1933 British Columbia general election

The 1933 British Columbia general election was the eighteenth 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 September 13, 1933, and held on November 2, 1933.^[1] The new legislature met for the first time on February 20, 1934.

The Liberal Party won a majority government.

The Official Opposition was formed by the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which was contesting its first election.

Because of internal discord, the provincial executive of the Conservative Party decided not to contest the election officially. Instead, each local association was to act on its own. Some candidates ran as Independents, some as Independent Conservatives. Those supporting the premier, Simon Fraser Tolmie, ran as Unionist Party of British Columbia, and those grouped around William John Bowser, a former premier, ran as the Non-Partisan Independent Group. When Bowser died on October 25, the elections in Vancouver Centre and Victoria City were postponed to November 27, and the following candidates withdrew:^[2]

• in Vancouver Centre, one each from the Unionists, NPIG and United Front
• in Victoria City, one Unionist, three NPIG and one Independent

Other notable races include the election of Bridge River-Lillooet News publisher George Matheson Murray in Lillooet over Conservative Ernest Crawford Carson. Carson's brother Robert Henry Carson ran as a Liberal, winning Kamloops. Carson and his brother both served as cabinet ministers in later regimes. They were the sons of Robert Carson, an American who was one of the very few survivors of an Indian attack on a wagon train on the Oregon Trail and who went on to found one of the early ranches at Pavilion and whose holdings became part of the Diamond S Ranch.^[3]

1932 redistribution of ridings

An Act was passed in 1932, providing for a reduction of the seats in the Assembly from 48 to 47 upon the next election.^[4] The following changes were made:

1. ^ Incomplete
2. ^ The incumbent Herbert Frederick Kergin received 267 votes.
3. ^ The incumbent Cyril Francis Davie received 585 votes.
4. ^ The incumbent John Walter Berry received 447 votes.
5. ^ Jack Loutet had been elected as a Conservative in a 1930 byelection
6. ^ John Melvin Bryan Sr., previously elected as a Liberal in 1924, ran as an Independent Liberal and received 846 votes

1934 post-election redistribution

A 1934 Act increased the size of the Assembly from 47 to 48, by abolishing the district of Columbia-Revelstoke and reviving the previous districts of Columbia and Revelstoke, with immediate effect.^[5] William Henry Sutherland was declared the MLA for Revelstoke,^[6] and Thomas King (Liberal) was acclaimed in Columbia in the subsequent byelection.^[7]

Results

|- ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MLAs ! colspan=4 | Votes |- ! Candidates !1928 !1933 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp)

|style="text-align:left;" |Duff Pattullo | 47 || 12 || 34 || 22 || 159,131 || 14,259 || 41.74 || 1.70

|style="text-align:left;" |Robert Connell | 46 || – || 7 || 7 || 120,185 || 120,185 || 31.53 ||New |- |rowspan="7" |   |style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|Conservative fragmentation |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|William John Bowser | 30 ||rowspan="5"|  || 2 ||rowspan="5"|  || 38,836 ||rowspan="5"|  || 10.19 ||rowspan="5"|  |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|Simon Fraser Tolmie | 12 || 1 || 15,445 || 4.05 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"| | 6 || – || 7,114 || 1.87 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"| | 4 || – || 2,193 || 0.58 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"| | 1 || 1 || 1,655 || 0.43 |- |style="text-align:left;" colspan="2"|All Conservative factions | 53 ||35 || 4 || 31 || 65,243 || 128,688 || 17.12 || 36.18

| || 24 || – || 1 || 1 || 25,658 || 22,000 || 6.73 || 5.72 (all factions) | || 4 || 1 || 1 || || 2,357 || 15,867 || 0.62 || 4.42

| || 20 || – || – || – || 4,584 || 4,584 || 1.20 ||New

| || 8 || – || – || – || 2,266 || 2,266 || 0.59 ||New

| || 2 || – || – || – || 1,076 || 75 || 0.28 || –

| || 5 || – || – || – || 370 || 370 || 0.10 ||Returned

| || 1 || – || – || – || 353 || 353 || 0.09 ||New |- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total | 210 | 48 ! colspan="2"| 47 ! colspan="2"|381,223 ! colspan="2"| 100.00% |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Rejected ballots^[8] | 3,380^{[a 1]} ||121 | colspan="2"| |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Actual voters who voted^[8] | 236,415 ||61,481 | 73.07% || 1.74 |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Registered voters^[8] | 323,540 ||78,300 | colspan="2"| |}

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results

= 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

= Conservative factions

= multiple candidates

= election day deferred

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties

Notes

1. ^ Bowser died prior to the election.
2. ^ Result for the Conservative Party of British Columbia.
3. ^ Compared to the Conservative Party of British Columbia.

References

1. ^ Elections BC 1988, p. 173.
2. ^ Elections BC 1988, p. 180.
3. ^ BCGNIS listing "Mount Carson"
4. ^ "8". 1932.
5. ^ "15". 1934.
6. ^ 1934 Act, s. 11
7. ^ Elections BC 1988, p. 181.
8. ^ Elections BC 1988, p. 2.
9. ^ Elections BC 1988, pp. 159, 173.
10. ^ Elections BC 1988, pp. 161–164, 175–180.

Further reading

• An Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871-1986. Victoria: Elections British Columbia. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.
• The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1933. Toronto: The Annual Review Company. 1934.