Democrats Dave Barrett 57 18 26 44.4% 646,188 45.99% +6.83%
  Progressive Conservative Victor Stephens 37 1 - -100% 71,078 5.06% +1.20%
Liberal Jev Tothill 5 1 - -100% 6,662 0.47% -6.77%
Communist   7 - - - 1,159 0.08% -0.03%
  Independent 5 - - - 1,098 0.08% -0.28%
  Western Independence   2 * - * 555 0.04% *
North American Labour   4 - - - 297 0.02% +0.01%
Marxist–Leninist   2 * - * 235 0.02% *
  Gay Alliance Toward Equality   1 * - * 126 0.01% *
    1 * - * 72 0.01% *
Total 178 55 57 +3.6% 1,405,077 100%  
Source: Elections BC

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Popular vote
Social Credit
48.23%
NDP
45.99%
PC
5.06%
Others
0.72%
Seats summary
Social Credit
54.39%
NDP
45.61%

See also[]

  • List of British Columbia political parties

References[]

Further reading[]

  • Byers, R.B. (1981). Canadian annual review of politics and public affairs. 1979. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-7193-5.
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