The 1909 British Columbia general election was the twelfth general election for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on October 20, 1909, and held on November 25, 1909. The new legislature met for the first time on January 20, 1910.

The governing Conservative Party won its third consecutive term in government with over half of the popular vote and all but four of the 42 seats in the legislature, effectively a rout for the popular incumbent Premier, Sir Richard McBride.

Ten days after the dissolution of the Legislature, James Alexander MacDonald announced his retirement from the leadership of the Liberal Party to become Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court, and John Oliver was selected to take his place. Despite winning almost one-third of the popular vote, the Liberals won only two seats, the same number won by the Socialist Party with only 11.5% of the vote.

The first-past-the-post allocation of seats, combined with the multi-member constituencies in effect at the time, ensured that the Conservatives won with a lead of 34 seats, instead of only a lead of two seats that its proportion of the popular vote should have granted it.

Two candidates campaigned in multiple ridings. McBride won in both Yale and Victoria City, while Oliver was defeated in Delta and Victoria City.

Results

! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MLAs ! colspan=4 | Votes |- ! Candidates !1907 !1909 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp)

|style="text-align:left;"|Richard McBride | 42 || 26 || 38 || 12 || 53,074 || 22,293 || 52.33% || 3.63

|style="text-align:left;"|John Oliver | 36 || 13 || 2 || 11 || 33,675 || 10,194 || 33.21% || 3.94

|style="text-align:left;"| | 20 || 3 || 2 || 1 || 11,665 || 6,062 || 11.50% || 2.63

|style="text-align:left;"| | 3 || – || – || – || 2,625 || 2,478 || 2.59% || 2.36

|style="text-align:left;"|Canadian Labour |style="text-align:left;"| | 1 || – || – || – || 165 || 2,330 || 0.16% || 3.79

|style="text-align:left;"| | 1 || – || – || – || 154 || 154 || 0.15% ||New

|style="text-align:left;"| | 1 || – || – || – || 57 || 430 || 0.06% || 0.71 |- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total |104||42 ! " colspan="2"|42 ! " colspan="2"|101,415 ! " colspan="2"| 100.00%

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

Results by riding The following MLAs were elected:

Synopsis of results + Results by riding - 1909 British Columbia general election (single-member districts) Riding Winning party VotesName 1907Party Votes Share Margin#Margin% Con Lib Soc Total   Alberni Lib Lib 293 53.37% 37 6.74% 256 293 – – – 549 Atlin Con Con 107 62.21% 42 24.42% 107 65 – – – 172 Chilliwhack Lib Con 604 54.07% 91 8.14% 604 513 – – – 1,117 Columbia Con Con 262 51.68% 17 3.36% 262 245 – – – 507 Comox Con Con 451 45.88% 245 24.92% 451 172 206 – 154 983 Cowichan Con Con 365 67.59% 190 35.18% 365 175 – – – 540 Cranbrook Lib Con 761 54.16% 260 18.50% 761 501 143 – – 1,405 Delta Lib Con 765 58.13% 214 16.26% 765 551 – – – 1,316 Dewdney Con Con 625 67.42% 323 34.84% 625 302 – – – 927 Esquimalt Lib Lib 436 54.64% 74 9.28% 362 436 – – – 798 Fernie Con Con 795 43.00% 146 7.90% 795 405 649 – – 1,849 Grand Forks Soc Con 516 51.60% 182 18.20% 516 150 334 – – 1,000 Greenwood Lib Con 260 42.07% 56 9.06% 260 154 204 – – 618 The Islands Con Con 270 56.60% 63 13.20% 270 207 – – – 477 Kamloops Con Con 872 64.40% 390 28.80% 872 482 – – – 1,354 Kaslo Con Con 293 68.62% 159 37.24% 293 134 – – – 427 Lillooet Lib Con 167 58.80% 50 17.60% 167 117 – – – 284 Nanaimo City Soc Soc 786 62.88% 322 25.76% 464 – 786 – – 1,250 Nelson City Lib Con 565 54.54% 242 23.36% 565 323 148 – – 1,036 Newcastle Soc Soc 379 52.64% 105 14.58% 274 – 379 67 – 720 New Westminster City Con Con 881 52.98% 264 25.88% 881 617 – – 165 1,663 Okanagan Con Con 1,538 62.34% 797 32.30% 1,538 741 188 – – 2,467 Revelstoke Con Con 758 62.18% 418 34.29% 758 – 121 340 – 1,219 Richmond Con Con 918 57.92% 251 15.84% 918 667 – – – 1,585 Rossland City Lib Con 237 38.60% 20 3.26% 237 217 160 – – 614Saanich Con Con 412 57.62% 109 15.24% 412 303 – – – 715 Similkameen Con Con 440 68.22% 235 36.44% 440 205 – – – 645 Skeena Lib Con 822 60.35% 445 32.67% 822 377 163 – – 1,362 Slocan Con Con 309 57.43% % 309 – 172 – 57 538 Yale Lib Con 455 63.19% 190 26.38% 455 265 – – – 720 Ymir Con Con 699 65.63% 333 31.26% 699 – 366 – – 1,065

= open seat = turnout is above provincial average = winning candidate was in previous Legislature = incumbent had switched allegiance = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature = incumbency arose from byelection gain = other incumbents renominated = endorsed by the Liberals = multiple candidates

+ Results by riding - 1909 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts) Party Cariboo Vancouver City Victoria City Votes Share Change Votes Share Change Votes Share Change 540 63.01% 19.13% 25,710 50.10% -1.28% 10,321 53.42% 5.88% 317 36.99% -19.13% 18,619 36.28% -0.03% 6,122 31.69% -3.97% – – – 6,987 13.62% 3.57% 659 3.41% -0.12% – – – – – – 2,218 11.48% 11.48%Canadian Labour – – – – – -2.26% – – -13.28%Total 857 100.00% 51,316 100.00% 19,320 100.00%Seats won Incumbents returned – 3 4Seat change – –

See also List of British Columbia political parties

Notes

References

Further reading

In the Sea of Sterile Mountains: The Chinese in British Columbia, Joseph Morton, J.J. Douglas, Vancouver (1974). Despite its title, a fairly thorough account of the politicians and electoral politics in early BC.