British Columbia general election, 1890

This was the sixth election held after British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871. The number of members was increased for this election from 27 in the previous election to 33, although the number of ridings was decreased to 18.

Political context

Non-party system

There were to be no political parties in the new province. The designations "Government" and "Opposition" and "Independent" (and variations on these) functioned in place of parties, but they were very loose and do not represent formal coalitions, more alignments of support during the campaign. "Government" meant in support of the current Premier; "Opposition" meant campaigning against him, and often enough the Opposition would win and immediately become the Government.

Although Labour as a party had run candidates in previous election, this election saw the first victories by Labour candidates (in Nanaimo and Nanaimo City), and a "Farmer" candidate (in the second Nanaimo seat). There were five successful independents.

The Robson Government

The government of newspaperman John Robson received a mandate after assuming power the year before. Robson died in office in 1892, yielding to Theodore Davie.

Byelections not shown

Any changes due to byelections are shown below the main table showing the theoretical composition of the House after the election. A final table showing the composition of the House at the dissolution of the Legislature at the end of this Parliament can be found below the byelections. The main table represents the immediate results of the election only, not changes in governing coalitions or eventual changes due to byelections.

List of ridings

The original ridings were thirteen in number, and Cowichan was restored to a two-member seat while New Westminster was increased to three, with the new total being 33 members. There were no political parties were not acceptable in the House by convention, though some members were openly partisan at the federal level (usually Conservative, although both Liberal and Labour allegiance were on display by some candidates).

These ridings were:

• Alberni
• Cariboo (three members)
• Cassiar
• Comox
• Cowichan (two members)
• East Kootenay
• Esquimalt (two members)
• The Islands (formerly part of Nanaimo
• Lillooet (two members)
• Nanaimo
• Nanaimo City
• New Westminster City
• Vancouver City (two members)
• Victoria (two members)
• Victoria City (four members)
• East Kootenay
• Westminster (three members, formerly New Westminster
• Yale (three members)

Polling conditions

Natives (First Nations) and Chinese were disallowed from voting, although naturalized Kanakas (Hawaiian colonists) and American and West Indian blacks and certain others participated. The requirement that knowledge of English be spoken for balloting was discussed but not applied.

Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1890
Government				Opposition
	Member	Riding & party		Riding & party		Member
	Thomas Fletcher	Alberni Government			Cariboo Independent	George Cowan
	Joseph Mason	Cariboo Government			Cassiar Opposition	John Grant
	John Robson ^1				Esquimalt Opposition	David Williams Higgins
	Samuel Augustus Rogers					Charles Edward Pooley
	Robert Hanley Hall	Cassiar Government			Lillooet Opposition	David Alexander Stoddart
	Joseph Hunter	Comox Government			New Westminster Opposition	William Henry Ladner
	Henry Croft	Cowichan Government				James Orr
	Theodore Davie				New Westminster City Independent	John Cunningham Brown
	James Baker	East Kootenay Government			Vancouver City Opposition Independent	Francis Lovett Carter-Cotton
	Alfred Wellington Smith	Lillooet Government				James Welton Horne
	George William Anderson	Victoria Gov			Victoria City Opposition	Robert Beaven
	David McEwen Eberts					John Grant
	John Herbert Turner	Victoria City Gov				George Lawson Milne
	John Robson	Westminster Gov			Yale Opposition	Charles Augustus Semlin
	George Bohun Martin	Yale Government			Nanaimo Labour Farmer	Thomas William Forster
	Forbes George Vernon					Colin Campbell McKenzie
					Nanaimo City Labour	Thomas Keith
					West Kootenay Independent	James M. Kellie
					Westminster Opposition Independent	James Punch
						Thomas Edwin Kitchen
	^1 Premier-Elect and Incumbent Premier
Source: Elections BC

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties

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.