1960 British Columbia general election

The 1960 British Columbia general election was the 26th 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 August 3, 1960, and held on September 12, 1960. The new legislature met for the first time on January 26, 1961.

1960 British Columbia general election
September 12, 1960
52 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
27 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
CCF
Leader W. A. C. Bennett Robert Strachan
Party Social Credit Co-operative Commonwealth
Leader since 1952 1956
Leader's seat South Okanagan Cowichan-Newcastle
Last election 39 seats, 45.84% 10 seats, 28.32%
Seats won 32 16
Seat change Decrease 7 Increase 6
Popular vote 386,886 326,094
Percentage 38.83% 32.73%
Swing Decrease 7.01pp Increase 4.41pp
  Third party Fourth party
 
BCLP
PC
Leader Ray Perrault Deane Finlayson
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since 1959 1952
Leader's seat North Vancouver Ran in North Vancouver (lost)
Last election 2 seats, 21.77% 0 seats, 3.11%
Seats won 4 0
Seat change Increase 2 Steady 0
Popular vote 208,249 66,943
Percentage 20.90% 6.72%
Swing Decrease 0.87pp Increase 3.61pp
Premier before election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

 Premier after election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

The conservative Social Credit of Premier W.A.C. Bennett was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a fourth term in government despite losing seven percentage points of the popular vote and seven of its seats in the legislature.

The opposition Co-operative Commonwealth Federation increased both its share of the popular vote and its number of seats.

The British Columbia Liberal Party lost a small part of its popular vote, but managed to double its caucus from two to four members.

The Progressive Conservative Party doubled its share of the popular vote to almost 7%, but won no seats in the legislature.

Results
Elections to the 26th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1960)[1]
Political party Party leader MLAs Votes
Candidates 1956 1960 ± # ± % ± (pp)
Social Credit W.A.C. Bennett 5239327Decrease386,88612,175Increase38.837.01Decrease
Co-operative Commonwealth Bob Strachan 5210166Increase326,09494,583Increase32.734.41Increase
Liberal Ray Perrault 50242Increase208,24930,327Increase20.900.87Decrease
Progressive Conservative Deane Finlayson 52–––66,94341,570Increase6.723.61Increase
Labour Tom Uphill –1–1DecreaseRetired
Communist[a 1] 19–––5,6752,294Increase0.570.16Increase
Independent 5–––2,557621Decrease0.250.14Decrease
Total 230 52 52 996,404 100.00%
Rejected ballots[2] 9,8623,220Increase
Actual voters who voted[2] 628,031118,622Increase 71.84%6.41Increase
Registered voters[2] 874,26795,680Increase
  1. Previously known as Labour-Progressive
Seats and popular vote by party[1]
PartySeatsVotesChange (pp)
█ Social Credit
32 / 52
38.83%
 -7.01
 
█ Co-operative Commonwealth
16 / 52
32.73%
 4.41 4.41
 
█ Liberal
4 / 52
20.90%
 -0.87
 
█ Progressive Conservative
0 / 52
6.72%
 3.61 3.61
 
█ Other
0 / 52
0.82%
 -0.14
 


MLAs elected

Synopsis of results
Results by riding - 1960 British Columbia general election (single-member districts)[3]
Riding Winning party Votes
Name 1956 Party Votes Share Margin
#		 Margin
%		 SC CCF Lib PC Comm Ind Total
 
Alberni CCF CCF 4,09345.05%1,12712.40%2,9664,0931,305514207–9,085
Atlin SC CCF 44453.30%17721.25%267444–122––833
Cariboo SC SC 3,09140.90%1,01813.47%3,0911,8422,073552––7,558
Chilliwack SC SC 10,05154.30%5,92832.03%10,0514,1233,1631,173––18,510
Columbia SC SC 1,11542.35%34012.92%1,115775593150––2,633
Comox SC SC 6,10038.63%280.18%6,1006,0722,759653207–15,791
Cowichan-Newcastle CCF CCF 6,26158.68%3,22830.25%3,0336,261–1,206170–10,670
Cranbrook CCF CCF 2,78644.18%1,08617.22%1,7002,7861,475345––6,306
Dewdney SC CCF 12,63743.73%1,9246.66%10,71312,6374,512803233–28,898
Esquimalt SC SC 4,42940.38%1,0469.54%4,4293,3832,165991––10,968
Fernie Lab Lib 1,12636.23%1996.40%9278641,126191––3,108
Fort George SC SC 5,06655.28%2,73029.79%5,0662,3361,416346––9,164
Grand Forks-Greenwood CCF CCF 1,11542.35%36313.79%7521,115564202––2,633
Kamloops SC SC 4,77745.86%1,94918.71%4,7772,8281,4371,374––10,416
Kaslo-Slocan CCF CCF 1,29850.35%56521.92%7331,298303244––2,578
Lillooet SC SC 1,69539.56%3648.50%1,6951,331923336––4,285
Mackenzie CCF CCF 4,95246.44%1,78516.74%3,1674,9522,058487––10,664
Nanaimo and the Islands SC SC 4,59942.34%510.47%4,5994,5481,03660772–10,862
Nelson-Creston SC SC 4,50149.37%1,83720.15%4,5012,6641,222730––9,117
New Westminster CCF CCF 6,49641.25%1,4559.24%5,0416,4962,5191,691––15,747
North Okanagan SC SC 4,55343.01%1,52514.41%4,5533,0281,8171,09891–10,587
North Peace River SC SC 1,65146.21%69319.40%1,651769958114–813,573
Oak Bay Lib Lib 4,55844.46%7787.59%3,7807014,5581,212––10,251
Omineca SC SC 1,63345.88%51414.44%1,6331,119529278––3,559
Prince Rupert SC SC 2,36740.87%2283.94%2,3672,1391,087199––5,792
Revelstoke SC CCF 1,41744.12%47214.70%9451,417585265––3,212
Rossland-Trail SC SC 5,56251.12%3,02627.81%5,5622,5362,034608141–10,881
Saanich SC SC 10,16544.23%3,65315.90%10,1656,5124,4511,78273–22,983
Salmon Arm SC SC 1,97941.75%3126.58%1,9791,667481613––4,740
Similkameen SC SC 4,79746.84%1,64616.07%4,7973,1511,454840––10,242
Skeena SC SC 2,37941.19%2424.19%2,3792,137848411––5,775
South Okanagan SC SC 8,05859.89%5,15638.32%8,0582,9021,2381,256––13,454
South Peace River SC SC 3,13359.39%1,79434.01%3,1331,339303500––5,275
Yale SC SC 1,10331.24%291.82%1,1031,074964390––3,531
      = open seat
      = turnout is above provincial average
      = 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
      = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
      = multiple candidates
    Results by riding - 1956 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts)[3]
    Riding Winning party Votes Voters
    who voted[4]
    Name MLAs 1956 1960 SC CCF Lib PC Comm Ind Total
    Burnaby 2
      2
      2
    		 13,46917,6597,6011,075409– 79,30941,669
    13,39417,5227,1111,069––
    Delta 2
      2
      2
    		 21,01121,8398,5292,2805052,010[a 1] 106,32855,073
    17,29121,5598,5172,159408220
    North Vancouver 2
      2
      2
    		 12,8046,74614,4083,260[a 2]242– 72,33137,901
    12,2766,72013,287[a 3]2,397191–
    Vancouver-Burrard 2
      2
      2
    		 10,6429,5055,7442,61133987 56,38229,534
    10,2319,3335,7151,904271–
    Vancouver Centre 2
      2
      2
    		 8,5166,5303,7261,421420– 40,73321,312
    8,2276,3783,7241,411380–
    Vancouver East 2
      1
      1
      2
    		 16,62225,6105,9061,080718159 99,47951,781
    16,37925,5805,828999598–
    Vancouver-Point Grey 3
      3
      3
    		 24,273[a 4]12,70217,4386,774–– 172,83259,871
    23,95012,15815,1076,453––
    23,58311,53814,8274,029––
    Victoria City 3
      2
      1
      3
    		 9,8644,5987,2782,236–– 65,32922,387
    8,8554,5166,0831,959––
    8,6714,2625,4641,543––
    1. Gordon Lionel Gibson was elected as a Socred MLA in a 1957 byelection.
    2. Deane Finlayson, PC party leader
    3. Gordon Gibson, Sr. had previously been MLA for Lillooet from 1953 to 1955.
    4. Robert Bonner was previously an MLA for the district.
      = winning candidate

    See also

    Further reading
    • Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986 (PDF). Elections BC. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.
    • Saywell, John T., ed. (1961). Canadian Annual Review for 1960. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    References
    1. Elections BC 1988, pp. 265, 275.
    2. Elections BC 1988, pp. 2–3.
    3. Elections BC 1988, pp. 267–271, 277–282.
    4. Elections BC 1988, p. 537.
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