British Columbia general election, 1963

British Columbia general election, 1963

September 30, 1963

52 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 27 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader W. A. C. Bennett Robert Strachan Party Social Credit New Democratic Leader since 1952 1956 Leader's seat South Okanagan Cowichan-Newcastle Last election 32 16 Seats won 33 14 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 395,079 269,004 Percentage 40.83 27.80 Swing 2.00 4.93   Third party Fourth party   Leader Ray Perrault Davie Fulton Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since 1959 1960 Leader's seat North Vancouver Ran in Kamloops (lost) Last election 4 0 Seats won 5 0 Seat change 1 0 Popular vote 193,363 109,090 Percentage 19.98 11.27 Swing 0.92 4.55

Premier before election W. A. C. Bennett Social Credit Premier-designate W. A. C. Bennett Social Credit

The British Columbia general election of 1963 was the 27th 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 August 22, 1963, and held on September 30, 1963. The new legislature met for the first time on January 23, 1964.

The conservative Social Credit Party of Premier W.A.C. Bennett was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a fifth term in government. The party increased its share of the popular vote and number of seats in the legislature marginally.

The opposition New Democratic Party (formerly the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation) had small losses both in popular vote and number of seats.

The Liberals won about 20% of the popular vote, and one additional seat, for a total of five.

The Progressive Conservative Party won no seats in the legislature increasing its share of the popular vote by four-and-half percentage points to over 11%.

Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1960	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Social Credit	W.A.C. Bennett	52	32	33	+3.1%	395,079	40.83%	+2.00%
	New Democrats	Bob Strachan	52	16	14	-12.5%	269,004	27.80%	-4.93%
	Liberal	Ray Perrault	51	4	5	+25.0%	193,363	19.98%	-0.92%
	Progressive Conservative	Davie Fulton	44	-	-	-	109,090	11.27%	+4.55%
	Communist		4	-	-	-	849	0.09%	-0.48%
	Independent		1	-	-	-	215	0.02%	-0.23%
	Socialist		1	*	0	*	75	0.01%	*
Total			205	52	52	-	967,675	100%
Source: Elections BC

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1963
Government				Opposition
	Member	Riding & party		Riding & party		Member
	William Collins Speare	Cariboo Social Credit			Alberni New Democrat	Stanley John Squire
	William Kenneth Kiernan	Chilliwack Social Credit			Atlin New Democrat	Frank Arthur Calder
	James Roland Chabot	Columbia Social Credit			Burnaby New Democrat	Gordon Dowding
	Daniel Robert John Campbell	Comox Social Credit				Charles Willoughby MacSorley
	Ernest A. LeCours	Delta Social Credit			Cowichan-Newcastle New Democrat	Robert Martin Strachan^2
	Hunter Bertram Vogel				Cranbrook New Democrat	Leo Thomas Nimsick
	Herbert Joseph Bruch	Esquimalt Social Credit			Dewdney New Democrat	Dave Barrett
	Ray Gillis Williston	Fort George Social Credit			Grand Forks-Greenwood New Democrat	Lois Haggen
	Philip Arthur Gaglardi	Kamloops Social Credit			Kaslo-Slocan New Democrat	Randolph Harding
	Donald Frederick Robinson	Lillooet Social Credit			Mackenzie New Democrat	Anthony John Gargrave
	Wesley Drewett Black	Nelson-Creston Social Credit			Nanaimo and the Islands New Democrat	David Stupich
	George William McLeod	North Okanagan Social Credit			New Westminster New Democrat	Rae Eddie
	Jacob Francis Huhn	North Peace River Social Credit			Vancouver East New Democrat	Alexander Barrett MacDonald
	Cyril Morley Shelford	Omineca Social Credit				Arthur James Turner
	William Harvey Murray	Prince Rupert Social Credit			Yale New Democrat	William Leonard Hartley
	Arvid Waldemar Lundell	Revelstoke Social Credit			Fernie Liberal	Henry Cartmell (Harry) McKay
	Donald Leslie Brothers	Rossland-Trail Social Credit			North Vancouver Liberal	James Gordon Gibson
	John Douglas Tidball Tisdalle	Saanich Social Credit				Raymond Joseph Perrault
	Willis Franklin Jefcoat	Salmon Arm Social Credit			Oak Bay Liberal	Alan Brock MacFarlane
	Frank Richter, Jr.	Similkameen Social Credit			Vancouver-Point Grey Liberal	Patrick Lucey McGeer
	Dudley George Little	Skeena Social Credit
	William Andrew Cecil Bennett^1	South Okanagan Social Credit
	Stanley Carnell	South Peace River Social Credit
	Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin	Vancouver-Burrard Social Credit
	Bert Price
	Alexander Small Matthew	Vancouver Centre Social Credit
	Leslie Raymond Peterson
	Robert William Bonner	Vancouver-Point Grey Social Credit
	Ralph Raymond Loffmark
	William Neelands Chant	Victoria City Social Credit
	Waldo McTavish Skillings
	John Donald Smith
	^1 Premier-Elect	^2 Leader of the Opposition
Source: Elections BC

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties