1937 British Columbia general election

1937 British Columbia general election

← 1933 June 1, 1937 1941 →
← outgoing members elected members →
48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 25 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Con CCF Leader Thomas Dufferin Pattullo Frank Porter Patterson None[a] Party Liberal Conservative Co-operative Commonwealth Leader since 1928 1936 Leader's seat Prince Rupert Dewdney Last election 34 1[b] 7 Seats won 31 8 7 Seat change 3 7[c] Popular vote 156,074 119,521 119,400 Percentage 37.34% 28.60% 28.57% Swing 4.40pp 24.55pp[c] 2.96pp
Premier before election Thomas Dufferin Pattullo Liberal Premier after election Thomas Dufferin Pattullo Liberal

The 1937 British Columbia general election was the nineteenth 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 14, 1937, and held on June 1, 1937. The new legislature met for the first time on October 26, 1937.

The governing Liberal Party, despite winning only 37% of the popular vote, benefited from the split in the vote between the Conservative Party and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and won a solid majority of the seats in the legislature.

The rift in the Conservative Party that led to its decision not to nominate candidates in the 1933 election had been resolved, and the party was able to form the official opposition.

The Conservatives and CCF each won about 29% of the vote, and only 8 seats and 7 seats, respectively. The remaining two seats were won by Labour and Independent candidates.

In 1936, the Legislature passed an Act providing for the creation of a health insurance plan for the Province.^[1] This was 26 years ahead of its introduction in Saskatchewan in 1962. The medical profession resisted its implementation to such a degree that a plebiscite was held on the same day as the election.

The question asked was, "Are you in favour of a comprehensive Health Insurance plan progressively applied?" The results were as follows:

Despite the majority in favour, the legislation was never brought into force,^[2] but it would not be repealed until 1973.^[3] Medicare was finally introduced after the 1967 passage of the Medical Services Act.^[4]

Elections to the 19th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1937)^[5]

Political party		Party leader	MLAs				Votes
			Candidates	1933[a 1]	1937	±	#	±	%	± (pp)
	Liberal	Duff Pattullo	48	35	31	4	156,074	3,057	37.34	4.40
	Conservative[a 2]	Frank Porter Patterson	43	4	8	4	119,521	54,278	28.60	11.48
	CCF split
	█ Co-operative Commonwealth	None[a 3]	46	7	7		119,400	785	28.57	2.96
	█ Social Constructive	Robert Connell	14	–	–	–	8,086	8,086	1.93	New
	Independent		11	1	1		7,341	18,317	1.76	4.97
	Labour (all factions)		2	1	1		1,787	570	0.43	0.19
	Social Credit League	Andrew Henry Jukes	18	–	–	–	4,812	4,812	1.15	New
	Communist		1	–	–	–	567	567	0.14	New
	Socialist		2	–	–	–	287	287	0.07	Returned
	Financial Justice		1	–	–	–	54	54	0.01	New
Total			186	48	48		417,929		100.00%
Rejected ballots[6]							4,143	763
Actual voters who voted[6]							265,446	29,031	71.20%	1.87
Registered voters[6]							372,781	49,241

  = open seat

  = winning candidate was in previous Legislature

  = incumbent had switched allegiance

  = previously incumbent in another riding

  = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

  = incumbency arose from byelection gain

  = other incumbents renominated

  = multiple candidates

• List of British Columbia political parties

• An Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871-1986 (PDF). Victoria: Elections British Columbia. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.
• The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1937 and 1938. Toronto: The Annual Review Company. 1940.