The British Columbia general election of 1979 was the 32nd 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 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 conservative Socreds and the 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...

 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 former premier Dave Barrett

Dave Barrett

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

, which won just under 46% of the popular vote and all of the remaining seats in the legislature.

Of the other parties only the Progressive Conservatives

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 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

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 was providing no assistance to the provincial party, favouring Social Credit instead. The caused embarrassment for federal party leader Joe Clark

Joe Clark

Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...

, who was leading his own election campaign for the May 22, 1979 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1979

The Canadian federal election of 1979 was held on May 22, 1979 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 31st Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of Liberal Party of Canada after 11 years in power under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Joe Clark led the Progressive...

.

Also in this election, Robert Douglas Cook, the Gay Alliance Toward Equality

Gay Alliance Toward Equality

The Gay Alliance Toward Equality, or GATE, was one of the first Canadian gay liberation groups.Formed in spring 1971 in Vancouver, British Columbia, GATE was the first Canadian gay group to explicitly discuss and plan civil rights strategies for achieving gay and lesbian equality under Canadian law...

 candidate in West Vancouver-Howe Sound

West Vancouver-Howe Sound

West Vancouver-Howe Sound was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia from 1966 to 1986. The riding's predecessor was North Vancouver, which first appeared on the hustings from 1903....

, became the first openly gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 candidate ever to run for political office in Canada.

Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1975 British Columbia general election, 1975 The British Columbia general election of 1975 was the 31st 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 November 3, 1975, and held on December 11, 1975...	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change	Social Credit British Columbia Social Credit Party The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing political party of British Columbia, Canada, for more than 30 years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election...	Bill Bennett	57	35	31	-11.4%	677,607	48.23%	-1.02%	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...	57	18	26	44.4%	646,188	45.99%	+6.83%	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...	Victor Stephens	37	1	-	-100%	71,078	5.06%	+1.20%	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...	Jev Tothill	5	1	-	-100%	6,662	0.47%	-6.77%	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....		7	-	-	-	1,159	0.08%	-0.03%	Independent		5	-	-	-	1,098	0.08%	-0.28%	Western Independence Western Independence Party The Western Independence Party was a Canadian political party that advocated the separation from Canada of the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well as the Yukon and Northwest Territories to form a new country.The WIP ran 11 candidates in the...		2	*	-	*	555	0.04%	*	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	-	-	-	297	0.02%	+0.01%	Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) The Communist Party of Canada is a Canadian federal Marxist–Leninist political party.The party is registered with Elections Canada as the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada...		2	*	-	*	235	0.02%	*	Gay Alliance Toward Equality Gay Alliance Toward Equality The Gay Alliance Toward Equality, or GATE, was one of the first Canadian gay liberation groups.Formed in spring 1971 in Vancouver, British Columbia, GATE was the first Canadian gay group to explicitly discuss and plan civil rights strategies for achieving gay and lesbian equality under Canadian law...		1	*	-	*	126	0.01%	*	Independent New Hope		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.

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties