The British Columbia general election of 1975 was the 31st general election in 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 November 3, 1975, and held on December 11, 1975. The new legislature met for the first time on March 17, 1976.

The governing New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party of British Columbia

The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is a social-democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the official opposition to the governing British Columbia Liberal Party following the 2009 provincial election in British Columbia.The BC NDP is the provincial...

 of Dave Barrett

Dave Barrett

David Barrett, OC , commonly known as Dave Barrett, is a retired politician and social worker in British Columbia, Canada...

 was defeated after three years in government. Bill Bennett, son of long-time Social Credit Party leader and BC premier, W.A.C. Bennett

W.A.C. Bennett

William Andrew Cecil Bennett, PC, OC was the 25th Premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving premier in British Columbia history. He was usually referred to as W.A.C...

, led Social Credit back to power, winning close to half of the popular vote, and a solid majority

Majority government

A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...

 in the legislature.

Voters abandoned the Liberal and Progressive 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...

 parties as the centre and right-wing vote coalesced around Social Credit. The defeated social democratic

Social democracy

Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...

 NDP suffered only a marginal decrease in its vote share.

Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1972 British Columbia general election, 1972 The 30th general election for the Canadian province of British Columbia was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on July 24, 1972, and held on August 30, 1972...	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change	Social Credit	Bill Bennett	55	10	35	+250%	635,482	49.25%	+18.09%	New Democrats New Democratic Party of British Columbia The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is a social-democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the official opposition to the governing British Columbia Liberal Party following the 2009 provincial election in British Columbia.The BC NDP is the provincial...	Dave Barrett Dave Barrett David Barrett, OC , commonly known as Dave Barrett, is a retired politician and social worker in British Columbia, Canada...	55	38	18	-52.6%	505,396	39.16%	-0.43%	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...	Gordon Gibson Gordon Gibson Gordon Gibson, OBC is a political columnist, author, and former politician in British Columbia , Canada. He is the son of the late Gordon Gibson Sr, who was a prominent businessman and Liberal Party politician in mid-1950s BC....	49	5	1	-80.0%	93,379	7.24%	-9.16%	Progressive 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...	George Scott Wallace George Scott Wallace George Scott Wallace was a British Columbia physician and politician. Born in Scotland he attended the Edinburgh University Medical School from 1947 to 1952. Wallace came to Canada in 1957 and opened a general practice in Victoria in 1961...	29	2	1	-50.0%	49,796	3.86%	-8.81%	Independent		12	-	-	-	4,688	0.36%	+0.26%	Communist Communist Party of British Columbia The Communist Party of British Columbia is the British Columbia branch of the Communist Party of Canada. Its leader is Sam Hammond.From the 1945 British Columbia election to the 1956 election, it was known as the Labour Progressive Party....		13	-	-	-	1,441	0.11%	+0.03%	North American Labour North American Labour Party The North American Labour Party was a Canadian political party that nominated candidates in federal elections in the 1970s. However, because it was not a registered political party under the rules of Elections Canada, its candidates were considered to be independents.The NALP was the Canadian...		4	*	-	*	141	0.01%	*	Revolutionary Marxist Group		3	*	-	*	94	0.01%	*	League for Socialist Action		1	*	-	*	34	x	*
Total			221	55	55	-	1,290,451	100%
Source: Elections BC

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties