1920 British Columbia general election

The legislature of British Columbia in session, 1921

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 was able to hold 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.^[1]

Results

1. nominated and won in both Delta and Victoria City. He would opt to resign from the Delta seat.
2. 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).
3. Includes candidates not directly nominated, but supported by, the Federated Labour Party.
4. Includes John Henry Burrough, a Labour candidate in Prince Rupert running on a Socialist Party platform.
5. Soldier-Farmer candidates ran in rural Districts (five candidates, 3361 votes) and Soldier-Labour candidates ran in urban ones (six candidates, 7419 votes).
6. Some GAUV candidates ran on a joint Soldier-Labour ticket.

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results

1. Candidates in Esquimalt, New Westminster and Saanich were Soldier-Labour; others were Soldier-Farmer
2. The 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.
3. The 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.

  = 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

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties

Further reading

• An Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871-1986 (PDF). Victoria: Elections British Columbia. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.
• In the Sea of Sterile Mountains: The Chinese in British Columbia, Joseph Morton, J.J. Douglas, Vancouver (1974). Despite its title, a fairly thorough account of the politicians and electoral politics in early BC.
• Hopkins, J. Castell (1921). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1920. Toronto: The Canadian Review Company.

Notes and references

Notes

1. Oliver was also elected as member for Delta, but chose to resign from that seat.

References

1. Women's Right to Vote in Canada
2. Elections BC 1988, pp. 123, 139.
3. Elections BC 1988, pp. 125–128, 141–144.