British Columbia general election, 1956

The British Columbia general election of 1956 was the 25th general election in the Province of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....

. The election was called on August 13, 1956, and held on September 19, 1956. The new legislature met for the first time on February 7, 1957.

The conservative Social Credit

British Columbia Social Credit Party

The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing political party of British Columbia, Canada, for more than 30 years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election...

of Premier W.A.C. Bennett

W.A.C. Bennett

William Andrew Cecil Bennett, PC, OC was the 25th Premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving premier in British Columbia history. He was usually referred to as W.A.C...

was re-elected with a majority

Majority government

A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...

in the legislature to a third term in government with over 45% of the popular vote.

The social democratic

Social democracy

Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...

CCF

New Democratic Party of British Columbia

The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is a social-democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the official opposition to the governing British Columbia Liberal Party following the 2009 provincial election in British Columbia.The BC NDP is the provincial...

formed the official opposition.

The British Columbia Liberal Party

British Columbia Liberal Party

The British Columbia Liberal Party is the governing political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected for government in 1916, the party went into decline after 1952, with its rump caucus merging with the Social Credit Party for the 1975 election...

lost two of its four seats despite winning over 20% of the popular vote.

The Progressive Conservative Party

British Columbia Conservative Party

The British Columbia Conservative Party is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected as the government in 1903, the party went into decline after 1933...

lost its single seat in the legislature, and would not win a seat again until the 1972 election

British Columbia general election, 1972

The 30th general election for the Canadian province of British Columbia was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on July 24, 1972, and held on August 30, 1972...

.

One seat was won by a Labour candidate, Tom Uphill

Tom Uphill

Thomas Hubert Uphill was a socialist politician in British Columbia, long time mayor of the town of Fernie and also represented the riding named for the town in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for forty years, most of them as the legislature's sole labour MLA.Uphill was born in 1874 in...

of Fernie

Fernie, British Columbia

Fernie is a city in the Elk Valley area of the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, located on BC Highway 3 on the eastern approaches to the Crowsnest Pass through the Rocky Mountains...

Results

Party	Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
Party	Party leader	# of candidates	1953 British Columbia general election, 1953 The British Columbia general election of 1953 was the 24th 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 April 10, 1953, and held on June 9, 1953...	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change	Social Credit British Columbia Social Credit Party The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing political party of British Columbia, Canada, for more than 30 years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election...	W.A.C. Bennett W.A.C. Bennett William Andrew Cecil Bennett, PC, OC was the 25th Premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving premier in British Columbia history. He was usually referred to as W.A.C...	52	28	39	39.3%	374,711	45.84%	+8.09%	CCF New Democratic Party of British Columbia The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is a social-democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the official opposition to the governing British Columbia Liberal Party following the 2009 provincial election in British Columbia.The BC NDP is the provincial...	Bob Strachan	51	14	10	-28.6%	231,511	28.32%	-2.53%	Liberal British Columbia Liberal Party The British Columbia Liberal Party is the governing political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected for government in 1916, the party went into decline after 1952, with its rump caucus merging with the Social Credit Party for the 1975 election...	Arthur Laing Arthur Laing Arthur Laing, PC was a Canadian politician. He was a Liberal Member of the Canadian House of Commons from Vancouver, British Columbia....	52	4	2	-50.0%	177,922	21.77%	-1.82%	Labour	Tom Uphill Tom Uphill Thomas Hubert Uphill was a socialist politician in British Columbia, long time mayor of the town of Fernie and also represented the riding named for the town in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for forty years, most of them as the legislature's sole labour MLA.Uphill was born in 1874 in...	1	1	1	-	1,321	0.16%	-0.06%	Progressive Conservative British Columbia Conservative Party The British Columbia Conservative Party is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected as the government in 1903, the party went into decline after 1933...	Deane Finlayson Deane Finlayson Douglas Deane Finlayson was a British Columbia politician and land developer.Though he was unable to win a seat in the 1952 provincial election, he became leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of British Columbia following the resignation of Herbert Anscomb and led the party through the...	22	1	-	-100%	25,373	3.11%	-2.49%	Labour Progressive Communist Party of British Columbia The Communist Party of British Columbia is the British Columbia branch of the Communist Party of Canada. Its leader is Sam Hammond.From the 1945 British Columbia election to the 1956 election, it was known as the Labour Progressive Party....	14	-	-	-	3,381	0.41%	-0.62%	Independent	6	-	-	-	3,005	0.37%	+0.10%	People's/Common Herd	1	*	-	*	173	0.02%	*
Total		199	48	52	8.3%	817,397	100%
Source: Elections BC

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Results by riding

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|align="center"|William James Asselstine

William James Asselstine

William James Asselstine was a engineer, gold miner and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Atlin from 1933 to 1945 as a Liberal and from 1956 to 1960 as a Social Credit member in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.He was born in Renfrew, Ontario, the son of Samuel...

|align="center" |Atlin
Atlin (electoral district)
Atlin was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the 10th provincial general election in 1903 and last appeared in the 34th provincial general election in 1986, after which it was merged with the Skeena riding.-...

Social Credit
British Columbia Social Credit Party
The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing political party of British Columbia, Canada, for more than 30 years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election...

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|align="center" |Alberni

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...

CCF
|align="center"|Stanley John Squire

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|align="center"|William Ralph Talbot Chetwynd

|align="center" |Cariboo
Cariboo (electoral district)
Cariboo was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1871 to 1892.This riding was first created as Cariboo District following British Columbia's admission into the Canadian Confederation in 1871...

Social Credit
British Columbia Social Credit Party
The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing political party of British Columbia, Canada, for more than 30 years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election...

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|align="center" rowspan=2 |Burnaby

Burnaby (provincial electoral district)

Burnaby was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia that first appeared on the hustings in the 1924 election...

CCF
|align="center"|Gordon Hudson Dowding

Gordon Hudson Dowding

Gordon Hudson Dowding was a lawyer and politician in British Columbia, Canada. He represented Burnaby and then Burnaby-Edmonds in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1956 to 1975 as a CCF/NDP member....

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|align="center"|William Kenneth Kiernan

|align="center" |Chilliwack

Chilliwack (electoral district)

Chilliwack was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia from 1916. It was the successor riding to the Chilliwhack riding, which used the older spelling of the name and had slightly different boundaries...

Results

Results by riding

See also