1975 British Columbia general election

The 1975 British Columbia general election was the 31st 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 November 3, 1975, and held on December 11, 1975. The new legislature met for the first time on March 17, 1976.

1975 British Columbia general election

← 1972 December 11, 1975 1979 →

55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
28 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Bill Bennett Dave Barrett
Party Social Credit New Democratic
Leader since 1973 1969
Leader's seat South Okanagan Coquitlam (lost re-election)
Last election 10 seats, 31.16% 38 seats, 39.59%
Seats won 35 18
Seat change Increase25 Decrease20
Popular vote 635,482 505,396
Percentage 49.25% 39.16%
Swing Increase18.09 Decrease0.43

  Third party Fourth party
 
BCLP
PC
Leader Gordon Gibson George Scott Wallace
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since 1975 1973
Leader's seat North Vancouver-Capilano Oak Bay
Last election 5 seats, 16.40% 2 seats, 12.67%
Seats won 1 1
Seat change Decrease4 Decrease1
Popular vote 93,397 49,796
Percentage 7.24% 3.86%
Swing Decrease9.16 Decrease8.81

Premier before election

Dave Barrett
New Democratic

Premier after election

Bill Bennett
Social Credit

The governing New Democratic Party of Dave Barrett was defeated after three years in government. Bill Bennett, son of long-time Social Credit Party leader and BC premier, W.A.C. Bennett, led Social Credit back to power, winning close to half of the popular vote, and a solid majority in the legislature.

Voters abandoned the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties as the centre and right-wing vote coalesced around Social Credit. The defeated social democratic NDP suffered only a marginal decrease in its vote share. However, NDP support outside Vancouver tailed off, resulting in a 20-seat loss. Barrett was one of the casualties; he was narrowly defeated by a Socred challenger (though he returned to the legislature a few months later in a by-election).

This was the last election until 2024 that the Conservative Party won a seat.

Results

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Summary of the 1975 Legislative Assembly of British Columbia election results
Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1972 Elected % Change # % % Change
Social Credit Bill Bennett 55 10 35 +250% 635,482 49.25% +18.09%
New Democratic Dave Barrett 55 38 18 -52.6% 505,396 39.16% -0.43%
Liberal Gordon Gibson 49 5 1 -80.0% 93,379 7.24% -9.16%
Progressive Conservative George Scott Wallace 29 2 1 -50.0% 49,796 3.86% -8.81%
  Independent 12 - - - 4,688 0.36% +0.26%
  Communist 13 - - - 1,441 0.11% +0.03%
  North American Labour 4 * - * 141 0.01% *
  Revolutionary Marxist Group 3 * - * 94 0.01% *
  League for Socialist Action 1 * - * 34 x *
Total 221 55 55 - 1,290,451 100%  
Source: [1]

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Popular vote
Social Credit
49.25%
NDP
39.16%
Liberal
7.24%
PC
3.86%
Others
0.49%
Seats summary
Social Credit
63.64%
NDP
32.73%
Liberal
1.82%
PC
1.82%

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Electoral History of British Columbia 1871-1986 Part One 31st General Election 1975". elections.bc.ca. Archived from the original on December 21, 2004.

Further reading

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