British Columbia general election, 1956

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The British Columbia general election of 1956 was the 25th 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 13, 1956, and held on September 19, 1956. The new legislature met for the first time on February 7, 1957.

The conservative Social Credit of Premier W.A.C. Bennett was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a third term in government with over 45% of the popular vote.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation formed the official opposition.

The British Columbia Liberal Party lost two of its four seats despite winning over 20% of the popular vote.

The Progressive Conservative Party lost its single seat in the legislature, and would not win a seat again until the 1972 election.

One seat was won by a Labour candidate, Tom Uphill of Fernie.

[edit] Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
Party		Party leader	# of candidates	1953	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Social Credit	W.A.C. Bennett	52	28	39	39.3%	374,711	45.84%	+8.09%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Bob Strachan	51	14	10	-28.6%	231,511	28.32%	-2.53%
	Liberal	Arthur Laing	52	4	2	-50.0%	177,922	21.77%	-1.82%
	Labour	Tom Uphill	1	1	1	-	1,321	0.16%	-0.06%
	Progressive Conservative	Deane Finlayson	22	1	-	-100%	25,373	3.11%	-2.49%
	Labour Progressive		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.

[edit] Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1956
Government			Opposition
	Member	Riding & party	Riding & party		Member
	William James Asseltine	Atlin Social Credit		Alberni Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stanley John Squire
	William Ralph Talbot Chetwynd	Cariboo Social Credit		Burnaby Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Gordon Hudson Dowding
	William Kenneth Kiernan	Chilliwack Social Credit		Burnaby Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Ernest Edward Winch
	Richard Orr Newton	Columbia Social Credit		Cowichan-Newcastle Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Robert Martin Strachan²
	Daniel Robert John Campbell	Comox Social Credit		Cranbrook Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Leo Thomas Nimsick
	Thomas James Irwin	Delta Social Credit		Grand Forks-Greenwood Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Lois Mabel Haggen
	Nehemiah George Massey	Delta Social Credit		Kaslo-Slocan Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Randolph Harding
	Lyle Wicks	Dewdney Social Credit		Mackenzie Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Anthony John Gargrave
	Herbert Joseph Bruch	Esquimalt Social Credit		New Westminster Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	John McRae (Rae) Eddie
	Ray Gillis Williston	Fort George Social Credit		Vancouver East Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Arthur James Turner
	Philip Arthur Gaglardi	Kamloops Social Credit		Fernie Labour (Party)	Thomas Aubert Uphill
	Donald Frederick Robinson	Lillooet Social Credit		Oak Bay Liberal	Philip Archibald Gibbs
	Earle Cathers Westwood	Nanaimo and the Islands Social Credit		Victoria City Liberal	George Frederick Thompson Gregory
	Wesley Drewett Black	Nelson-Creston Social Credit
	Lorne Hugh Shantz	North Okanagan Social Credit
	Harold Earle Roche	North Peace River Social Credit
	John Melvin Bryan Sr.	North Vancouver Social Credit
	Newton Phillips Steacy	North Vancouver Social Credit
	Cyril Morley Shelford	Omineca Social Credit
	William Harvey Murray	Prince Rupert Social Credit
	Arvid Waldemar Lundell	Revelstoke Social Credit
	Robert Edward Sommers	Rossland-Trail Social Credit
	John Douglas Tidball Tisdalle	Saanich Social Credit
	James Allan Reid	Salmon Arm Social Credit
	Francis Xavier Richter	Similkameen Social Credit
	Hugh Addison Shirreff	Skeena Social Credit
	William Andrew Cecil Bennett¹	South Okanagan Social Credit
	Stanley Carnell	South Peace River Social Credit
	Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin	Vancouver-Burrard Social Credit
	Herbert Price	Vancouver-Burrard Social Credit
	Alexander Small Matthew	Vancouver Centre Social Credit
	Leslie Raymond Peterson	Vancouver Centre Social Credit
	Frederick Morton Sharp	Vancouver East Social Credit
	Thomas Audley Bate	Vancouver-Point Grey Social Credit
	Buda Hosmer Brown	Vancouver-Point Grey Social Credit
	William Neelands Chant	Victoria City Social Credit
	John Donald Smith	Victoria City Social Credit
	Irvine Finlay Corbett	Yale Social Credit
	¹ Premier-Elect	² Leader of the Opposition
Source: Elections BC