1916 British Columbia general election


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 provided for the life of the Assembly to be extended to five years, and members of the clergy were no longer disqualified from being elected as MLAs.
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, including one Independent Socialist.
Soldiers serving overseas in the First World War were able to vote in the election, and their votes were cast between August 5 and Election Day.
Two referendums were also held on Election Day, but their results were not announced until later in the year.

1915 redistribution of ridings

An Act was passed in 1915, providing for an increase in the seats in the Assembly from 42 to 47 upon the next election. The following changes were made:

Results

! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party
! rowspan=2 | Party leader
! colspan=4 | MLAs
! colspan=4 | Votes
! Candidates
!1912
!1916

!#
! ±
!%
! ±
! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total
! " colspan="2"|47
! " colspan="2"|179,774
! " colspan="2"| 100.00%
! Party !! Seats !! Votes !! colspan="3" | Change

Results by riding

The following MLAs were elected: