1966 British Columbia general election

The 1966 British Columbia general election was the 28th 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 5, 1966 and held on September 12, 1966. The new legislature met for the first time on January 24, 1967.

1966 British Columbia general election
September 12, 1966
55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
28 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
NDP
BCLP
Leader W. A. C. Bennett Robert Strachan Ray Perrault
Party Social Credit New Democratic Liberal
Leader since 1952 1956 1959
Leader's seat South Okanagan Cowichan-Malahat North Vancouver-Capilano
Last election 33 seats, 40.83% 14 seats, 27.80% 5 seats, 19.98%
Seats won 33 16 6
Seat change Steady 0 Increase 2 Increase 1
Popular vote 342,751 252,753 152,155
Percentage 45.59% 33.62% 20.24%
Swing Increase 4.76pp Increase 5.82pp Increase 0.26pp
Premier before election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

 Premier after election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

The conservative Social Credit Party was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a sixth term in government. It increased its share of the popular vote by close to five percentage points to over 45%, and winning the same number of seats (33) as in the previous election.

The opposition New Democratic Party also increased its share of the popular vote by over five percentage points, but won only two additional seats.

The Liberal Party won about 20% of the popular vote, and one additional seat, for a total of six.

The Progressive Conservative Party was virtually wiped out: it nominated only three candidates (down from 44 in the previous election), and its share of the popular vote fell from over 11% to a negligible amount.

1966 redistribution of ridings

An Act was passed in 1966 providing for an increase of seats from 52 to 55, upon the next election.[1]The following changes were made:

Abolished ridingsNew ridings
Renaming of districts
  • Columbia
  • Columbia River
  • Salmon Arm
  • Shuswap
Reduction of multi-member district
  • Victoria City (3 MLAs)
  • Victoria City (2 MLAs)
Merger of districts
  • Cranbrook
  • Fernie
  • Kootenay
  • Grand Forks-Greenwood
  • Similkameen
  • Boundary-Similkameen
  • Kaslo-Slocan
  • Revelstoke
  • Revelstoke-Slocan
  • Lillooet
  • Yale
  • Yale-Lillooet
Reorganization of districts
  • Cowichan-Malahat
  • Nanaimo
  • Saanich and the Islands
Division of districts
  • Burnaby (2 MLAs)
  • Burnaby-Edmonds
  • Burnaby North
  • Burnaby-Willingdon
  • Delta (2 MLAs)
  • Delta
  • Langley
  • Surrey
  • Dewdney
  • Coquitlam
  • Dewdney
  • North Vancouver (2 MLAs)
  • North Vancouver-Capilano
  • North Vancouver-Seymour
  • West Vancouver-Howe Sound

    Results
    Elections to the 28th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1966)[2]
    Political party Party leader MLAs Votes
    Candidates 1963 1966 ± # ± % ± (pp)
    Social Credit W.A.C. Bennett 553333Steady342,75152,328Decrease45.594.76Increase
    New Democratic Bob Strachan 5514162Increase252,75316,251Decrease33.625.82Increase
    Liberal Ray Perrault 53561Increase152,15541,208Decrease20.240.26Increase
    Progressive Conservative 3–––1,409107,681Decrease0.1811.09Decrease
    Communist 6–––1,097248Increase0.140.05Increase
    Independent 6–––1,7111,421Increase0.230.20Increase
    Total 178 52 55 751,876 100.00%
    Rejected ballots[3] 7,056924Increase
    Actual voters who voted[3] 596,71611,956Decrease 68.28%1.43Decrease
    Registered voters[3] 873,927787Increase
      Seats and popular vote by party[2]
      PartySeatsVotesChange (pp)
      █ Social Credit
      33 / 55
      45.59%
      		 4.76 4.76
       
      █ New Democratic
      16 / 55
      33.62%
      		 5.82 5.82
       
      █ Liberal
      6 / 55
      20.24%
      		 0.26 0.26
       
      █ Progressive Conservative
      0 / 55
      0.18%
      		 -11.09
       
      █ Other
      0 / 55
      0.37%
      		 0.25 0.25
       

      MLAs elected

      Synopsis of results
      Results by riding - 1966 British Columbia general election (single-member districts)[4]
      Riding Winning party Votes
      Name 1963 Party Votes Share Margin
      #      		 Margin
      %      		 SC NDP Lib PC Comm Ind Total
       
      Alberni NDP SC 6,03955.55%1,71815.80%6,0394,321511–––10,871
      Atlin NDP NDP 57259.71%31132.47%261572125–––958
      Boundary-Similkameen New SC 6,54755.44%2,87824.37%6,5473,6691,594–––11,810
      Burnaby-Edmonds New NDP 5,74848.71%1,1189.48%4,6305,7481,423–––11,801
      Burnaby North New NDP 6,98449.72%1,87913.38%5,1056,9841,957–––14,046
      Burnaby-Willingdon New NDP 6,15344.47%5243.78%5,6296,1532,053–––13,835
      Cariboo SC SC 3,83054.10%1,30018.36%3,8302,530719–––7,079
      Chilliwack SC SC 7,70363.17%4,62237.91%7,7033,0811,411–––12,195
      Columbia River SC SC 1,56358.45%92934.74%1,563477634–––2,674
      Comox SC SC 5,44949.39%1,14010.34%5,4494,3091,276–––11,033
      Coquitlam New NDP 9,51755.20%3,45220.02%6,0659,5171,658–––17,240
      Cowichan-Malahat New NDP 5,64652.08%1,23411.38%4,4125,646783–––10,841
      Delta New SC 7,76846.46%1,69010.11%7,7686,0781,954921––16,721
      Dewdney NDP SC 6,50753.42%1,97916.25%6,5074,5281,146–––12,181
      Esquimalt SC SC 6,07553.35%2,63023.10%6,0753,4451,867–––11,387
      Fort George SC SC 6,28260.42%3,48033.47%6,2822,8021,313–––10,397
      Kamloops SC SC 5,75352.35%2,51622.90%5,7533,2372,000–––10,990
      Kootenay New NDP 3,60540.98%5356.09%3,0703,6052,123–––8,798
      Langley New SC 7,20658.28%3,30726.75%7,2063,8991,260–––12,365
      Mackenzie NDP SC 4,94552.68%1,35914.47%4,9453,586855–––9,386
      Nanaimo New NDP 5,62547.99%450.38%5,5805,625516–––11,721
      Nelson-Creston SC SC 4,68359.29%2,35929.87%4,6832,324892–––7,899
      New Westminster NDP NDP 5,75144.65%1991.54%5,5525,7511,577–––12,880
      North Okanagan SC SC 3,84148.59%1,43318.13%3,8411,5352,408––1217,905
      North Peace River SC SC 1,79948.44%1,21632.74%1,799511565––839[a 1]3,714
      North Vancouver-Capilano New Lib 6,42651.49%2,45019.63%3,9761,8166,426261––12,479
      North Vancouver-Seymour New Lib 5,30139.61%6945.18%4,6073,1375,301227110–13,382
      Oak Bay Lib Lib 8,11854.48%2,31015.51%5,8089768,118–––14,902
      Omineca SC SC 2,33770.16%1,34340.32%2,337994––––3,331
      Prince Rupert SC SC 2,64752.90%83416.67%2,6471,813544–––5,004
      Revelstoke-Slocan New NDP 2,15844.67%1382.86%2,0202,158548––1054,831
      Richmond New SC 6,52143.33%3722.48%6,5216,1492,381–––15,051
      Rossland-Trail SC SC 5,60055.93%3,14731.43%5,6002,4531,960–––10,013
      Saanich and the Islands New SC 7,23750.05%3,41623.62%7,2373,8213,401–––14,459
      Shuswap SC SC 3,99554.07%1,40018.95%3,9952,595760–39–7,389
      Skeena SC SC 3,04655.39%1,30423.71%3,0461,742711–––5,499
      South Okanagan SC SC 8,74773.15%6,81156.96%8,7471,9361,274–––11,957
      South Peace River SC SC 2,58559.78%1,69739.24%2,585851888–––4,324
      Surrey New NDP 7,03948.20%7855.38%6,2547,0391,234–77–14,604
      West Vancouver-Howe Sound New Lib 8,34652.76%2,84718.00%5,4991,9758,346–––15,820
      Yale-Lillooet New NDP 3,88555.37%75410.74%3,1313,885––––7,016
      1. Jacob Francis Huhn, previously elected as the Socred incumbent, received 583 votes.
        = 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
        = multiple candidates
      Results by riding - 1966 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts)[4]
      Riding Winning party Votes
      Name MLAs 1963 1966 SC NDP Lib PC Comm Ind Total
      Vancouver-Burrard 2
        2
        2
      		 7,5849,8493,190––– 40,386
      7,5849,4982,681–––
      Vancouver Centre 2
        2
        2
      		 8,1577,2574,147–253144 38,570
      7,9386,8713,803–––
      Vancouver East 2
        2
        2
      		 8,64412,5021,637–377– 45,521
      8,59312,1851,583–––
      Vancouver-Little Mountain 2New
        2
      		 12,380[a 1]8,6204,681––– 50,040
      11,5668,5234,270–––
      Vancouver-Point Grey 2
        2
        1
        2
      		 11,4942,93417,400––– 57,472
      9,2842,85313,507–––
      Vancouver South 2New
        2
      		 12,259[a 2]9,0675,698––502 53,784
      11,740[a 3]8,8435,675–––
      Victoria City 2
        3
        2
      		 13,0685,3044,774–241– 45,315
      12,1565,1754,597–––
      1. Leslie Peterson was previously MLA in Vancouver Centre
      2. Ralph Raymond Loffmark was previously MLA in Vancouver-Point Grey.
      3. Thomas Audley Bate was MLA in Vancouver-Point Grey during 1953-1963.
        = winning candidate

      See also

      Further reading
      • Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986 (PDF). Elections BC. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.
      • Saywell, John, ed. (1967). Canadian Annual Review for 1966. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

      References
      1. Constitution Act Amendment Act, 1966, S.B.C. 1966, c. 11
      2. Elections BC 1988, pp. 285, 293.
      3. Elections BC 1988, pp. 2–3.
      4. Elections BC 1988, pp. 287–292, 295–299.
      This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.