The 1912 British Columbia general election was the thirteenth 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 February 27, 1912, and held on March 28, 1912. The new legislature met for the first time on January 16, 1913.
The governing Conservative Party increased its share of the popular vote to almost 60%, and swept all but 3 of the 42 seats in the legislature. Of the remaining three, one (Harold Ernest Forster in Columbia) was formally listed as an Independent but was a Conservative who had missed the filing date. He campaigned and sat in full support of the McBride government.
The Liberal Party's share of the vote fell from one-third to one-quarter, and it lost both of its seats in the legislature.
The remaining two seats were won by the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party in the coal-mining ridings of Nanaimo City and Newcastle.
Results
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MLAs ! colspan=4 | Votes |- ! Candidates !1909 !1912 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp)
|style="text-align:left;"|Richard McBride | 42 || 38 || 39 || 1 || 50,423 || 2,651 || 59.65% || 7.32
|style="text-align:left;"| | 17 || 2 || 1 || 1 || 9,366 || 2,299 || 11.08% || 0.42
|style="text-align:left;"| | 7 || – || 1 || 1 || 1,163 || 1,009 || 1.37% || 1.22
|style="text-align:left;"| | 1 || – || 1 || 1 || 621 || 621 || 0.74% ||New
|style="text-align:left;"|Harlan Carey Brewster | 19 || 2 || – || 2 || 21,433 || 12,242 || 25.37% || 7.84
|style="text-align:left;"| | 2 || – || – || – || 1,513 || 1,112 || 1.79% || 0.80 |- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total |88||42 ! " colspan="2"|42 ! " colspan="2"|84,529 ! " 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 - 1912 British Columbia general election (single-member districts) Riding Winning party VotesName 1909Party Votes Share Margin#Margin% Con Lib Soc Total Alberni Lib Conacclaimed Atlin Con Conacclaimed Chilliwhack Con Conacclaimed Columbia Con 282 51.74% 19 3.48% 263 – – 282 – 545 Comox Con Con 694 66.16% 339 32.32% 694 – 355 – – 1,049 Cowichan Con Con 441 80.04% 331 60.08% 441 110 – – – 551 Cranbrook Con Conacclaimed Delta Con Con 748 70.83% 440 41.66% 748 308 – – – 1,056 Dewdney Con Con 803 80.54% 609 61.08% 803 – – 194 – 997 Esquimalt Lib Con 398 46.50% 212 24.77% 398 151 25 282The incumbent John Jardine received 96 votes – 856 Fernie Con Con 1,067 58.31% 304 16.62% 1,067 – 763 – – 1,830 Grand Forks Con Conacclaimed Greenwood Con Con 364 78.11% 262 56.22% 364 – 102 – – 466 The Islands Con Con 345 75.66% 234 51.32% 345 – – 111 – 456 Kamloops Con Con 931 70.11% 534 40.22% 931 397 – – – 1,328 Kaslo Con Conacclaimed Lillooet Con Con 200 71.17% 119 42.34% 200 81 – – – 281 Nanaimo City Soc 621 39.45% 43 2.73% 578 375 – – 621 1,574 Nelson City Con Con 527 59.08% 339 38.00% 527 – 177 188 – 892 Newcastle Soc Soc 386 50.86% 13 1.72% 373 – 386 – – 759 New Westminster City Con Con 1,004 72.28% 619 44.56% 1,004 385 – – – 1,389 Okanagan Con Con 1,388 82.37% 1,091 64.74% 1,388 – 297 – – 1,685 Revelstoke Con Conacclaimed Richmond Con Conacclaimed Rossland City Con Con 336 56.09% 168 28.04% 336 168 95 – – 599Saanich Con Con 392 69.01% 216 38.02% 392 176 – – – 568 Similkameen Con Conacclaimed Skeena Con Con 940 51.00% 420 22.79% 940 520 277 106 – 1,843 Slocan Con Con 373 65.32% 175 30.64% 373 – 198 – – 571 Yale Con Con 524 65.26% 245 30.52% 524 279 – – – 803 Ymir Con Con 1,024 79.69% 763 59.38% 1,024 – 261 – – 1,285
= 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 - 1912 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts) Party Cariboo Vancouver City Victoria City Votes Share Change Votes Share Change Votes Share Change 645 77.99% 14.98% 25,338 54.74% 4.64% 10,727 66.90% 13.48% 182 22.01% -14.98% 14,283 30.86% -5.42% 4,028 25.12% -6.57% – – – 5,767 12.46% -1.16% 663 4.13% 0.72% – – – 897 1.94% 1.94% 616 3.84% -7.64%Total 827 100.00% 46,285 100.00% 16,034 100.00%Seats won Incumbents returned 2 5 4Seat change – – –
See also List of British Columbia political parties
Notes
Further reading & references 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.