British Columbia general election, 1878

This was the third election held after British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871.

Political context

Non-party system

There were to be no political parties in the new province. The designations "Government" and "Opposition" and "Independent" (and variations on these) functioned in place of parties, but they were very loose and do not represent formal coalitions, more alignments of support during the campaign. "Government" meant in support of the current Premier; "Opposition" meant campaigning against him, and often enough the Opposition would win and immediately become the Government. The Elections British Columbia notes for this election describe the designations as "Government (GOV.) candidates supported the administration of G.A.B. Walkem. Those opposed ran as Reform (REF.), Opposition (OPP.), Independent Reform (IND.REF.), or Independent Opposition (IND.OPP.) candidates. Those who ran as straight Independents (IND.) were sometimes described as Government supporters (IND./GOV.).

The Walkem Government

See Notes on the previous election.

Byelections not shown

Any changes due to byelections are shown below the main table showing the theoretical composition of the House after the election. A final table showing the composition of the House at the dissolution of the Legislature at the end of this Parliament can be found below the byelections. The main table represents the immediate results of the election only, not changes in governing coalitions or eventual changes due to byelections.

List of ridings

The original ridings had remained twelve in number, electing 25 members of the first provincial legislature from 12 ridings (electoral districts), some with multiple members. There were no political parties were not acceptable in the House by convention, though some members were openly partisan at the federal level (usually Conservative, although both Liberal and Labour allegiance were on display by some candidates).

These ridings were:

Statistics

Vancouver Island 3,714 votes, twelve seats 309.5 votes/seat

Mainland 2,271 votes 11 seats (excluding Kootenay's) 206.45 votes/seat :

Note that these figures refer to votes actually cast, not the population per se nor the total of the potential voters' list.

Polling conditions

Property requirements for voting instigated for the 1875 election were dropped. Natives (First Nations) and Chinese were disallowed from voting, although naturalized Kanakas (Hawaiian colonists) and American and West Indian blacks and certain others participated. The requirement that knowledge of English be spoken for balloting was discussed but not applied.

Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1878
Government Opposition
Member Riding
& party		 Riding
& party		 Member
     Edwin Pimbury Cowichan
Government		           Cariboo
Opposition		 George Cowan     
     William Smithe           John Evans     
     Wellington John Harris New Westminster
Government		           George Anthony Boomer Walkem1     
     Donald McGillivray           Comox
Opposition		 John Ash     
     Ebenezer Brown New Westminster City
Government		           Esquimalt
Opposition		 Hans Lars Helgesen     
     Preston Bennett Yale
Government		           Frederick W. Williams     
     John Andrew Mara           Kootenay
Opposition		 Robert Leslie Thomas Galbraith     
     Forbes George Vernon           Charles Gallagher     
     Lillooet
Opposition		 William M. Brown     
     William Saul     
     Nanaimo
Opposition		 James Atkinson Abrams     
     Victoria
Opposition		 Thomas Basil Humphreys     
     James Thomas McIlmoyl     
     Victoria City
Independent
Opposition		 Robert Beaven     
     James Smith Drummond     
     John William Williams     
     William Wilson     
1 Premier-Elect and Incumbent Premier
Source: Elections BC

Byelections

As customary, byelections were held to confirm the appointment of various members to the Executive Council (cabinet). In this Parliament, all three such byelections were won by acclamation:

Walkem's byelection acclamation confirmed him as Premier; Executive Council appointments were decided and made by the Lieutenant-Governor in this period, not by the Premier directly, but by the L-G in Consultation with the Premier (as still is the case, though only as a formal technicality, not in practice). The Premier's position itself was technically an appointment, as there were no political parties nor leaders, other than unofficial ones for each faction in the House to whom the Lieutenant-Governor would turn if their known caucus was sufficient to form a government.

Other byelections were held on the occasion of death, ill health, retirement and/or resignation for other reasons. These were won by:

Composition of House at dissolution

Note: Government/Opposition status applies to candidate at time of election in 1878, not at time of dissolution in 1882.

Composition of 3rd British Columbia Parliament at Dissolution, 1882
Government Opposition
Member Riding
& party		 Riding
& party		 Member
     Edwin Pimbury Cowichan
Government		           Cariboo
Opposition		 George Cowan     
     William Smithe           George Ferguson     
     Wellington John Harris New Westminster
Government		           George Anthony Boomer Walkem     
     Donald McGillivray           Comox
Opposition		 John Ash     
     William James Armstrong New Westminster City
Government		           Esquimalt
Opposition		 Hans Lars Helgesen     
     Preston Bennett Yale
Government		           Frederick W. Williams     
     John Andrew Mara           Kootenay
Opposition		 Robert Leslie Thomas Galbraith     
     Forbes George Vernon           Charles Gallagher     
     Lillooet
Opposition		 William M. Brown     
     William Saul     
     Nanaimo
Opposition		 James Atkinson Abrams     
     Victoria
Opposition		 Thomas Basil Humphreys     
     James Thomas McIlmoyl     
     Victoria City
Independent
Opposition		 Robert Beaven     
     James Smith Drummond     
     John William Williams     
     William Wilson     
Source: Elections BC

Further reading & references

See also

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