The 1937 British Columbia general election was the nineteenth 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 April 14, 1937, and held on June 1, 1937. The new legislature met for the first time on October 26, 1937.

The governing Liberal Party, despite winning only 37% of the popular vote, benefited from the split in the opposition vote between the Conservative Party and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. Liberals won a solid majority of the seats in the legislature with barely more than a third of the votes cast.

The rift in the Conservative Party that led to its decision not to nominate candidates in the 1933 election had been resolved, and the party was able to form the official opposition.

The Conservatives and CCF each won about 29% of the vote, and only 8 seats and 7 seats, respectively (they were each due about 14 based on their vote share). Two other seats were won by an Independent and a Labour party candidate.

Health insurance plebiscite In 1936, the Legislature passed an Act providing for the creation of a health insurance plan for the Province. This was 26 years ahead of its introduction in Saskatchewan in 1962. The medical profession resisted its implementation to such a degree that a plebiscite was held on the same day as the election.

The question asked was, "Are you in favour of a comprehensive Health Insurance plan progressively applied?" The results were as follows:

+ 1937 health insurance plebisciteType of voteYesNoTotalOrdinary and absentee votes 143,218 98,946 242,164Yes or No written on the ballot 4,613 4,687 9,300Total 147,831 103,633 251,464Percentage 58.79% 41.21% 100.00%Electoral districts carried 42 6 48

Despite the majority in favour, the legislation was never brought into force, but it would not be repealed until 1973. Medicare was finally introduced after the 1967 passage of the Medical Services Act.

Results

! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MLAs ! colspan=4 | Votes |- ! Candidates !1933Assembly was increased mid-term by the division of Columbia-Revelstoke, thus reviving the previous districts of Columbia and Revelstoke. !1937 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp)

|style="text-align:left;" |Duff Pattullo | 48 || 35 || 31 || 4 || 156,074 || 3,057 || 37.34 || 4.40 Compared to the 1933 aggregate of all Conservative factions. |style="text-align:left;" |Frank Porter Patterson | 43 || 4 || 8 || 4 || 119,521 || 54,278 || 28.60 || 11.48 |- |rowspan="3" |   |style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|CCF split |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;" |NoneCCF leader Robert Connell was expelled from the party over doctrinal differences. | 46 || 7 || 7 || || 119,400 || 785 || 28.57 || 2.96 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;" |Robert Connell | 14 || – || – || – || 8,086 || 8,086 || 1.93 ||New

| || 11 || 1 || 1 || || 7,341 || 18,317 || 1.76 || 4.97 (all factions) | || 2 || 1 || 1 || || 1,787 || 570 || 0.43 || 0.19

|style="text-align:left;" |Andrew Henry Jukes | 18 || – || – || – || 4,812 || 4,812 || 1.15 ||New

| || 1 || – || – || – || 567 || 567 || 0.14 ||New |- |style="background:red" |   |style="text-align:left;" | Socialist Party of Canada | || 2 || – || – || – || 287 || 287 || 0.07 ||Returned

| || 1 || – || – || – || 54 || 54 || 0.01 ||New |- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total | 186 | 48 ! colspan="2"| 48 ! colspan="2"|417,929 ! colspan="2"| 100.00% |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Rejected ballots | 4,143 ||763 | colspan="2"| |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Actual voters who voted | 265,446 ||29,031 | 71.20% || 1.87 |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Registered voters | 372,781 ||49,241 | colspan="2"|

+ Seats and popular vote by party Party Seats Votes Change (pp) (all factions)

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results + Results by riding - 1937 British Columbia general election (single-member districts) Riding Winning party VotesName 1933Party Votes Share Margin#Margin% Lib Con CCF Total   Alberni-Nanaimo Lib Lib 3,616 44.34% 487 5.98% 3,616 1,014 3,129James Lyle Telford was nominated by the local CCF Club, but suspended and repudiated by provincial Executive 397 – – – 8,156 Atlin Lib Lib 562 54.56% 299 29.03% 562 205 263 – – – – 1,030 Burnaby CCF CCF 5,908 44.03% 2,529 18.85% 3,379 2,307 5,908 644 136 1,073 – 13,417 Cariboo Lib Lib 1,921 74.57% 1,266 49.14% 1,921 – – – – 655 – 2,576 Chilliwack Lib Con 2,524 40.08% 304 4.83% 2,220 2,524 1,554 – – – – 6,298 Columbia Lib Lib 921 57.06% 550 34.07% 921 371 322 – – – – 1,614 Comox Lib CCF 2,336 44.83% 460 8.83% 1,876 999 2,336 – – – – 5,211 Cowichan-Newcastle OG CCF 1,560 33.58% 336 7.23% 1,224 639 1,560 – – 1,222 – 4,645 Cranbrook Lib Lib 3,110 76.73% 2,167 53.46% 3,110 – 943 – – – – 4,053 Delta CCF CCF 3,192 32.93% 90 0.92% 3,102 2,815 3,192 583 – – – 9,692 Dewdney Lib Con 1,870 39.27% 252 5.29% 1,618 1,870 1,274 – – – – 4,762 Esquimalt Un Con 1,642 41.60% 226 5.72% 1,416 1,642 765 – 57 67 – 3,947 Fernie ILP ILP 1,701 53.64% 231 7.28% 1,470 – – – – – 1,701 3,171 Fort George Lib Lib 1,493 51.54% 323 11.15% 1,493 234 1,170 – – – – 2,897 Grand Forks-Greenwood Lib Lib 722 41.93% 19 1.11% 722 703 164 133 – – – 1,722 The Islands Lib Con 953 45.12% 259 12.26% 694 953 414 – 51 – – 2,112 Kamloops Lib Lib 1,786 38.89% 325 7.07% 1,786 1,461 1,345 – – – – 4,592 Kaslo-Slocan Lib Lib 1,064 38.86% 135 4.93% 1,064 715 929 – 30 – – 2,738 Lillooet Lib Lib 1,176 39.78% 251 8.49% 1,176 925 855 – – – – 2,956 Mackenzie CCF Lib 1,828 33.93% 167 3.10% 1,828 1,661 1,625 152 122 – – 5,388 Nelson-Creston Lib Lib 2,149 39.17% 248 4.52% 2,149 1,901 1,121 – 177 139 – 5,487 New Westminster Lib Lib 4,055 52.02% 2,289 29.36% 4,055 1,766 1,321 – – – 653 7,795 North Okanagan Lib Lib 2,689 52.64% 970 18.99% 2,689 1,719 700 – – – – 5,108 North Vancouver CCF CCF 2,749 32.23% 363 4.25% 1,847 1,522 2,749 – – 2,411 – 8,529 Omineca Lib Lib 1,013 50.90% 230 11.55% 1,013 194 783 – – – – 1,990 Peace River NP Lib 1,168 42.61% 263 9.59% 1,168 434 905 – – 234 – 2,741 Prince Rupert Lib Lib 1,446 49.55% 650 22.27% 1,446 662 796 – 14 – – 2,918 Revelstoke Lib Lib 1,162 61.16% 629 33.11% 1,162 533 205 – – – – 1,900 Rossland-Trail Lib Lib 1,877 46.70% 626 15.57% 1,877 1,251 891 – – – – 4,019Saanich Lib Lib 2,106 36.14% 447 7.67% 2,106 1,659 1,531 224 271 37 – 5,828 Salmon Arm NP Ind 1,533 48.33% 649 20.46% 884 – 755 – – 1,533supported and endorsed by SCP – 3,172 Similkameen Lib Lib 2,266 43.55% 136 2.61% 2,266 2,130 807 – – – – 5,203 Skeena Lib Lib 1,006 59.74% 328 19.48% 1,006 – 678 – – – – 1,684 South Okanagan Lib Lib 2,388 45.02% 287 5.41% 2,388 2,101 815 – – – – 5,304 Yale Lib Lib 968 59.94% 546 33.81% 968 225 422 – – – – 1,615

= 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 - 1937 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts) Riding Winning party VotesNameMLAs 19331937 Lib Con CCF Total Vancouver-Burrard2 16,903 13,503 14,423 765 581 – 54 46,229 Vancouver Centre2 12,821 8,261 11,461 891 922 – 234 34,590 Vancouver East2 10,314 5,914 23,102 1,146 389 – 53 40,918 Vancouver-Point Grey3 27,243 29,134 18,589 – 1,001 – – 75,967 Victoria City4 26,571 25,574 9,598 3,151 1,061 – – 65,955

See also List of British Columbia political parties

Notes

References

Further reading