1920 British Columbia general election

The 1920 British Columbia general election was the fifteenth general election for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on October 23, 1920, and held on December 1, 1920. The new legislature met for the first time on February 8, 1921.

Although it lost eleven seats in the legislature, and fell from 50% of the popular vote to under 38%, the governing Liberal Party held on to a slim majority in the legislature for its second consecutive term in government.

The Conservative Party also lost a significant share of its popular vote, but won six additional seats for a total of fifteen, and formed the Official Opposition.

Almost a third of the vote and seven seats were won by independents and by a wide variety of fringe parties.

This was the first general election in which women could vote and run for office.Women's Right to Vote in Canada Mary Ellen Smith was elected to fill one of the five seats in Vancouver City.

Results

|style="text-align:left;" |John Olivernominated and won in both Delta and Victoria City. He would opt to resign from the Delta seat. |45 ||36 ||26 ||10 ||134,167 ||44,275 ||37.89 || 12.11

|style="text-align:left;" |William Bowser |42 ||9 ||14 ||5 ||110,475 ||37,633 ||31.20 ||9.32 |- Includes candidates from the Liberty League of B.C. (2,466 votes), Vancouver Ratepayers Association (3,291 votes), and Women's Freedom League (4,166 votes). | |18 ||1 ||3 ||2 ||36,736 ||31,810 ||10.37 ||7.63 |- Includes candidates not directly nominated, but supported by, the Federated Labour Party. | |14 ||– ||3 ||3 ||32,230 ||32,230 ||9.10 ||

|style="text-align:left"| People's Party | |1 ||– ||1 ||1 ||1,354 ||1,354 ||0.38 ||

|1 ||1 ||– ||1 ||419 ||902 ||0.12 ||0.62 |- Includes John Henry Burrough, a Labour candidate in Prince Rupert running on a Socialist Party platform. | |7 ||– ||– || ||12,386 ||10,280 ||3.50 ||2.33 |- Soldier-Farmer candidates ran in rural Districts (five candidates, 3361 votes) and Soldier-Labour candidates ran in urban ones (six candidates, 7419 votes). | |11 ||– ||– ||– ||10,780 ||10,780 ||3.04 ||

|style="text-align:left"| Grand Army of United VeteransSome GAUV candidates ran on a joint Soldier-Labour ticket. | |2 ||– ||– ||– ||5,441 ||5,441 ||1,54 ||

|3 ||– ||– || ||3,433 ||1,915 ||0.97 ||0.13

|2 ||– ||– ||– ||3,178 ||3,178 ||0.90 ||

|2 ||– ||– || ||1,602 ||1,412 ||0.45 ||1.23

|2 ||– ||– ||– ||907 ||907 ||0.26 ||

|3 ||– ||– ||– ||526 ||526 ||0.15 ||

|1 ||– ||– ||– ||424 ||424 ||0.12 ||

|1 ||– ||– || ||30 ||2,955 ||0.01 ||1.65 |- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total | 155 | 47 ! colspan="2"| 47 ! colspan="2"|354,088 ! colspan="2"| 100.00%

+ Seats and popular vote by party Party Seats Votes Change (pp) /GUAV

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results + Results by riding - 1920 British Columbia general election (single-member districts) Riding Winning party VotesName 1916Party Votes Share Margin#Margin% Lib Con FLP Soc Candidates in Esquimalt, New Westminster and Saanich were Soldier-Labour; others were Soldier-Farmer Total Alberni Lib Ind 841 43.94% 166 8.67% 398 – – – – 675 – – – 841 – 1,914 Atlin Lib Lib 390 36.69% 90 8.47% 390 229 300 – – – – – – 114 30 1,063 Cariboo Lib Lib 561 61.65% 212 28.30% 561 349 – – – – – – – – – 910 Chilliwhack Lib Lib 1,911 53.16% 227 6.32% 1,911 1,684 – – – – – – – – – 3,595 Columbia Lib Lib 584 60.58% 204 21.16% 584 380 – – – – – – – – – 964 Comox Lib PP 1,354 32.83% 121 2.93% 806 1,233 – 1,354 – – – 731 – – – 4,124 Cowichan Ind Ind 1,145 52.60% 113 5.20% – 1,032 – – – – – – – 1,145 – 2,177 Cranbrook Lib Lib 941 50.98% 36 1.96% 941 – – – – – – – 905 – – 1,846 Delta Con Lib 1,334 37.50% 218 6.13% 1,334 1,116 – – – 1,107 – – – – – 3,557 Dewdney Lib Con 1,535 45.45% 166 4.91% 1,369 1,535 473 – – – – – – – – 3,377 Esquimalt Con Con 1,158 49.87% 473 20.37% 685 1,158 – – – 479 – – – – – 2,322 Fernie Lib FLP 932 38.37% 158 6.51% 723 774 932 – – – – – – – – 2,429 Fort George Con Lib 1,140 55.18% 353 17.09% 1,140 787 – – – – – – – – 139 2,066 Grand Forks Lib Lib 390 50.39% 6 0.78% 390 384 – – – – – – – – – 774 Greenwood Lib Lib 392 49.06% 100 12.51% 392 292 – – – – – – – – 115 799 The Islands Lib Lib 581 40.86% 100 7.03% 581 481 – – – 360 – – – – – 1,422 Kamloops Lib Lib 1,617 37.43% 209 4.84% 1,617 1,295 – – – – 1,408 – – – – 4,320 Kaslo Lib Con 760 50.53% 16 1.06% 744 760 – – – – – – – – – 1,504 Lillooet Con Con 339 47.48% 126 17.65% 213 339 – – – 162 – – – – – 714 Nanaimo Lib Lib 1,370 41.19% 199 5.98% 1,370 785 1,171 – – – – – – – – 3,326 Nelson Con Con 1,232 61.75% 469 23.50% 763 1,232 – – – – – – – – – 1,995 Newcastle FLP 704 42.00% 280 16.7% – – 704 – – – – – – – 972The incumbent James Hurst Hawthornthwaite (Ind-Soc), elected in a 1918 byelection, and formerly the Socialist MLA for Nanaimo City, came in third with 419 votes. 1,676 New Westminster Lib Lib 1,980 43.07% 369 8.03% 1,980 1,006 – – – 1,611 – – – – – 4,597 North Okanagan Lib Lib 2,037 53.51% 267 7.02% 2,037 – – – – – 1,770 – – – – 3,807 North Vancouver Lib Ind 2,681 54.68% 1,501 30.61% 913 1,180 – – – – – – – 2,810The incumbent George Samuel Hanes, formerly elected as a Liberal, was the winning candidate with 2,681 votes. His candidacy was endorsed by the local Liberal association and the Great War Veterans Association. – 4,903 Omineca Lib Lib 630 60.87% 357 34.49% 630 273 – – – – – – – 132 – 1,035 Prince Rupert Lib Lib 1,501 43.70% 804 23.41% 1,501 561 – – 676 – – – 697 – – 3,435 Revelstoke Lib Libacclaimed Richmond Lib Con 2,863 37.89% 151 2.00% 2,712 2,863 1,499 – – 272 – – – 210 – 7,556 Rossland Lib Con 257 38.02% 18 2.66% 180 257 239 – – – – – – – – 676Saanich Lib Lib 1,858 39.78% 102 2.19% 1,858 1,756 – – – 1,057 – – – – – 4,671 Similkameen Con Con 1,354 51.72% 90 3.44% 1,264 1,354 – – – – – – – – – 2,618 Slocan Lib Con 568 41.55% 97 7.09% 471 568 328 – – – – – – – – 1,367 South Okanagan Con Con 1,882 56.77% 449 13.54% 1,433 1,882 – – – – – – – – – 3,315 South Vancouver Lib FLP 3,255 37.75% 811 9.41% 1,969 2,444 3,255 – – – – – – 955 – 8,623 Trail Con Con 1,315 60.80% 467 21.60% 848 1,315 – – – – – – – – – 2,163 Yale Lib Con 913 39.58% 176 7.63% 737 913 – – – – – 657 – – – 2,307

= open seat = winning 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 = other incumbents renominated = candidate repudiated by local association = multiple candidates

+ Results by riding - 1920 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts) Party Vancouver City Victoria City Votes Share Change Votes Share Change 78,789 38.96% -10.42% 19,933 36.96% -14.33% 60,570 29.95% -10.85% 17,688 32.79% -4.11% 22,117 10.97% New 1,212 2.25% New 16,121 7.97% 5.02% 4,485 8.32% 4.46% 11,710 5.79% 4.35% – – -4.13% Grand Army of United Veterans 5,441 2.69% New – – – 4,166 2.06% New – – – 3,291 1.63% New – – – – – – 5,329 9.88% New – – – 2,466 4.57% New – – – 2,045 3.79% -1.14% – – – 778 1.44% New – – -2.82% – – – – – -2.60% – – – – – – – – -3.02%Total 202,205 100.00% 53,936 100.00%Seats won Incumbents returned

See also List of British Columbia political parties

1920 British Columbia general election

Bron en licentie