| Election Name: | 1937 British Columbia general election |
| Country: | British Columbia |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | no |
| Party Name: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1933 British Columbia general election |
| Previous Year: | 1933 |
| Next Election: | 1941 British Columbia general election |
| Next Year: | 1941 |
| Seats For Election: | 48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia |
| Majority Seats: | 25 |
| Election Date: | June 1, 1937 |
| Image1: | Thomas Dufferin Pattullo (cropped).jpg |
| Image1 Size: | 100x100px |
| Leader1: | Thomas Dufferin Pattullo |
| Leader Since1: | 1928 |
| Leaders Seat1: | Prince Rupert |
| Last Election1: | 34 |
| Seats1: | 31 |
| Seat Change1: | 3 |
| Popular Vote1: | 156,074 |
| Percentage1: | 37.34% |
| Swing1: | 4.40pp |
| Leader2: | Frank Porter Patterson |
| Leader Since2: | 1936 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Dewdney |
| Last Election2: | 1 |
| Seats2: | 8 |
| Seat Change2: | 7 |
| Popular Vote2: | 119,521 |
| Percentage2: | 28.60% |
| Swing2: | 24.55pp |
| Image3: | CCF |
| Leader3: | None |
| Last Election3: | 7 |
| Seats3: | 7 |
| Popular Vote3: | 119,400 |
| Percentage3: | 28.57% |
| Swing3: | 2.96pp |
| Premier | |
| Before Election: | Thomas Dufferin Pattullo |
| Posttitle: | Premier after election |
| After Election: | Thomas Dufferin Pattullo |
The 1937 British Columbia general election was the nineteenth 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 14, 1937, and held on June 1, 1937. The new legislature met for the first time on October 26, 1937.
The governing Liberal Party, despite winning only 37% of the popular vote, benefited from the split in the vote between the Conservative Party and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and won a solid majority of the seats in the legislature.
The rift in the Conservative Party that led to its decision not to nominate candidates in the 1933 election had been resolved, and the party was able to form the official opposition.
The Conservatives and CCF each won about 29% of the vote, and only 8 seats and 7 seats, respectively. The remaining two seats were won by Labour and Independent candidates.
In 1936, the Legislature passed an Act providing for the creation of a health insurance plan for the Province.[1] This was 26 years ahead of its introduction in Saskatchewan in 1962. The medical profession resisted its implementation to such a degree that a plebiscite was held on the same day as the election.
The question asked was, "Are you in favour of a comprehensive Health Insurance plan progressively applied?" The results were as follows:
| Type of vote | Yes | No | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary and absentee votes | 143,218 | 98,946 | 242,164 | |
| Yes or No written on the ballot | 4,613 | 4,687 | 9,300 | |
| Total | 147,831 | 103,633 | 251,464 | |
| Percentage | 58.79% | 41.21% | 100.00% | |
| Electoral districts carried | 42 | 6 | 48 |
Despite the majority in favour, the legislation was never brought into force, but it would not be repealed until 1973.[2] Medicare was finally introduced after the 1967 passage of the Medical Services Act.[3]
|-! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party! rowspan=2 | Party leader! colspan=4 | MLAs! colspan=4 | Votes|-! Candidates!1933[4] !1937!±!#! ±!%! ± (pp)|style="text-align:left;" |Duff Pattullo| 48 || 35 || 31 || 4 || 156,074 || 3,057 || 37.34 || 4.40[5] |style="text-align:left;" |Frank Porter Patterson| 43 || 4 || 8 || 4 || 119,521 || 54,278 || 28.60 || 11.48|-|rowspan="3" | |style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|CCF split|-|style="text-align:left;" ||style="text-align:left;" |None[6] | 46 || 7 || 7 || || 119,400 || 785 || 28.57 || 2.96|-|style="text-align:left;" ||style="text-align:left;" |Robert Connell| 14 || – || – || – || 8,086 || 8,086 || 1.93 ||New| || 11 || 1 || 1 || || 7,341 || 18,317 || 1.76 || 4.97 (all factions)| || 2 || 1 || 1 || || 1,787 || 570 || 0.43 || 0.19|style="text-align:left;" |Andrew Henry Jukes| 18 || – || – || – || 4,812 || 4,812 || 1.15 ||New| || 1 || – || – || – || 567 || 567 || 0.14 ||New| || 2 || – || – || – || 287 || 287 || 0.07 ||Returned| || 1 || – || – || – || 54 || 54 || 0.01 ||New|-! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total| 186| 48! colspan="2"| 48! colspan="2"|417,929! colspan="2"| 100.00%|-| colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Rejected ballots| 4,143 ||763| colspan="2"||-| colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Actual voters who voted| 265,446 ||29,031| 71.20% || 1.87|-| colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Registered voters| 372,781 ||49,241| colspan="2"||}
| Riding | Winning party | Votes | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | 1933 | Party | Votes | Share | Margin # | Margin % | Lib | Con | CCF | Total | |||||||
| Alberni-Nanaimo | Lib | Lib | 3,616 | 44.34% | 487 | 5.98% | 3,616 | 1,014 | 3,129[7] | 397 | – | – | – | 8,156 | |||
| Atlin | Lib | Lib | 562 | 54.56% | 299 | 29.03% | 562 | 205 | 263 | – | – | – | – | 1,030 | |||
| Burnaby | CCF | CCF | 5,908 | 44.03% | 2,529 | 18.85% | 3,379 | 2,307 | 5,908 | 644 | 136 | 1,073 | – | 13,417 | |||
| Cariboo | Lib | Lib | 1,921 | 74.57% | 1,266 | 49.14% | 1,921 | – | – | – | – | 655 | – | 2,576 | |||
| Chilliwack | Lib | Con | 2,524 | 40.08% | 304 | 4.83% | 2,220 | 2,524 | 1,554 | – | – | – | – | 6,298 | |||
| Columbia | Lib | Lib | 921 | 57.06% | 550 | 34.07% | 921 | 371 | 322 | – | – | – | – | 1,614 | |||
| Comox | Lib | CCF | 2,336 | 44.83% | 460 | 8.83% | 1,876 | 999 | 2,336 | – | – | – | – | 5,211 | |||
| Cowichan-Newcastle | OG | CCF | 1,560 | 33.58% | 336 | 7.23% | 1,224 | 639 | 1,560 | – | – | 1,222 | – | 4,645 | |||
| Cranbrook | Lib | Lib | 3,110 | 76.73% | 2,167 | 53.46% | 3,110 | – | 943 | – | – | – | – | 4,053 | |||
| Delta | CCF | CCF | 3,192 | 32.93% | 90 | 0.92% | 3,102 | 2,815 | 3,192 | 583 | – | – | – | 9,692 | |||
| Dewdney | Lib | Con | 1,870 | 39.27% | 252 | 5.29% | 1,618 | 1,870 | 1,274 | – | – | – | – | 4,762 | |||
| Esquimalt | Un | Con | 1,642 | 41.60% | 226 | 5.72% | 1,416 | 1,642 | 765 | – | 57 | 67 | – | 3,947 | |||
| Fernie | ILP | ILP | 1,701 | 53.64% | 231 | 7.28% | 1,470 | – | – | – | – | – | 1,701 | 3,171 | |||
| Fort George | Lib | Lib | 1,493 | 51.54% | 323 | 11.15% | 1,493 | 234 | 1,170 | – | – | – | – | 2,897 | |||
| Grand Forks-Greenwood | Lib | Lib | 722 | 41.93% | 19 | 1.11% | 722 | 703 | 164 | 133 | – | – | – | 1,722 | |||
| The Islands | Lib | Con | 953 | 45.12% | 259 | 12.26% | 694 | 953 | 414 | – | 51 | – | – | 2,112 | |||
| Kamloops | Lib | Lib | 1,786 | 38.89% | 325 | 7.07% | 1,786 | 1,461 | 1,345 | – | – | – | – | 4,592 | |||
| Kaslo-Slocan | Lib | Lib | 1,064 | 38.86% | 135 | 4.93% | 1,064 | 715 | 929 | – | 30 | – | – | 2,738 | |||
| Lillooet | Lib | Lib | 1,176 | 39.78% | 251 | 8.49% | 1,176 | 925 | 855 | – | – | – | – | 2,956 | |||
| Mackenzie | CCF | Lib | 1,828 | 33.93% | 167 | 3.10% | 1,828 | 1,661 | 1,625 | 152 | 122 | – | – | 5,388 | |||
| Nelson-Creston | Lib | Lib | 2,149 | 39.17% | 248 | 4.52% | 2,149 | 1,901 | 1,121 | – | 177 | 139 | – | 5,487 | |||
| New Westminster | Lib | Lib | 4,055 | 52.02% | 2,289 | 29.36% | 4,055 | 1,766 | 1,321 | – | – | – | 653 | 7,795 | |||
| North Okanagan | Lib | Lib | 2,689 | 52.64% | 970 | 18.99% | 2,689 | 1,719 | 700 | – | – | – | – | 5,108 | |||
| North Vancouver | CCF | CCF | 2,749 | 32.23% | 363 | 4.25% | 1,847 | 1,522 | 2,749 | – | – | 2,411 | – | 8,529 | |||
| Omineca | Lib | Lib | 1,013 | 50.90% | 230 | 11.55% | 1,013 | 194 | 783 | – | – | – | – | 1,990 | |||
| Peace River | NP | Lib | 1,168 | 42.61% | 263 | 9.59% | 1,168 | 434 | 905 | – | – | 234 | – | 2,741 | |||
| Prince Rupert | Lib | Lib | 1,446 | 49.55% | 650 | 22.27% | 1,446 | 662 | 796 | – | 14 | – | – | 2,918 | |||
| Revelstoke | Lib | Lib | 1,162 | 61.16% | 629 | 33.11% | 1,162 | 533 | 205 | – | – | – | – | 1,900 | |||
| Rossland-Trail | Lib | Lib | 1,877 | 46.70% | 626 | 15.57% | 1,877 | 1,251 | 891 | – | – | – | – | 4,019 | |||
| Lib | Lib | 2,106 | 36.14% | 447 | 7.67% | 2,106 | 1,659 | 1,531 | 224 | 271 | 37 | – | 5,828 | ||||
| Salmon Arm | NP | Ind | 1,533 | 48.33% | 649 | 20.46% | 884 | – | 755 | – | – | 1,533[8] | – | 3,172 | |||
| Similkameen | Lib | Lib | 2,266 | 43.55% | 136 | 2.61% | 2,266 | 2,130 | 807 | – | – | – | – | 5,203 | |||
| Skeena | Lib | Lib | 1,006 | 59.74% | 328 | 19.48% | 1,006 | – | 678 | – | – | – | – | 1,684 | |||
| South Okanagan | Lib | Lib | 2,388 | 45.02% | 287 | 5.41% | 2,388 | 2,101 | 815 | – | – | – | – | 5,304 | |||
| Yale | Lib | Lib | 968 | 59.94% | 546 | 33.81% | 968 | 225 | 422 | – | – | – | – | 1,615 | |||
= open seat
= 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
| Riding | Winning party | Votes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | MLAs | 1933 | 1937 | Lib | Con | CCF | Total | |||||
| Vancouver-Burrard | 2 | 16,903 | 13,503 | 14,423 | 765 | 581 | – | 54 | 46,229 | |||
| Vancouver Centre | 2 | 12,821 | 8,261 | 11,461 | 891 | 922 | – | 234 | 34,590 | |||
| Vancouver East | 2 | 10,314 | 5,914 | 23,102 | 1,146 | 389 | – | 53 | 40,918 | |||
| Vancouver-Point Grey | 3 | 27,243 | 29,134 | 18,589 | – | 1,001 | – | – | 75,967 | |||
| Victoria City | 4 | 26,571 | 25,574 | 9,598 | 3,151 | 1,061 | – | – | 65,955 | |||