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

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. It was held to elect members of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

. 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 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 is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

, Sir Richard McBride. Ten days after the dissolution of the Legislature,

James Alexander MacDonald James Alexander MacDonald (October 1858 – December 20, 1939) 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. MacDo ...

announced his retirement from the leadership of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

to become Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court, and

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British and American comedian who hosts ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' on HBO. He started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom and came to wider attention for his work ...

was selected to take his place. Despite winning almost one-third of the popular vote, the Liberals won only two seats, the same number won by the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

with only 11.5% of the vote. The first-past-the-post allocation of seats, combined with the multi-member constituencies in effect at the time, ensured that the Conservatives won with a lead of 34 seats, instead of only a lead of two seats that its proportion of the popular vote should have granted it. Two candidates campaigned in multiple ridings. McBride won in both

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

and

Victoria City Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, while Oliver was defeated in

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

and Victoria City.

Results

, - ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 , Political party ! rowspan=2 , Party leader ! colspan=4 , MLAs ! colspan=4 , Votes , - ! Candidates !

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...

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Richard McBride Sir Richard McBride, (December 15, 1870 – August 6, 1917) was a British Columbia politician and is often considered the founder of the British Columbia Conservative Party. McBride was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 1898 ...

, 42 , , 26 , , 38 , , 12 , , 53,074 , , 22,293 , , 52.33% , , 3.63 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 13 , , 2 , , 11 , , 33,675 , , 10,194 , , 33.21% , , 3.94 , style="text-align:left;", , 20 , , 3 , , 2 , , 1 , , 11,665 , , 6,062 , , 11.50% , , 2.63 , style="text-align:left;", , 3 , , – , , – , , – , , 2,625 , , 2,478 , , 2.59% , , 2.36 , style="text-align:left;", Canadian Labour , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , , – , , – , , – , , 165 , , 2,330 , , 0.16% , , 3.79 , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , , – , , – , , – , , 154 , , 154 , , 0.15% , , ''New'' , style="text-align:left;", , 1 , , – , , – , , – , , 57 , , 430 , , 0.06% , , 0.71 , - ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" , Total , 104, , 42 ! " colspan="2", 42 ! " colspan="2", 101,415 ! " colspan="2", 100.00%

Results by riding

The following MLAs were elected:

Synopsis of results

: = open seat : = turnout is above provincial average : = winning candidate was in previous Legislature : = incumbent had switched allegiance : = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature : = incumbency arose from byelection gain : = other incumbents renominated : = endorsed by the Liberals : = multiple candidates

Results

Results by riding

Synopsis of results

See also

Notes

References

Further reading