1966 British Columbia general election

← 1963

September 12, 1966

1969 →

55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
28 seats were needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party
		NDP	BCLP
Leader	W. A. C. Bennett	Robert Strachan	Ray Perrault
Party	Social Credit	New Democratic	Liberal
Leader since	1952	1956	1959
Leader's seat	South Okanagan	Cowichan-Malahat	North Vancouver-Capilano
Last election	33 seats, 40.83%	14 seats, 27.80%	5 seats, 19.98%
Seats won	33	16	6
Seat change	0	2	1
Popular vote	342,751	252,753	152,155
Percentage	45.59%	33.62%	20.24%
Swing	4.76pp	5.82pp	0.26pp

Premier before election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

Premier after election

W. A. C. Bennett
Social Credit

The 1966 British Columbia general election was the 28th 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 5, 1966 and held on September 12, 1966. The new legislature met for the first time on January 24, 1967.

The conservative Social Credit Party was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a sixth term in government. It increased its share of the popular vote by close to five percentage points to over 45%, and winning the same number of seats (33) as in the previous election.

The opposition New Democratic Party also increased its share of the popular vote by over five percentage points, but won only two additional seats.

The Liberal Party won about 20% of the popular vote, and one additional seat, for a total of six.

The Progressive Conservative Party was virtually wiped out: it nominated only three candidates (down from 44 in the previous election), and its share of the popular vote fell from over 11% to a negligible amount.

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1966 redistribution of ridings

An Act was passed in 1966 providing for an increase of seats from 52 to 55, upon the next election.^[1]The following changes were made:

Abolished ridings	New ridings
Renaming of districts
Columbia	Columbia River
Salmon Arm	Shuswap
Reduction of multi-member district
Victoria City (3 MLAs)	Victoria City (2 MLAs)
Merger of districts
Cranbrook Fernie	Kootenay
Grand Forks-Greenwood Similkameen	Boundary-Similkameen
Kaslo-Slocan Revelstoke	Revelstoke-Slocan
Lillooet Yale	Yale-Lillooet
Reorganization of districts
Cowichan-Newcastle Nanaimo and the Islands Saanich	Cowichan-Malahat Nanaimo Saanich and the Islands
Division of districts
Burnaby (2 MLAs)	Burnaby-Edmonds Burnaby North Burnaby-Willingdon
Delta (2 MLAs)	Delta Langley Surrey
Dewdney	Coquitlam Dewdney
North Vancouver (2 MLAs)	North Vancouver-Capilano North Vancouver-Seymour West Vancouver-Howe Sound
Vancouver-Point Grey (3 MLAs)	Richmond Vancouver-Little Mountain (2 MLAs) Vancouver-Point Grey (2 MLAs) Vancouver South (2 MLAs)

Results

Elections to the 28th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1966)^[2]
Political party		Party leader	MLAs				Votes
Political party		Party leader	Candidates	1963	1966	±	#	±	%	± (pp)
	Social Credit	W.A.C. Bennett	55	33	33		342,751	52,328	45.59	4.76
	New Democratic	Bob Strachan	55	14	16	2	252,753	16,251	33.62	5.82
	Liberal	Ray Perrault	53	5	6	1	152,155	41,208	20.24	0.26
	Progressive Conservative		3	–	–	–	1,409	107,681	0.18	11.09
	Communist		6	–	–	–	1,097	248	0.14	0.05
	Independent		6	–	–	–	1,711	1,421	0.23	0.20
Total			178	52	55		751,876		100.00%
Rejected ballots^[3]							7,056	924
Actual voters who voted^[3]							596,716	11,956	68.28%	1.43
Registered voters^[3]							873,927	787

Seats and popular vote by party^[2]
Party	Seats	Votes	Change (pp)
█ Social Credit	33 / 55	45.59%	4.76	4.76
█ New Democratic	16 / 55	33.62%	5.82	5.82
█ Liberal	6 / 55	20.24%	0.26	0.26
█ Progressive Conservative	0 / 55	0.18%	-11.09
█ Other	0 / 55	0.37%	0.25	0.25

MLAs elected

Single-member districts

Alberni: Howard McDiarmid

Atlin: Frank Calder

Boundary-Similkameen: Frank Richter, Jr.

Burnaby-Edmonds: Gordon Dowding

Burnaby North: Eileen Dailly

Burnaby-Willingdon: Fred Vulliamy

Cariboo: William C. Speare

Chilliwack: William Kenneth Kiernan

Columbia River: James Roland Chabot

Comox: Daniel Campbell

Coquitlam: Dave Barrett

Cowichan-Malahat: Robert Strachan

Delta: Robert Wenman

Dewdney: George Mussallem

Esquimalt: Herbert Joseph Bruch

Fort George: Ray Williston

Kamloops: Phil Gaglardi

Kootenay: Leo Nimsick

Langley: Hunter Vogel

Mackenzie: Isabel Dawson

Nanaimo: David Stupich

Nelson-Creston: Wesley Drewett Black

New Westminster: Rae Eddie

North Okanagan: Patricia Jordan

North Peace River: Dean Smith

North Vancouver-Capilano: Ray Perrault

North Vancouver-Seymour: Barrie Clark

Oak Bay: Alan MacFarlane

Omineca: Cyril Morley Shelford

Prince Rupert: William Harvey Murray

Revelstoke-Slocan: Randolph Harding

Richmond: Ernest A. LeCours

Rossland-Trail: Donald Leslie Brothers

Saanich and the Islands: John Douglas Tisdalle

Shuswap: Willis Franklin Jefcoat

Skeena: Dudley George Little

South Okanagan: W. A. C. Bennett

South Peace River: Donald M. Phillips

Surrey: Ernest Hall

West Vancouver-Howe Sound: Allan Williams

Yale-Lillooet: Bill Hartley

Multi-member districts

Vancouver-Burrard: Thomas Berger

Vancouver-Burrard: Raymond Parkinson

Vancouver Centre: Herb Capozzi

Vancouver Centre: Evan Maurice Wolfe

Vancouver East: Alexander Macdonald

Vancouver East: Arthur James Turner

Vancouver-Little Mountain: Grace McCarthy

Vancouver-Little Mountain: Leslie Peterson

Vancouver-Point Grey: Garde Gardom

Vancouver-Point Grey: Pat McGeer

Vancouver South: Thomas Audley Bate

Vancouver South: Ralph Raymond Loffmark

Victoria City: William Chant

Victoria City: Waldo McTavish Skillings

Synopsis of results

Results by riding - 1966 British Columbia general election (single-member districts)^[4]
Riding	Winning party								Votes
Name	1963		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %	SC	NDP	Lib	PC	Comm	Ind	Total
Name	1963		Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %							Total

Alberni		NDP		SC	6,039	55.55%	1,718	15.80%	6,039	4,321	511	–	–	–	10,871
Atlin		NDP		NDP	572	59.71%	311	32.47%	261	572	125	–	–	–	958
Boundary-Similkameen	New			SC	6,547	55.44%	2,878	24.37%	6,547	3,669	1,594	–	–	–	11,810
Burnaby-Edmonds	New			NDP	5,748	48.71%	1,118	9.48%	4,630	5,748	1,423	–	–	–	11,801
Burnaby North	New			NDP	6,984	49.72%	1,879	13.38%	5,105	6,984	1,957	–	–	–	14,046
Burnaby-Willingdon	New			NDP	6,153	44.47%	524	3.78%	5,629	6,153	2,053	–	–	–	13,835
Cariboo		SC		SC	3,830	54.10%	1,300	18.36%	3,830	2,530	719	–	–	–	7,079
Chilliwack		SC		SC	7,703	63.17%	4,622	37.91%	7,703	3,081	1,411	–	–	–	12,195
Columbia River		SC		SC	1,563	58.45%	929	34.74%	1,563	477	634	–	–	–	2,674
Comox		SC		SC	5,449	49.39%	1,140	10.34%	5,449	4,309	1,276	–	–	–	11,033
Coquitlam	New			NDP	9,517	55.20%	3,452	20.02%	6,065	9,517	1,658	–	–	–	17,240
Cowichan-Malahat	New			NDP	5,646	52.08%	1,234	11.38%	4,412	5,646	783	–	–	–	10,841
Delta	New			SC	7,768	46.46%	1,690	10.11%	7,768	6,078	1,954	921	–	–	16,721
Dewdney		NDP		SC	6,507	53.42%	1,979	16.25%	6,507	4,528	1,146	–	–	–	12,181
Esquimalt		SC		SC	6,075	53.35%	2,630	23.10%	6,075	3,445	1,867	–	–	–	11,387
Fort George		SC		SC	6,282	60.42%	3,480	33.47%	6,282	2,802	1,313	–	–	–	10,397
Kamloops		SC		SC	5,753	52.35%	2,516	22.90%	5,753	3,237	2,000	–	–	–	10,990
Kootenay	New			NDP	3,605	40.98%	535	6.09%	3,070	3,605	2,123	–	–	–	8,798
Langley	New			SC	7,206	58.28%	3,307	26.75%	7,206	3,899	1,260	–	–	–	12,365
Mackenzie		NDP		SC	4,945	52.68%	1,359	14.47%	4,945	3,586	855	–	–	–	9,386
Nanaimo	New			NDP	5,625	47.99%	45	0.38%	5,580	5,625	516	–	–	–	11,721
Nelson-Creston		SC		SC	4,683	59.29%	2,359	29.87%	4,683	2,324	892	–	–	–	7,899
New Westminster		NDP		NDP	5,751	44.65%	199	1.54%	5,552	5,751	1,577	–	–	–	12,880
North Okanagan		SC		SC	3,841	48.59%	1,433	18.13%	3,841	1,535	2,408	–	–	121	7,905
North Peace River		SC		SC	1,799	48.44%	1,216	32.74%	1,799	511	565	–	–	839^[a 1]	3,714
North Vancouver-Capilano	New			Lib	6,426	51.49%	2,450	19.63%	3,976	1,816	6,426	261	–	–	12,479
North Vancouver-Seymour	New			Lib	5,301	39.61%	694	5.18%	4,607	3,137	5,301	227	110	–	13,382
Oak Bay		Lib		Lib	8,118	54.48%	2,310	15.51%	5,808	976	8,118	–	–	–	14,902
Omineca		SC		SC	2,337	70.16%	1,343	40.32%	2,337	994	–	–	–	–	3,331
Prince Rupert		SC		SC	2,647	52.90%	834	16.67%	2,647	1,813	544	–	–	–	5,004
Revelstoke-Slocan	New			NDP	2,158	44.67%	138	2.86%	2,020	2,158	548	–	–	105	4,831
Richmond	New			SC	6,521	43.33%	372	2.48%	6,521	6,149	2,381	–	–	–	15,051
Rossland-Trail		SC		SC	5,600	55.93%	3,147	31.43%	5,600	2,453	1,960	–	–	–	10,013
Saanich and the Islands	New			SC	7,237	50.05%	3,416	23.62%	7,237	3,821	3,401	–	–	–	14,459
Shuswap		SC		SC	3,995	54.07%	1,400	18.95%	3,995	2,595	760	–	39	–	7,389
Skeena		SC		SC	3,046	55.39%	1,304	23.71%	3,046	1,742	711	–	–	–	5,499
South Okanagan		SC		SC	8,747	73.15%	6,811	56.96%	8,747	1,936	1,274	–	–	–	11,957
South Peace River		SC		SC	2,585	59.78%	1,697	39.24%	2,585	851	888	–	–	–	4,324
Surrey	New			NDP	7,039	48.20%	785	5.38%	6,254	7,039	1,234	–	77	–	14,604
West Vancouver-Howe Sound	New			Lib	8,346	52.76%	2,847	18.00%	5,499	1,975	8,346	–	–	–	15,820
Yale-Lillooet	New			NDP	3,885	55.37%	754	10.74%	3,131	3,885	–	–	–	–	7,016

^ Jacob Francis Huhn, previously elected as the Socred incumbent, received 583 votes.

= open seat

= turnout is above provincial average

= winning candidate was in previous Legislature

= incumbent had switched allegiance

= previously incumbent in another riding

= not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

= incumbency arose from byelection gain

= other incumbents renominated

= multiple candidates

Results by riding - 1966 British Columbia general election (multiple-member districts)^[4]
Riding		Winning party		Votes
Name	MLAs	1963	1966	SC	NDP	Lib	PC	Comm	Ind	Total
Name	MLAs	1963	1966							Total
Vancouver-Burrard	2	2	2	7,584	9,849	3,190	–	–	–	40,386
Vancouver-Burrard	2	2	2	7,584	9,498	2,681	–	–	–	40,386
Vancouver Centre	2	2	2	8,157	7,257	4,147	–	253	144	38,570
Vancouver Centre	2	2	2	7,938	6,871	3,803	–	–	–	38,570
Vancouver East	2	2	2	8,644	12,502	1,637	–	377	–	45,521
Vancouver East	2	2	2	8,593	12,185	1,583	–	–	–	45,521
Vancouver-Little Mountain	2	New	2	12,380^[a 1]	8,620	4,681	–	–	–	50,040
Vancouver-Little Mountain	2	New	2	11,566	8,523	4,270	–	–	–	50,040
Vancouver-Point Grey	2	2 1	2	11,494	2,934	17,400	–	–	–	57,472
Vancouver-Point Grey	2	2 1	2	9,284	2,853	13,507	–	–	–	57,472
Vancouver South	2	New	2	12,259^[a 2]	9,067	5,698	–	–	502	53,784
Vancouver South	2	New	2	11,740^[a 3]	8,843	5,675	–	–	–	53,784
Victoria City	2	3	2	13,068	5,304	4,774	–	241	–	45,315
Victoria City	2	3	2	12,156	5,175	4,597	–	–	–	45,315

^ Leslie Peterson was previously MLA in Vancouver Centre
^ Ralph Raymond Loffmark was previously MLA in Vancouver-Point Grey.
^ Thomas Audley Bate was MLA in Vancouver-Point Grey during 1953-1963.

= winning candidate

References

^ Constitution Act Amendment Act, 1966, S.B.C. 1966, c. 11
^ ^a ^b Elections BC 1988, pp. 285, 293.
^ ^a ^b ^c Elections BC 1988, pp. 2–3.
^ ^a ^b Elections BC 1988, pp. 287–292, 295–299.

v t e Elections and referendums in British Columbia
General elections	1856 1860 1863 1866 1869 1871 1875 1878 1882 1886 1890 1894 1898 1900 1903 1907 1909 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1933 1937 1941 1945 1949 1952 1953 1956 1960 1963 1966 1969 1972 1975 1979 1983 1986 1991 1996 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2020 2024
Municipal elections	2005 2008 2011 2014 2018 2022
Referendums	1873 1909 1916 1920 1924 1937 1952 1972 1991 2002 2005 2009 2011 2018
See also: List of British Columbia by-elections

This page was last edited on 17 March 2024, at 23:47