| Election Name: | 1916 British Columbia general election |
| Country: | British Columbia |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | no |
| Party Name: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1912 British Columbia general election |
| Previous Year: | 1912 |
| Next Election: | 1920 British Columbia general election |
| Next Year: | 1920 |
| Seats For Election: | 47 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia |
| Majority Seats: | 24 |
| Election Date: | September 14, 1916 |
| Image1: | Harlan Carey Brewster.jpg |
| Image1 Size: | x160px |
| Leader1: | Harlan Carey Brewster |
| Leader Since1: | 1912 |
| Leaders Seat1: | Alberni |
| Last Election1: | 0 |
| Seats1: | 36 |
| Seat Change1: | 36 |
| Popular Vote1: | 89,892 |
| Percentage1: | 50.00% |
| Swing1: | 24.63pp |
| Image2 Size: | x160px |
| Leader2: | William John Bowser |
| Leader Since2: | 1915 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Vancouver City |
| Last Election2: | 39 |
| Seats2: | 9 |
| Seat Change2: | 30 |
| Popular Vote2: | 72,842 |
| Percentage2: | 40.52% |
| Swing2: | 19.13pp |
| Premier | |
| Before Election: | William John Bowser |
| Posttitle: | Premier after election |
| After Election: | Harlan Carey Brewster |
The 1916 British Columbia general election was the fourteenth general election for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on July 5, 1916, and held on September 14, 1916. The new legislature met for the first time on March 1, 1917.
A 1916 Act of the Legislature[1] provided for the life of the Assembly to be extended to five years,[2] and members of the clergy were no longer disqualified from being elected as MLAs.[3]
The Liberal Party defeated the governing Conservative Party, winning 50% of the vote, almost double its share from the previous election. The Liberals won 36 of the 47 seats in the legislature.
The Conservatives' popular vote fell from almost 60% to just over 40%, and took nine seats, forming the Official Opposition.
Two other seats were won by independents.
Soldiers serving overseas were able to vote in the election,[4] and their votes were cast between August 5 and Election Day.
Two referendums were also held on Election Day (concerning Prohibition and women's suffrage), but their results were not announced until later in the year.
An Act was passed in 1915, providing for an increase in the seats in the Assembly from 42 to 47 upon the next election. [5] The following changes were made:
| Abolished ridings | New ridings | |
|---|---|---|
| Abolition of multi-member district | ||
| Merger of districts | ||
| Division of districts | ||
|
| |
| Renaming of districts | ||
|-! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party! rowspan=2 | Party leader! colspan=4 | MLAs! colspan=4 | Votes|-! Candidates!1912!1916!±!#! ±!%! ± (pp)|style="text-align:left;"|Harlan Brewster|45 ||– ||36 ||36 ||89,892 ||68,459 ||50.00 ||24.63|style="text-align:left;"|William Bowser|46 ||39 ||9 ||30 ||72,842 ||22,419 ||40.52 ||19.13| |7 || – ||1 ||1 ||4,926 ||3,413 ||2.74 ||0.95| |3 || – ||1 ||1 ||1,321 ||1,321 ||0.74 ||| |4 ||1 || – ||1 ||3,014 ||1,851 ||1.68 ||0.31| |4 ||1 || – ||1 ||2,106 ||7,260 ||1.17 ||9.91| |3 ||1 || – ||1 ||1,012 ||391 ||0.56 ||0.18| |2 || – || – || – ||2,985 ||2,985 ||1.66 ||| |1 || – || – || – ||1,518 ||1,518 ||0.84 ||| |1 || – || – || – ||158 ||158 ||0.09 |||-! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total|116||42! " colspan="2"|47! " colspan="2"|179,774! " colspan="2"| 100.00%|}
The following MLAs were elected:
| Riding | Winning party | Votes | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | 1912 | Party | Votes | Share | Margin # | Margin % | Lib | Con | Soc | Total | ||||||||
| Alberni | Con | Lib | 393 | 39.26% | 38 | 3.80% | 393 | 355 | – | – | – | – | 253 | – | 1,001 | |||
| Atlin | Con | Lib | 329 | 54.29% | 52 | 8.58% | 329 | 277 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 606 | |||
| Cariboo | New | Lib | 453 | 68.64% | 246 | 37.28% | 453 | 207 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 660 | |||
| Chilliwhack | Con | Lib | 987 | 55.64% | 200 | 11.28% | 987 | 787 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,774 | |||
| Columbia | Lib | 541 | 66.63% | 270 | 33.26% | 541 | 271 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 812 | ||||
| Comox | Con | Lib | 916 | 43.07% | 34 | 1.60% | 916 | 882 | 246 | – | – | 83 | – | – | 2,127 | |||
| Cowichan | Con | Ind | 539 | 56.92% | 131 | 13.84% | 408 | – | – | – | – | – | 539 | – | 947 | |||
| Cranbrook | Con | Lib | 727 | 59.06% | 223 | 18.12% | 727 | 504 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,231 | |||
| Delta | Con | Con | 964 | 51.55% | 58 | 3.10% | 906 | 964 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,870 | |||
| Dewdney | Con | Lib | 927 | 54.08% | 140 | 8.16% | 927 | 787 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,714 | |||
| Esquimalt | Con | Con | 655 | 50.08% | 2 | 0.16% | 653 | 655 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,308 | |||
| Fernie | Con | Lib | 903 | 46.38% | 77 | 3.96% | 903 | 826 | 218 | – | – | – | – | – | 1,947 | |||
| Fort George | New | Con | 499 | 43.43% | 7 | 0.61% | – | 499 | – | – | 492 | – | – | 158 | 1,149 | |||
| Grand Forks | Con | Lib | 584 | 63.62% | 250 | 27.24% | 584 | 334 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 918 | |||
| Greenwood | Con | Lib | 491 | 70.55% | 286 | 41.10% | 491 | 205 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 696 | |||
| The Islands | Con | Lib | 358 | 50.28% | 4 | 0.56% | 358 | 354 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 712 | |||
| Kamloops | Con | Lib | 1,519 | 61.27% | 559 | 22.54% | 1,519 | 960 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,479 | |||
| Kaslo | Con | Lib | 456 | 54.94% | 82 | 9.88% | 456 | 374 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 830 | |||
| Lillooet | Con | Con | 296 | 52.39% | 27 | 4.78% | 269 | 296 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 565 | |||
| Nanaimo | Lib | 1,137 | 57.14% | 562 | 28.25% | 1,137 | 575 | – | – | 278 | – | – | – | 1,990 | ||||
| Nelson | New | Con | 607 | 48.99% | 100 | 8.07% | 507 | 607 | – | – | – | – | 125 | – | 1,239 | |||
| Newcastle | Soc | 551 | 56.11% | 120 | 12.22% | – | 431 | – | – | 551 | – | – | – | 982 | ||||
| New Westminster | Con | Lib | 1,369 | 53.58% | 183 | 7.16% | 1,369 | 1,186 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,555 | |||
| North Okanagan | New | Lib | 1,261 | 57.08% | 313 | 14.16% | 1,261 | 948 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,209 | |||
| North Vancouver | New | Lib | 980 | 52.80% | 382 | 20.58% | 980 | 598 | – | 278 | – | – | – | – | 1,856 | |||
| Omineca | New | Lib | 473 | 62.16% | 185 | 24.32% | 473 | 288 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 761 | |||
| Prince Rupert | Con | Lib | 1,062 | 52.89% | 116 | 5.78% | 1,062 | 946 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,008 | |||
| Revelstoke | Con | Lib | 802 | 60.62% | 281 | 21.24% | 802 | 521 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,323 | |||
| Richmond | Con | Lib | 1,441 | 54.07% | 252 | 9.45% | 1,441 | 1,189 | – | 35 | – | – | – | – | 2,665 | |||
| Rossland | Con | Lib | 424 | 55.79% | 88 | 11.58% | 424 | 336 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 760 | |||
| Con | Lib | 1,033 | 58.53% | 301 | 17.06% | 1,033 | 732 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,765 | ||||
| Similkameen | Con | Con | 650 | 55.41% | 127 | 10.82% | 523 | 650 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,173 | |||
| Slocan | Con | Lib | 448 | 50.06% | 1 | 0.12% | 448 | 447 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 895 | |||
| South Okanagan | New | Con | 845 | 54.52% | 140 | 9.04% | 705 | 845 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,550 | |||
| South Vancouver | New | Lib | 1,579 | 45.75% | 205 | 5.94% | 1,579 | 1,374 | – | – | – | – | – | 498 | 3,451 | |||
| Trail | New | Con | 626 | 45.56% | 142 | 10.33% | 484 | 626 | 262 | – | – | – | – | – | 1,372 | |||
| Yale | Con | Lib | 809 | 57.05% | 200 | 14.10% | 809 | 609 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,418 | |||
= 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
| Vancouver City ! | Victoria City | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Share | Change | Votes ! | Share | Change | 47,263 | 49.38% | 18.53% | 15,772 | 51.29% | 26.17% | 39,050 | 40.80% | -13.94% | 11,347 | 36.90% | -30.00% | 2,824 | 2.95% | 1.01% | 1,185 | 3.85% | 0.01% | 2,701 | 2.82% | New | – | – | – | 2,487 | 2.60% | New | – | – | – | 1,380 | 1.44% | -11.02% | – | – | -4.13% | – | – | – | 1,518 | 4.94% | New | – | – | – | 929 | 3.02% | New |
| Total | 46,285 | 100.00% | 16,034 | 100.00% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seats won | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Incumbents returned | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||