1979 British Columbia general election

Canadian provincial election

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1979 British Columbia general election

* * *

| ← 1975 | May 10, 1979 | 1983 →

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← outgoing members

elected members →

* * *

57 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
29 seats were needed for a majority
|   | First party  | Second party  | Third party

|
|
|

|  |  |

Leader  | Bill Bennett | Dave Barrett | Victor Stephens
Party  | Social Credit | New Democratic | Progressive Conservative
Leader since  | 1973  | 1969  | 1977
Leader's seat  | Okanagan South | Vancouver East | Oak Bay-Gordon Head (lost re-election)
Last election  | 35 seats, 49.25% | 18 seats, 39.16% | 1 seat, 3.86%
Seats won  | 31 | 26  | 0
Seat change  | 4  | 8  | 1
Popular vote  | 677,607 | 646,188  | 71,078
Percentage  | 48.23% | 45.99%  | 5.06%
Swing  | 1.02  | 6.83  | 1.20

* * *

| Premier before election

Bill Bennett
Social Credit

| Premier after election

Bill Bennett
Social Credit

|

The 1979 British Columbia general election was the 32nd 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 3, 1979. The election was held on May 10, 1979, and the new legislature met for the first time on June 6, 1979.

The governing Social Credit Party of British Columbia of Bill Bennett was re-elected with a majority government, and won almost half of the popular vote. The electorate was polarized between the Socreds and the social democratic New Democratic Party of former premier Dave Barrett, which won just under 46% of the popular vote and all of the remaining seats in the legislature. The NDP made up much of the ground it had lost in its severe defeat of four years earlier. However, the Socreds dominated the Fraser Valley and the Interior, allowing Bennett to cling to government by three seats.

Of the other parties, only the Progressive Conservatives won over 1% of the popular vote, but their 5% of the vote did not enable them to hold on to their single seat in the legislature. That party was shut out until 2024. The party leader, Victor Stephens, complained during the campaign that the Federal PC Party was providing no assistance to the provincial party and favoured Social Credit instead. That caused embarrassment for the federal party leader, Joe Clark, who was leading his own election campaign for the May 22, 1979 federal election. The Liberals were shut out of the legislature, garnered only 0.5% of the vote, and did not return until 1991.

## Results

[edit]

Party  | Party leader  | # of
candidates  | Seats  | Popular vote

|
|
|
|

1975 | Elected  | % Change  | #  | %  | % Change
| Social Credit | Bill Bennett | 57  | 35  | 31 | -11.4%  | 677,607  | 48.23%  | -1.02%
| New Democrats | Dave Barrett | 57  | 18  | 26 | 44.4%  | 646,188  | 45.99%  | +6.83%
| Progressive Conservative | Victor Stephens | 37  | 1  | \-  | -100%  | 71,078  | 5.06%  | +1.20%
| Liberal | Jev Tothill | 5  | 1  | \-  | -100%  | 6,662  | 0.47%  | -6.77%
| Communist |   | 7  | \-  | \-  | \-  | 1,159  | 0.08%  | -0.03%
| Independent  | 5  | \-  | \-  | \-  | 1,098  | 0.08%  | -0.28%
| Western Independence |   | 2  | *  | \-  | *  | 555  | 0.04%  | *
| North American Labour |   | 4  | \-  | \-  | \-  | 297  | 0.02%  | +0.01%
| Marxist–Leninist  |   | 2  | *  | \-  | *  | 235  | 0.02%  | *
| Gay Alliance Toward Equality |   | 1  | *  | \-  | *  | 126  | 0.01%  | *
| Independent New Hope |   | 1  | *  | \-  | *  | 72  | 0.01%  | *
Total | 178  | 55  | 57  | +3.6%  | 1,405,077  | 100%  |
Source: [1]

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

| Popular vote

|  |
Social Credit |

| 48.23%
NDP |

| 45.99%
PC |

| 5.06%
Others |

| 0.72%

| Seats summary

|  |
Social Credit |

| 54.39%
NDP |

| 45.61%

## See also

[edit]

* List of British Columbia political parties

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Electoral History of British Columbia 1871-1986 Part One 32nd General Election 1979". elections.bc.ca. Archived from the original on December 21, 2004.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Byers, R.B. (1981). Canadian annual review of politics and public affairs. 1979. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-7193-5.

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*[49.25%]: Share of the total popular vote in the previous election
*[39.16%]: Share of the total popular vote in the previous election
*[3.86%]: Share of the total popular vote in the previous election
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