1945 British Columbia general election

1945 British Columbia general election
October 25, 1945
48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia; 25 seats needed for a majority
Premier before election; John Hart; Coalition	Premier after election ; John Hart; Coalition

The 1945 British Columbia general election was the 21st 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 31, 1945, and held on October 25, 1945. The new legislature met for the first time on February 21, 1946.

A centre-right coalition was formed by the Liberal and Conservative (now called the Progressive Conservative) parties in order to defeat the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.

Although the Coalition won fewer votes than the Liberal and Conservative parties won in total in the previous election, the Coalition still won more than half of the votes, captured more than half the seats, and formed a majority government.

Results

Elections to the 21st Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1945)^[1]
Political party		Party leader	MLAs				Votes
Political party		Party leader	Candidates	1941	1945	±	#	±	%	± (pp)
	Coalition	John Hart Royal Maitland	47	32	37	5	261,147	26,979	55.83	7.65
	Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)	Harold Winch	48	14	10	4	175,960	24,520	37.62	4.26
	Labour (all factions)		2	1	1		1,395	5,746	0.30	1.27
	Liberal^[b]		–	1	–	1	–	1,681	–	Changed allegiance
	Labor-Progressive Party (LPP)		21	–	–	–	16,479	16,479	3.52	New
	Social Credit (alliance)		16	–	–	–	6,627	6,627	1.42	New
	People's CCF		2	–	–	–	2,786	2,786	0.60	New
	Independent		2	–	–	–	1,532	106	0.33	0.03
	Independent PC		2	–	–	–	748	748	0.16	New
	Democratic		1	–	–	–	423	423	0.09	New
	Socialist Labor		3	–	–	–	285	398	0.06	0.09
	Independent Liberal		1	–	–	–	199	199	0.04	New
	Socialist		1	–	–	–	105	105	0.02	New
	Progressive Liberal		1	–	–	–	61	61	0.01	New
Total			147	48	48		467,747		100.00%
Rejected ballots^[2]							3,899	898
Actual voters who voted^[2]							298,387	5,514	62.66%	10.07
Registered voters^[2]							476,222	58,383

Seats and popular vote by party^[1]
Party	Seats	Votes	Change (pp)
█ Coalition	37 / 48	55.83%	-7.65
█ Co-operative Commonwealth	10 / 48	37.62%	4.26
█ Labor-Progressive	0 / 48	3.52%	3.52
█ Social Credit	0 / 48	1.42%	1.42
█ Other	1 / 48	1.61%	-1.55

MLAs elected

Alberni: James Mowat

Atlin: William Duncan Smith

Burnaby: Ernest Winch

Cariboo: Louis LeBourdais

Chilliwack: Leslie Harvey Eyres

Columbia: Thomas King

Comox: Herbert John Welch

Cowichan-Newcastle: Samuel Guthrie

Cranbrook: Frank William Green

Delta: Alexander Campbell Hope

Dewdney: Roderick Charles MacDonald

Esquimalt: Charles Taschereau Beard

Fernie: Thomas Aubert Uphill (ILP)

Fort George: John McInnis

Grand Forks-Greenwood: Thomas Alfred Love

Kamloops: Robert Henry Carson

Kaslo-Slocan: Randolph Harding

Lillooet: Ernest Crawford Carson

Mackenzie: Herbert Gargrave

Nanaimo and the Islands: George Sharratt Pearson

Nelson-Creston: Frank Putnam

New Westminster: Boss Johnson

North Okanagan: K. C. MacDonald^[c]

North Vancouver: John Henry Cates

Oak Bay: Herbert Anscomb

Omineca: Edward Fraser Rowland

Peace River: Joseph Hardcastle Corsbie

Prince Rupert: William Henry Brett

Revelstoke: William James Johnson

Rossland-Trail: James Lockhart Webster

Saanich: Norman William Whittaker

Salmon Arm: Arthur Brown Ritchie

Similkameen: Reginald Robert Laird

Skeena: Edward Tourtellotte Kenney

South Okanagan: W. A. C. Bennett

Vancouver-Burrard: Donald Cameron Brown

Vancouver-Burrard: George Moir Weir

Vancouver Centre: Allan James McDonell

Vancouver Centre: Gordon Sylvester Wismer

Vancouver East: Arthur James Turner

Vancouver East: Harold Winch

Vancouver-Point Grey: Royal Maitland

Vancouver-Point Grey: James Alexander Paton

Vancouver-Point Grey: Tilly Rolston

Victoria City: John Hart

Victoria City: Nancy Hodges

Victoria City: William Thomas Straith

Yale: John J. Gillis

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1945 British Columbia general election (single-member districts)^[3]
Riding	Winning party								Votes
Name	1941		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %	Coal	CCF	LPP	SC	Ind	Oth	Total
Name	1941		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %							Total

Alberni		Lib		Coal	2,135	54.02%	877	22.19%	2,135	1,258	559	–	–	–	3,952
Atlin		Lib		Coal	297	50.42%	5	0.84%	297	292	–	–	–	–	589
Burnaby		CCF		CCF	5,905	50.56%	1,172	10.04%	4,733	5,905	744	298	–	–	11,680
Cariboo		Lib		Coal	1,370	57.93%	375	15.86%	1,370	995	–	–	–	–	2,365
Chilliwack		Con		Coal	3,804	62.37%	1,509	24.74%	3,804	2,295	–	–	–	–	6,099
Columbia		Lib		Coal	671	53.30%	83	6.60%	671	588	–	–	–	–	1,259
Comox		CCF		Coal	3,432	45.62%	70	0.93%	3,432	3,362	729	–	–	–	7,523
Cowichan-Newcastle		CCF		CCF	3,768	55.33%	726	10.66%	3,042	3,768	–	–	–	–	6,810
Cranbrook		Con		Coal	2,077	49.04%	112	2.64%	2,077	1,965	193	–	–	–	4,235
Delta		CCF		Coal	5,859	53.64%	796	7.28%	5,859	5,063	–	–	–	–	10,922
Dewdney		Con		Coal	4,586	53.71%	633	7.42%	4,586	3,953	–	–	–	–	8,539
Esquimalt		Con		Coal	2,568	56.35%	579	12.70%	2,568	1,989	–	–	–	–	4,557
Fernie		Lab		Lab	1,289	42.28%	271	8.89%	1,018	742	–	–	–	1,289	3,049
Fort George		Lib		CCF	1,726	55.73%	355	11.46%	1,371	1,726	–	–	–	–	3,097
Grand Forks-Greenwood		Con		Coal	707	52.06%	246	18.11%	707	461	84	–	–	106	1,358
Kamloops		Lib		Coal	2,804	57.78%	911	18.77%	2,804	1,893	156	–	–	–	4,853
Kaslo-Slocan		Lib		CCF	1,098	53.12%	129	6.24%	969	1,098	–	–	–	–	2,067
Lillooet		Con		Coal	1,143	51.42%	320	14.40%	1,143	823	–	196	–	61	2,233
Mackenzie		CCF		CCF	2,961	52.19%	648	11.42%	2,313	2,961	293	106	–	–	5,673
Nanaimo and the Islands		Lib		Coal	3,124	54.24%	577	10.02%	3,124	2,547	–	89	–	–	5,760
Nelson-Creston		Lib		Coal	3,055	58.59%	1,806	34.64%	3,055	1,249	–	–	184	726	5,214
New Westminster		Lib		Coal	4,900	57.91%	1,933	22.85%	4,900	2,967	595	–	–	–	8,462
North Okanagan		Lib		Coal	2,990	59.78%	1,408	28.15%	2,990	1,582	–	430	–	–	5,002
North Vancouver		CCF		Coal	5,912	54.20%	1,842	16.89%	5,912	4,070	646	280	–	–	10,908
Oak Bay		Con		Coal	4,598	82.31%	3,610	64.62%	4,598	988	–	–	–	–	5,586
Omineca		Lib		CCF	932	51.58%	57	3.16%	875	932	–	–	–	–	1,807
Peace River		Lib		CCF	1,682	47.85%	565	16.07%	1,117	1,682	–	716	–	–	3,515
Prince Rupert		Lib		CCF	1,873	49.83%	525	13.97%	–	1,873	538	–	1,348	–	3,759
Revelstoke		Lib		Coal	1,089	51.17%	50	2.34%	1,089	1,039	–	–	–	–	2,128
Rossland-Trail		CCF		Coal	3,171	49.35%	1,111	17.29%	3,171	933	–	261	–	2,060	6,425
Saanich		Lib		Coal	5,414	57.85%	1,983	21.19%	5,414	3,431	239	–	–	275	9,359
Salmon Arm		Con		Coal	1,560	60.00%	520	20.00%	1,560	1,040	–	–	–	–	2,600
Similkameen		CCF		Coal	3,447	57.09%	856	14.18%	3,447	2,591	–	–	–	–	6,038
Skeena		Lib		Coal	901	58.7%	267	17.40%	901	634	–	–	–	–	1,535
South Okanagan		Con		Coal	3,706	64.25%	1,644	28.50%	3,706	2,062	–	–	–	–	5,768
Yale		Lib		Coal	1,077	66.77%	541	33.54%	1,077	536	–	–	–	–	1,613

= 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

= multiple candidates

Results by riding - 1945 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts)^[3]
Riding		Winning party		Votes
Name	MLAs	1941	1945	Coal	CCF	LPP	SC	Ind	Oth	Total
Name	MLAs	1941	1945							Total
Vancouver-Burrard	2	2	2	29,649	20,221	2,030	1,219	–	107	53,226
Vancouver Centre	2	2	2	21,854	15,000	3,967	959	–	426	42,206
Vancouver East	2	2	2	18,980	25,721	2,798	705	–	56	48,260
Vancouver-Point Grey	3	3	3	67,276	26,859	2,472	625	–	423	97,655
Victoria City	3	3	3	31,553	16,866	436	743	–	473	50,071

Notes

↑ The Liberals and Conservatives ran separately in the 1941 election. In that election, the Liberals won 21 seats and the Conservatives won 12 seats.
↑ Duff Pattullo was the sole Liberal that chose not to join the Coalition, and Prince Rupert was the only district where the Coalition did not field a candidate in 1945. Pattullo stood as an Independent in this election.
↑ Died before the opening of the new legislature. Charles William Morrow would win the subsequent byelection for the Coalition.

References

1 2 Elections BC 1988, pp. 193, 203.
1 2 3 Elections BC 1988, p. 2.
1 2 Elections BC 1988, pp. 195–199, 205–209.

[Coalition-1] The Liberals and Conservatives ran separately in the 1941 election. In that election, the Liberals won 21 seats and the Conservatives won 12 seats.

[3] Duff Pattullo was the sole Liberal that chose not to join the Coalition, and Prince Rupert was the only district where the Coalition did not field a candidate in 1945. Pattullo stood as an Independent in this election.

[5] Died before the opening of the new legislature. Charles William Morrow would win the subsequent byelection for the Coalition.

[FOOTNOTEElections_BC1988193,_203-2] 1 2 Elections BC 1988, pp. 193, 203.

[FOOTNOTEElections_BC19882-4] 1 2 3 Elections BC 1988, p. 2.

[FOOTNOTEElections_BC1988195–199,_205–209-6] 1 2 Elections BC 1988, pp. 195–199, 205–209.

[a]

[1]

[b]

[2]

[c]

[3]