The 1953 British Columbia general election was the 24th 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 10, 1953, and held on June 9, 1953. The new legislature met for the first time on September 15, 1953.

The minority government formed in 1952 by the conservative Social Credit party of Premier W.A.C. Bennett lasted only nine months before new elections were called. Social Credit was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a second term in government with almost 38% of the popular vote.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation formed the official opposition with the only significant opposition caucus (14 seats).

The British Columbia Liberal Party had a net loss of two of its six seats despite maintaining its 23% share of the popular vote. They lost five of the six seats they had won in 1952, but picked up three new seats.

The Progressive Conservative Party lost three of its four seats in the legislature, as its share of the popular vote fell from almost 17% to under 6%.

One seat was won by a Labour candidate.

Results

+Elections to the 24th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1953)PartyLeaderCandidatesFirst Preference VotesSeats Votes ± % FPv ± 1952 1953 ±W. A. C. Bennett 48 274,771 65,722 37.75 10.55 19 9Arnold Webster 47 224,513 12,049 30.85 0.07 18 4Arthur Laing 48 171,761 8,528 23.59 0.13 6 2Deane Finlayson 39 40,780 88,659 5.60 11.24 4 3Tom Uphill 1 1,601 311 0.22 0.06 1 25 7,496 4,982 1.03 0.70 14 5,036 2,140 0.69 0.24 Includes a People's Party of BC candidate in Delta. 7 1,971 659 0.27 0.10Total 229727,839 100.00 Rejected ballots 43,766 1,883 Actual voters who voted 522,052 21,404 70.55% 2.02 Registered voters 740,006 53,067

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results + Results by riding - 1953 British Columbia general election (all districts) Riding First preference votes Final counts Winning partyName CCF Total CCF 1952 1953   Alberni 1,637 3,116 2,022 320 – 139 – – 7,234 4th – 3,715 2,811 – – – CCF CCF Atlin 108 553 275 – – – – – 936Elected on 1st count CCF CCF Burnaby 8,151 12,689 3,351 641 – 367 396 – 25,595 2nd 8,161 12,947 3,364 646 – 401 CCF CCF Cariboo2,733 992 1,050 509 – – – – 5,284Elected on 1st count SC SC Chilliwack8,776 2,456 2,631 589 – – – – 14,452Elected on 1st count SC SC Columbia924Richard Orr Newton had resigned in order to provide a seat for Robert Bonner. Bonner stood for election in Vancouver-Point Grey in 1953, while Newton sought reelection in his old seat. 481 676 80 – – – – 2,161 3rd 1,038 – 787 – – – SC SC Comox 4,420 5,462 2,944 378 – 357 – – 13,561 4th 5,762 6,717 – – – – CCF CCF Cowichan-Newcastle 2,686 4,517 2,330 510 – 168 – 118 10,329 5th 3,878 5,345 – – – – CCF CCF Cranbrook 2,219 2,955 1,615 – – – – – 6,789 2nd 2,756 3,460 – – – – CCF CCF Delta13,079 11,095 5,500 591 – 390 315 20 30,990 6th 15,417 13,108 – – – – SC SC Dewdney7,307 7,003 3,715 559 – 250 72 – 18,906 5th 9,066 8,310 – – – – SC SC Esquimalt 3,264 3,089 1,998 480 – – – – 8,831 3rd 4,147 3,848 – – – – CCF SC Fernie 702 – 1,229 – 1,601 – – – 3,532 2nd – – 1,402 – 1,793 – Lab Lab Fort George 3,160 1,677 1,802 – – – – – 6,639Elected on 1st count SC SC Grand Forks-Greenwood 583 995 324 177 – – – – 2,079 2nd 618 1,016 393 – – – CCF CCF Kamloops4,037 1,368 2,272 427 – 80 – – 8,184 3rd 4,171 1,434 2,503 – – – SC SC Kaslo-Slocan 867 1,481 792 – – – – – 3,140 2nd 1,165 1,692 – – – – CCF CCF Lillooet 1,065 1,372 1,103 452 – – – – 3,992 3rd – 1,694 1,830 – – – PC Lib Mackenzie 2,687 4,468 3,397 230 – – – – 10,782 3rd – 5,191 4,497 – – – CCF CCF Nanaimo and the Islands 2,626 3,631 1,375 2,046 – 115 – 32 9,825 5th – 4,358 – 4,376 – – PC PC Nelson-Creston3,450 2,636 1,803 772 – 99 – – 8,760 4th 4,199 3,404 – – – – SC SC New Westminster 3,787 4,903 4,309 – – 157 89 – 13,245 4th – 5,970 5,658 – – – CCF CCF North Okanagan4,398 1,749 2,071 700 – 90 – – 9,008 3rd 4,578 1,868 2,407 – – – SC SC North Vancouver 7,728 5,820 6,377 1,338 – 217 182 – 21,662 5th 9,291 – 9,134 – – – Lib SC Oak Bay 3,280 508 3,182 1,220 – – – – 8,190 3rd 3,681 – 4,110 – – – Lib Lib Omineca1,390 952 1,145 172 – – – – 3,659 3rd 1,612 – 1,379 – – – SC SC Peace River2,481 1,921 1,378 – – – – – 5,780 2nd 3,022 2,216 – – – – SC SC Prince Rupert 1,731 2,074 1,864 – – – – – 5,669 2nd – 2,578 2,611 – – – CCF Lib Revelstoke 639 1,009 551 – – – – 522 2,721 3rd – 1,284 1,012 – – – CCF CCF Rossland-Trail4,182 3,470 2,899 621 – – – – 11,172 3rd 5,778 4,549 – – – – SC SCSaanich 6,681 5,037 4,256 990 – – – – 16,964 3rd 8,876 6,466 – – – – CCF SC Salmon Arm1,627 1,341 623 600 – 101 – – 4,292 4th 2,013 1,806 – – – – SC SC Similkameen 4,465 3,419 2,109 323 – – – – 10,316 3rd 5,418 4,105 – – – – SC SC Skeena 1,372 1,768 1,413 220 – – – – 4,773 3rd – 2,110 2,097 – – – Lib CCF South Okanagan6,756 2,427 1,961 403 – – – – 11,547Elected on 1st count SC SC Yale1,177 835 834 107 – – – – 2,953 3rd 1,354 – 1,137 – – – SC SC Vancouver-Burrard (A)11,527 9,216 5,936 1,259 – 360 658 – 28,956 5th 14,924 11,360 – – – – SC SC Vancouver-Burrard (B)11,273 9,323 5,858 1,276 – 367 643 – 28,740 5th 14,674 11,446 – – – – SC SC Vancouver Centre (A) 7,066 6,238 4,079 971 – 572 505 – 19,431 5th 9,016 7,757 – – – – CCF SC Vancouver Centre (B) 6,782 6,283 3,985 1,007 – 580 480 – 19,117 5th 8,679 7,707 – – – – CCF SC Vancouver East (A) 13,225 19,475 5,272 747 – 842 743 – 40,304 4th 13,872 19,942 5,796 – – – CCF CCF Vancouver East (B) 12,910 20,583 4,727 803 – 816 351 – 40,190Elected on 1st count CCF CCF Vancouver-Point Grey (A) 19,768 10,058 14,612 4,533 – 348 194 193 49,706 5th 22,503 – 20,567 – – – PC SC Vancouver-Point Grey (B)20,205 9,556 12,022 7,373 – 337 212 64 49,769 6th 24,144 – 18,928 – – – PC SC Vancouver-Point Grey (C)19,061 9,441 17,412 3,607 – 338 196 – 50,055 5th 21,354 – 22,730 – – – SC Lib Victoria City (A) 8,616 4,881 6,915 1,227 – 126 – 1,022 22,787 5th 9,999 – 8,869 – – – Lib SC Victoria City (B) 9,131William Chant was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. 5,267 6,484 1,383 – 153 – – 22,418 4th 10,330 – 8,344 – – – Lib SC Victoria City (C) 9,032 4,923 7,193 1,139 – 127 – – 22,414 4th 10,084 – 8,907 – – – Lib SC

= open seat = candidate was in previous Legislature = incumbent had switched allegiance = previously incumbent in another riding = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature = incumbency arose from byelection gain = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada = multiple candidates

Analysis

+ Parties ranked by preferenceFirst preference Final count Parties 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th30 10 8 – – 28 10 1 – –17 15 14 1 – 14 17 5 – –– 23 24 1 – 4 21 5 – –– – 2 35 2 1 – – 4 11 – – – – 1 – – – –– – – 3 18 – – – 1 –– – – – 4 – – – – 1– – – 1 1 – – – – –

+ Party candidates in 2nd place (first preference) Party in 1st place Party in 2nd place TotalSocred CCF Liberal– 15 15 3010 – 7 17– – 1 1 Total10 15 23 48

+ Party candidates in 2nd place (final count) Party in 1st place Party in 2nd place TotalSocred CCF Liberal– 14 14 288 – 6 142 2 – 4– 1 – 1– – 1 1 Total10 17 21 1

See also List of British Columbia political parties History and use of the Single Transferable Vote

Further reading