1960 British Columbia general election

British Columbia general election, 1960

September 12, 1960
52 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 27 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader W. A. C. Bennett Robert Strachan Party Social Credit New Democratic Leader since 1952 1956 Leader's seat South Okanagan Cowichan-Newcastle Last election 39 10 Seats won 32 16 Seat change -7 +6 Popular vote 386,886 326,094 Percentage 38.83 32.73 Swing -7.01 +4.41   Third party Fourth party   Leader Ray Perrault Deane Finlayson Party Liberal Conservative Leader since 1959 1952 Leader's seat North Vancouver Ran in North Vancouver (lost) Last election 2 0 Seats won 4 0 Seat change +2 0 Popular vote 208,249 66,943 Percentage 20.90 6.72 Swing -0.87 +3.61
Premier before election W. A. C. Bennett Social Credit Premier-designate W. A. C. Bennett Social Credit

The British Columbia general election of 1960 was the 26th 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 3, 1960, and held on September 12, 1960. The new legislature met for the first time on January 26, 1961.

The conservative Social Credit of Premier W.A.C. Bennett was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a fourth term in government despite losing seven percentage points of the popular vote and seven of its seats in the legislature.

The opposition Co-operative Commonwealth Federation increased both its share of the popular vote and its number of seats.

The British Columbia Liberal Party lost a small part of its popular vote, but managed to double its caucus from two to four members.

The Progressive Conservative Party doubled its share of the popular vote to almost 7%, but won no seats in the legislature.

Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1956	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Social Credit	W.A.C. Bennett	52	39	32	-17.9%	386,886	38.83%	-7.01%
	CCF	Bob Strachan	52	10	16	+60.0%	326,094	32.73%	+4.41%
	Liberal	Ray Perrault	50	2	4	+100%	208,249	20.90%	-0.87%
	Progressive Conservative	Deane Finlayson	52	-	-	-	66,943	6.72%	+3.61%
	Communist		19	-	-	-	5,675	0.57%	+0.16%
	Independent		5	-	-	-	2,557	0.25%	-0.12%
Total			230	52	52	-	996,404	100%
Sources: Elections BC

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1960
Government				Opposition
	Member	Riding & party		Riding & party		Member
	William Collins Speare	Cariboo Social Credit			Alberni CCF	Stanley John Squire
	William Kenneth Kiernan	Chilliwack Social Credit			Atlin CCF	Frank Arthur Calder
	Richard Orr Newton	Columbia Social Credit			Burnaby CCF	Cedric Cox
	Daniel Robert John Campbell	Comox Social Credit				Gordon Dowding
	Herbert Joseph Bruch	Esquimalt Social Credit			Cowichan-Newcastle CCF	Robert Martin Strachan2
	Ray Gillis Williston	Fort George Social Credit			Cranbrook CCF	Leo Thomas Nimsick
	Philip Arthur Gaglardi	Kamloops Social Credit			Delta CCF	Camille Mather
	Donald Frederick Robinson	Lillooet Social Credit				James Henry Rhodes
	Earle Cathers Westwood	Nanaimo and the Islands Social Credit			Dewdney CCF	Dave Barrett
	Wesley Drewett Black	Nelson-Creston Social Credit			Grand Forks-Greenwood CCF	Lois Haggen
	Lorne Shantz	North Okanagan Social Credit			Kaslo-Slocan CCF	Randolph Harding
	Jacob Francis Huhn	North Peace River Social Credit			Mackenzie CCF	Anthony John Gargrave
	Cyril Morley Shelford	Omineca Social Credit			New Westminster CCF	Rae Eddie
	William Harvey Murray	Prince Rupert Social Credit			Revelstoke CCF	George Hobbs
	Donald Leslie Brothers	Rossland-Trail Social Credit			Vancouver East CCF	Alexander Barrett MacDonald
	John Douglas Tidball Tisdalle	Saanich Social Credit				Arthur James Turner
	Willis Franklin Jefcoat	Salmon Arm Social Credit			Fernie Liberal	Henry Cartmell (Harry) McKay
	Frank Richter, Jr.	Similkameen Social Credit			North Vancouver Liberal	James Gordon Gibson
	Dudley George Little	Skeena Social Credit				Raymond Joseph Perrault
	William Andrew Cecil Bennett1	South Okanagan Social Credit			Oak Bay Liberal	Alan Brock MacFarlane
	Stanley Carnell	South Peace River Social Credit
	Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin	Vancouver-Burrard Social Credit
	Herbert Price
	Alexander Small Matthew	Vancouver Centre Social Credit
	Leslie Raymond Peterson
	Thomas Audley Bate	Vancouver-Point Grey Social Credit
	Robert William Bonner
	Buda Hosmer Brown
	William Neelands Chant	Victoria City Social Credit
	Waldo McTavish Skillings
	John Donald Smith
	Irvine Finlay Corbett	Yale Social Credit
	1 Premier-Elect	2 Leader of the Opposition
Source: Elections BC

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties