1941 British Columbia general election

The 1941 British Columbia general election was the twentieth 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 9, 1941, and held on October 21, 1941.

1941 British Columbia general election
October 21, 1941
48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
25 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
CCF
Leader John Hart[lower-alpha 1] Harold Winch Royal Lethington Maitland
Party Liberal Co-operative Commonwealth Conservative
Leader since 1928 1938 1938
Leader's seat Victoria City Vancouver East Vancouver-Point Grey
Last election 31 7 8
Seats won 21 14 12
Seat change Decrease10 Increase7 Increase4
Popular vote 149,525 151,440 140,282
Percentage 32.94% 33.36% 30.91%
Swing Decrease4.40pp Increase4.79pp Increase2.31pp
Premier before election

Duff Pattullo
Liberal

 Premier after election

John Hart
Coalition

After the election, a Coalition government was formed by the Conservative and Liberal members. Liberal Party leader Thomas Dufferin Pattullo objected, stepped down, and sat as a Liberal, giving the Coalition thirty two seats.

1938 redistribution of ridings

An Act was passed in 1938 providing for a rearrangement of certain seats in the Assembly, maintaining the total at 48, upon the next election.[1] The following changes were made:

Abolished ridingsNew ridings
Reorganization of districts
  • Alberni-Nanaimo
  • The Islands
Division of district
  • Victoria City (4 MLAs)
  • Oak Bay
  • Victoria City (3 MLAs)

    Results
    Elections to the 20th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1941)[2]
    Political party Party leader MLAs Votes
    Candidates 1937 1941 ± # ± % ± (pp)
      Coalition
    █ Liberal John Hart[lower-alpha 2] 47312011Decrease147,8448,230Decrease32.574.77Decrease
    █ Conservative Royal Maitland 438124Increase140,28220,761Increase30.912.31Increase
    Coalition total 327Decrease288,12612,531Increase63.482.46Decrease
    Co-operative Commonwealth Harold Winch 457147Increase151,44032,040Increase33.364.79Increase
    Liberal 1–11Increase1,6811,681Increase0.37Not part of Coalition
    Labour (all factions) 611Steady7,1415,354Increase1.571.14Increase
    Official Conservative[lower-alpha 3] 1–––2,1612,161Increase0.48New
    Independent 41–1Decrease1,6385,703Decrease0.361.40Decrease
    Socialist Labour 4–––683683Increase0.15New
    Independent Farmer 1–––388388Increase0.09New
    Emancipation 1–––265265Increase0.06New
    Victory Without Debt 1–––209209Increase0.05New
    Religious Political Brotherhood 1–––105105Increase0.02New
    Independent Socialist 1–––5656Increase0.01Returned
    Total 156 48 48 453,893 100.00%
    Rejected ballots[3] 4,797654Increase
    Actual voters who voted[3] 303,90138,455Increase 72.73%1.53Increase
    Registered voters[3] 417,83945,058Increase
      Seats and popular vote by party[2]
      PartySeatsVotesChange (pp)
      █ Coalition
      32 / 48
      63.48%
      		 -2.46
       
      █ Co-operative Commonwealth
      14 / 48
      33.36%
      		 4.79 4.79
       
      █ Social Constructive
      0 / 48
      0%
      		 -1.93
       
      █ Social Credit League
      0 / 48
      0%
      		 -1.15
       
      █ Other
      2 / 48
      3.16%
      		 0.75 0.75
       

      MLAs elected

      Synopsis of results
      Results by riding - 1941 British Columbia general election (single-member districts)[4]
      Riding Winning party Votes
      Name 1937 Party Votes Share Margin
      #      		 Margin
      %      		 Lib Con CCF Ind Oth Total
       
      Alberni New Lib 2,06749.17%1643.90%2,067–1,903–2344,204
      Atlin Lib Lib 45454.83%809.66%454–––374828
      Burnaby CCF CCF 6,44449.50%2,68220.60%3,7622,7076,444–10513,018
      Cariboo Lib Lib 1,42950.16%1,00835.38%1,429421338661–2,849
      Chilliwack Con Con 2,70437.78%600.84%2,6442,7041,810––7,158
      Columbia Lib Lib 64842.66%16110.60%648384487––1,519
      Comox CCF CCF 3,12645.31%96814.03%2,1581,6153,126––6,899
      Cowichan-Newcastle CCF CCF 2,75747.22%1,01817.44%1,7391,3432,757––5,839
      Cranbrook Lib Con 1,61535.35%671.46%1,4051,6151,548––4,568
      Delta CCF CCF 5,15342.29%1,59913.12%3,5543,4785,153––12,185
      Dewdney Con Con 2,99537.13%4565.65%2,5322,9952,539––8,066
      Esquimalt Con Con 1,55440.42%2065.36%1,3481,554943––3,845
      Fernie ILP ILP 1,71953.39%50515.69%1,214–287–1,7193,220
      Fort George Lib Lib 1,33451.15%40615.57%1,334346928––2,608
      Grand Forks-Greenwood Lib Con 64239.05%50.30%637642365––1,644
      Kamloops Lib Lib 1,93340.14%2214.59%1,9331,1381,71214194,816
      Kaslo-Slocan Lib Lib 94142.18%1878.38%941754536––2,231
      Lillooet Lib Con 1,01738.39%1766.64%7911,017841––2,649
      Mackenzie Lib CCF 2,90945.75%83013.05%2,0791,3702,909––6,358
      Nanaimo and the Islands New Lib 2,17543.52%56011.21%2,1751,2081,615––4,998
      Nelson-Creston Lib Lib 2,14433.46%40.25%2,1442,1402,124––6,408
      New Westminster Lib Lib 3,69441.74%1,30714.77%3,6941,9232,387–8458,849
      North Okanagan Lib Lib 2,50842.52%1883.19%2,5082,3201,071––5,899
      North Vancouver CCF CCF 4,20940.37%1,26412.13%2,945[a 1]1,056[a 2]4,209–2,217[a 3]10,427
      Oak Bay New Con 2,67655.88%1,15624.14%1,5202,676593––4,789
      Omineca Lib Lib 83949.50%28516.82%839302554––1,695
      Peace River Lib Lib 1,43651.16%45316.14%1,436–983–3882,807
      Prince Rupert Lib Lib 1,68151.82%1183.64%1,681–1,563––3,244
      Revelstoke Lib Lib 1,06549.08%38717.84%1,065427678––2,170
      Rossland-Trail Lib CCF 3,62149.40%1,73823.71%1,7891,8833,621–377,330
      Saanich Lib Lib 3,01736.17%780.93%3,0172,9392,385––8,341
      Salmon Arm Ind Con 1,56160.22%99838.50%4681,561563––2,592
      Similkameen Lib CCF 2,60141.16%63610.06%1,9651,7532,601––6,319
      Skeena Lib Lib 87761.89%33723.78%877540–––1,417
      South Okanagan Lib Con 2,00937.69%2404.50%1,7692,0091,552––5,330
      Yale Lib Lib 1,14865.08%53230.16%1,148616–––1,764
      1. Francis Walker was previously an MLA in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
      2. Joshua Hinchcliffe had previously been an MLA for Victoria City
      3. A.H. Bayne, the Official Conservative candidate supported by the Conservative Party, received 2,161 votes
        = 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 party
        = multiple candidates
      Results by riding - 1941 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts)[4]
      Riding Winning party Votes
      Name MLAs 1937 1941 Lib Con CCF Ind Oth Total
      Vancouver-Burrard 2
        2
        2
      		 14,78116,56418,998–26750,610
      Vancouver Centre 2
        2
        2
      		 13,72312,52314,805–60241,653
      Vancouver East 2
        2
        2
      		 9,4957,33223,328–3,93644,091
      Vancouver-Point Grey 3
        2
        1
        3
      		 29,04642,40023,448–26595,159
      Victoria City 3
        2
        2
        3
      		 18,77114,0279,736963–43,497

      See also

      Notes
      1. Took over as party leader and Premier after Duff Pattullo refused to be part of the new Coalition.
      2. Duff Pattullo stepped aside as party leader and Premier, after refusing to participate in the formation of the Coalition. He would remain as a Liberal outside that group as MLA for Prince Rupert. 1941 Liberal numbers are adjusted to reflect the departure.
      3. Joshua Hinchcliffe was nominated by the North Vancouver Conservative Association, but when he disagreed with the party's road policy, he was repudiated by Maitland. A group called the Conservative Active Club nominated A. H. Bayne who received the party's support. Bayne, however, could not run as a Conservative since Hinchcliffe's nomination papers had already been filed.

      References
      1. Constitution Act Amendment Act, 1938, S.B.C. 1938, c. 8
      2. Elections BC 1988, pp. 173, 183.
      3. Elections BC 1988, p. 2.
      4. Elections BC 1988, pp. 175–180, 185–189.

      Sources
      • Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986 (PDF). Elections BC. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.
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