British Columbia general election, 1909

The British Columbia general election of 1909 was the twelfth general election for the Province of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....

. 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

British Columbia Conservative Party

The British Columbia Conservative Party is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected as the government in 1903, the party went into decline after 1933...

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

Premier of British Columbia

The Premier of British Columbia is the first minister, head of government, and de facto chief executive for the Canadian province of British Columbia. Until the early 1970s the title Prime Minister of British Columbia was often used...

, Sir Richard McBride

Richard McBride

Sir Richard McBride, KCMG was a British Columbian politician and is often considered the founder of the British Columbia Conservative Party. McBride was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 1898 election, and served in the cabinet of James Dunsmuir from 1900 to 1901...

.

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

Socialist Party of Canada

There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...

with only 11.5% of the vote.

Results

Party	Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
Party	Party leader	# of candidates	1907	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change	Conservative British Columbia Conservative Party The British Columbia Conservative Party is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected as the government in 1903, the party went into decline after 1933... ¹	Richard McBride Richard McBride Sir Richard McBride, KCMG was a British Columbian politician and is often considered the founder of the British Columbia Conservative Party. McBride was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 1898 election, and served in the cabinet of James Dunsmuir from 1900 to 1901...	42	26	38	+46.2%	53,074	52.33%	+3.63%	Liberal ¹	James Alexander MacDonald James Alexander MacDonald James Alexander MacDonald was a lawyer, judge and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Rossland City in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1903 to 1909 as a Liberal...	36	13	2	-84.6%	33,675	33.21%	-3.94%	Socialist Socialist Party of Canada There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...	20	3	2	-33.3%	11,665	11.50%	+2.63%	Independent	3	-	-	-	2,625	2.59%	+2.36%	Canadian Labour ²	1	-	-	-	165	0.16%	-3.79%	Independent Conservative	1	*	-	*	154	0.15%	*	Independent Labour	1	-	-	-	57	0.06%	-0.71%
Total		104	42	42	-	101,415	100%
Sources: Elections BC

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

|-
||
|align="center" |Henry Esson Young

Henry Esson Young

Henry Esson Young was a physician and political figure in British Columbia. Some sources list his birth year as 1867...

|align="center" |Atlin
Atlin (electoral district)
Atlin was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the 10th provincial general election in 1903 and last appeared in the 34th provincial general election in 1986, after which it was merged with the Skeena riding.-...

Conservative
British Columbia Conservative Party
The British Columbia Conservative Party is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected as the government in 1903, the party went into decline after 1933...

||
||
|align="center" |Alberni

Alberni (electoral district)

Alberni was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originally appeared in the British Columbia general election, 1890 and then, after being merged into Cowichan-Alberni for the 1894 election, was renamed Alberni riding in the election of 1898. The riding...

Liberal

British Columbia Liberal Party

The British Columbia Liberal Party is the governing political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected for government in 1916, the party went into decline after 1952, with its rump caucus merging with the Social Credit Party for the 1975 election...

|align="center"|Harlan Carey Brewster

Harlan Carey Brewster

Harlan Carey Brewster was a politician in British Columbia, Canada. Brewster arrived in British Columbia in 1893, and had various careers working on a ship and then in a cannery. He eventually became owner of his own canning company...

||
|-
||
|align="center"|Michael Callanan

Michael Callanan

Michael Callanan was an Irish-born physician and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Cariboo from 1909 to 1916 in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a Conservative....

|align="center" rowspan=2 |Cariboo
Cariboo (electoral district)
Cariboo was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1871 to 1892.This riding was first created as Cariboo District following British Columbia's admission into the Canadian Confederation in 1871...

Conservative
British Columbia Conservative Party
The British Columbia Conservative Party is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected as the government in 1903, the party went into decline after 1933...

||
||
|align="center" |Esquimalt

Esquimalt (electoral district)

Esquimalt was a provincial electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was one of the province's first twelve ridings upon its entry into Confederation. It was originally a two-member riding...

Liberal

British Columbia Liberal Party

|align="center"|John Jardine

John Jardine (Canadian politician)

John Jardine was a Scottish-born joiner, decorator and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Esquimalt from 1907 to 1912 in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a Liberal....

||
|-
||
|align="center"|John Anderson Fraser
||
||
|align="center" |Nanaimo City
Nanaimo City
Nanaimo City was a provincial electoral district in the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia in Canada from 1890 to 1912. It was one of two Nanaimo ridings at the time, created out of the older Nanaimo riding , with intermediary ridings The Islands and Nanaimo and the Islands...

Socialist
Socialist Party of Canada
There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...

|align="center"|James Hurst Hawthornthwaite
James Hurst Hawthornthwaite
James Hurst Hawthornthwaite was an Irish-born land agent, businessman and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Nanaimo City from 1901 to 1908 and from 1909 to 1912 as a Socialist and Newcastle from 1918 to 1920 as an Independent Socialist in the Legislative Assembly of British...

||
|-
||
|align="center"|Samuel Arthur Cawley
Samuel Arthur Cawley
Samuel Arthur Cawley was a farmer, merchant, miner, real estate and insurance agent and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Chilliwhack from 1909 to 1916 as a Conservative....

|align="center" |Chilliwhack

Chilliwhack (electoral district)

Chilliwhack was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia from 1903. It was the successor riding to Westminster-Chilliwhack and itself was succeeded by Chilliwack after the 1912 election.- Demographics :...

Results

Results by riding

See also

Further reading & references