Alberni (electoral district)

Alberni was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It originally appeared in the British Columbia general election, 1890 and then, after being merged into Cowichan-Alberni for the 1894 election, was renamed Alberni riding in the election of 1898. The riding lasted by that name until 1933 and 1937, when the name Alberni-Nanaimo was used. In 1941 the Alberni riding name was restored. The area is now represented by Alberni-Qualicum.

Demographics

Population, 1891
Population Change, 1891–1926
Area (km²)
Pop. Density (people per km²)

Electoral history

Note: Winners in each election are in bold.

6th British Columbia general election, 1890
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	Thomas Fletcher	29	70.73%	–	unknown
	Government	John C. Mollett	12	29.27%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			41	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

In the seventh general election of 1894, the Alberni riding was merged with the Cowichan riding to form Cowichan-Alberni. The separate riding names were restored for the 1898 election.

8th British Columbia general election, 1898
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Government	George Albert Huff	70	39.33%	–	unknown
	Opposition	Alan Webster Neill	108	60.67%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			178	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

9th British Columbia general election, 1900
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Progressive	Alan Webster Neill	108	54.55%
	Government	James Redford	57	28.79%
	Conservative-Opposition	James Bain Thomson	33	16.67%
Total valid votes			198	100.00%

10th British Columbia general election, 1903
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	Robert Hume F. Hickey	102	24.17%		unknown
	Liberal	William Wallace Burns McInnes	320	75.83%		unknown
Total valid votes			422	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

11th British Columbia election, 1907
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Harlan Carey Brewster	236	48.86%		unknown
	Socialist	James Cartwright	43	8.90%	–	unknown
	Conservative	William Manson	204	42.24%		unknown
Total valid votes			483	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

12th British Columbia election, 1909
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Harlan Carey Brewster	293	53.37%		unknown
	Conservative	Arthur David Morgan	256	46.63%		unknown
Total valid votes			549	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

13th British Columbia election, 1912
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Conservative	John George Corry Wood	Accl.	- %		unknown
Total valid votes			n/a	- %
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

14th British Columbia election, 1916
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Harlan Carey Brewster	393	39.26%		unknown
	Independent	Alan Webster Neill	253	25.27%		unknown
	Conservative	John George Corry Wood	355	35.46%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,001	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

British Columbia general election, 1920
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Richard John Burde	841	43.94%
	Soldier–Farmer	Noel Ernest Money	675	35.27%
	Liberal	Henri Evariste Langis	398	20.79%
Total valid votes			1,914	100.00%

16th British Columbia election, 1924
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Independent Liberal	Richard John Burde	828	42.48%
	Conservative	James Cameron Johnstone	339	17.39%		unknown
	Provincial	Charles Arthur McNaughton	782	40.13%
Total valid votes			1,949	100.00%

British Columbia general election, 1928
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Laurence Arnold Hanna	1,208	48.71%
	Conservative	Percy Rushton	1,022	41.21%
	Independent Labour	Thomas Albert Bernard	250	10.08%
Total valid votes			2,480	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			34

Alberni riding disappeared with redistribution following the 1928 election. Its successor in the 1933 and 1937 elections was Alberni-Nanaimo. For the 1941 election the Alberni riding name was restored:

British Columbia general election, 1941
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	James Mowat	2,067	49.17%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Thomas Albert Bernard	1,903	45.27%
	Independent Labour	Alex Harvey Rowan	234	5.57%
Total valid votes			4,204	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			56

21st British Columbia election, 1945
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Thomas Speakman Barnett	1,258	31.83%		unknown
	Labour Progressive	Alfred Dewhurst	559	14.14%		unknown
	Coalition	James Mowat	2,135	54.02%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			3,952	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			74
Turnout			%

22nd British Columbia election, 1949
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Coalition	Thomas Wellington Christie	1,638	21.33%	–	unknown
	Labour Progressive	Nigel Morgan	622	8.10%		unknown
	Independent	James Mowat	3,290	42.84 %		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Jack Whittall	2,129	27.72%		unknown
Total valid votes			7,679	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			200
Turnout			%

23rd British Columbia election, 1952
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Conservative	Pitt Clayton	1,204	15.03%	-	- %		unknown
	Labour Progressive	Alfred Dewhurst	196	2.45%	-	-.- %
	Liberal	James Mowat	2,176	27.17 %	3,030	42.77%		unknown
	Social Credit League	Jack Shulz	1,366	17.06%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stanley John Squire	3,067	38.29%	4,054	57.23%		unknown
Total valid votes			8,009	100.00%	7,084
Total rejected ballots			246
Turnout			%
^1 Preferential ballot. First and final of four counts shown only.

24thd British Columbia election, 1953
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Labour Progressive	Frank Wendell Bottner	139	1.92%	-	-.- %
	Liberal	Loran Kendall Jordon	2,022	27.95%	2,811	43.07%		unknown
	Social Credit	Thorwald Melanchton Peterson	1,637	22.63%
	Conservative	Oliver James Ruttan	320	4.42%	-	- %
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stanley John Squire	3,116	43.07%	3,715	56.93%		unknown
Total valid votes			7,234	100.00%	6,526
Total rejected ballots			336
Turnout			%
^1 Preferential ballot. First and final of four counts shown only.

25th British Columbia election, 1956
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	William James Carr	1,894	28.51%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Norman Leslie McKinnon	1,388	20.89%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stanley John Squire	3,362	50.60%		unknown
Total valid votes			6,644	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			80
Turnout			%

26th British Columbia election, 1960
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Eric Frederick Duncan	2,966	32.65%	–	unknown
	Conservative	Ronald George Lyon	514	5.66%		unknown
	Liberal	John Alexander McKenzie	1,305	14.36%		unknown
	Communist	Mark Fullmore Mosher	207	2.28%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stanley John Squire	4,093	45.05%		unknown
Total valid votes			9,085	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			315
Turnout			%

27th British Columbia election, 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Eric Frederick Duncan	3,506	39.72%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Edward John (Jack) Luckhurst	1,071	12.13%		unknown
	New Democratic	Stanley John Squire	4,249	48.14%		unknown
Total valid votes			8,826	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			68
Turnout			%

28th British Columbia election, 1966
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Howard Richmond McDiarmid	6,039	55.55%	–	unknown
	Liberal	George McLean	511	4.70%		unknown
	New Democratic	Stanley John Squire	4,321	39.75%		unknown
Total valid votes			10,871	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			95
Turnout			%

29th British Columbia election, 1969
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Howard Richmond McDiarmid	7,209	47.08%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Eugene Edward Romaniuk	1,424	9.30%		unknown
	New Democratic	Stanley John Squire	6,680	43.62%		unknown
Total valid votes			15,313	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			131
Turnout			%

30th British Columbia election, 1972
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Wayne Albert Ramsey Cathers	2,272	12.92%		unknown
	Social Credit	Thomas Johnstone	4,985	28.36%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	9,439	53.69%		unknown
	Conservative	Edna Delthene Souther	883	5.02%		unknown
Total valid votes			17,579	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			251
Turnout			%

31st British Columbia election, 1975
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Charles Ormond Haggard	7,988	40.01%	–	unknown
	Communist	Charles Ormond Haggard	84	0.42%		unknown
	Liberal	Cecile Marie T. McKinnon	1,018	5.10%		unknown
	Conservative	Allan Arthur Schroeder	1,278	6.40%		unknown
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	9,599	48.07%		unknown
Total valid votes			19,967	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			226
Turnout			%

32nd British Columbia election, 1979
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	7,935	57.63%		unknown
	Communist	Gary William Swann	97	0.71%		unknown
	Social Credit	Joseph Van Bergen	5,736	41.66%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			13,768	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			201
Turnout			%

33rd British Columbia election, 1983
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Alice Chiko	5,496	37.34%	–	unknown
	Western Canada Concept	Michael Thomas Gaughan	291	1.98%		unknown
	Liberal	Susan Patricia Hutchinson	183	1.24%		unknown
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	8,656	58.81%		unknown
	Communist	Gary William Swann	92	0.63%		unknown
Total valid votes			14,718	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			244
Turnout			%

British Columbia general election, 1986
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Green	Ronald Daniel Craigie Aspinall	87	0.56%
	Liberal	William F. Mosdell	377	2.43%
	New Democratic	Robert Evans Skelly	8,597	55.29%
	Social Credit	Gillian Trumper	6,487	41.72%
Total valid votes			15,548	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			304

35th British Columbia election, 1991
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Western Canada Concept	Alan W. Banford	206	1.54%		unknown
	New Democratic	Gerard A. Janssen	7,136	53.39%		unknown
	Liberal	Peter J. Tanner	2,358	17.64%		unknown
	Social Credit	Gillian R. Trumper	3,665	27.43%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			13,365	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			372
Turnout			%

36th British Columbia election, 1996
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Karl Angus	72	0.31%		unknown
	Reform	Karl Angus	72	0.31%		unknown
	New Democratic	Gerard A. M. Janssen	7,398	52.01%		unknown
	Natural Law	Kathleen Lapeyrouse	58	0.41%		unknown
	Progressive Democrat	Ingrid Helen Rebar	578	4.06%	–	unknown
	Green	Andre Sperling	195	1.373%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Gillian Trumper	5,099	35.85%		unknown
Total valid votes			14,223	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			86
Turnout			%

The riding was redistributed after the 1996 election. The main successor riding is Alberni-Qualicum.

Sources

Elections BC historical returns