1972 British Columbia general election
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The 1972 British Columbia general election for the
The
The
In four ridings and part of a fifth, a referendum was held on the question of daylight saving time and which time zone to use concurrently with the election.
Social Credit ran a lackluster campaign beset by gaffes. A week before the general election, cabinet minister Phil Gaglardi remarked to a newspaper that Bennett would resign after the election, calling him "an old man who doesn't understand what is happening with the young people of this province".[1] The remark proved damaging, bringing the issue of whether Bennett and his party were worn out after 20 years in office to the forefront of the campaign.[2] A pre-campaign visit by Bennett and his cabinet to New Westminster turned violent after they were confronted by demonstrators, who injured eight ministers, a melee for which Bennett tried to blame Barrett.[2] Shortly after the Social Credit campaign started, Bennett was tricked into shaking hands with current Progressive Conservative leader Derril Warren in front of a photographer from The Province. After the photograph, depicting a smiling Warren and scowling Bennett, was published on The Province's front page, Bennett spent the rest of the campaign antagonising the media, refusing to tell reporters where he was appearing.[2]
Barrett benefited from his youth, allowing the media to contrast him with the aged Bennett, and ran a campaign focused on "people issues" such as urban transit, public auto insurance, and increased royalties from the province's timber and minerals industries.[2] Late in the campaign, Bennett declared at a Social Credit rally, "The socialist hordes are at the gates of British Columbia!"[2]
Although Bennett's campaign had been lacklustre, no commentators anticipated the party's loss. The resulting NDP majority came as a surprise.[3] Historian David J. Mitchell wrote, "The surprise was not just [the Social Credit] defeat, but its magnitude."[1][2] In his victory speech, Barrett told supporters that ten thousand people had worked for 40 years to get the NDP and its predecessor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, elected into office, and vowed, "I will not let their hopes or aspirations down."[2]
Results
Party | Party leader | # of candidates |
Seats | Popular vote | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1969 | Elected | % Change | # | % | % Change | ||||
New Democratic | Dave Barrett | 55 | 12 | 38 | +217% | 448,260 | 39.59% | +5.67% | |
Social Credit | W. A. C. Bennett | 55 | 38 | 10 | -73.7% | 352,776 | 31.16% | -15.63% | |
Liberal
|
David Anderson | 53 | 5 | 5 | - | 185,640 | 16.40% | -2.63% | |
Progressive Conservative
|
Derril Thomas Warren | 49 | - | 2 | - | 143,450 | 12.67% | +12.56% | |
Independent | 9 | - | - | - | 1,184 | 0.10% | +0.02% | ||
Communist Party | 15 | - | - | - | 862 | 0.08% | +0.03% | ||
Total | 226 | 55 | 55 | - | 1,132,172 | 100% | |||
Source: [4] |
See also
Notes
- ^ Not the incumbent, but stood in this seat and won
References
- ^ ISBN 0-88894-395-4.
- ^ a b c d e f g Griffin, Norm; Rogers, Bruce (September 3, 1972). "1972: Dave Barrett elected Premier of B.C." (Radio program). CBC Digital Archives. CBC Radio: Sunday Magazine. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- ^ Dawes, Harvey (August 31, 1972). "B.C. Elections: Voters react to NDP victory in B.C." (Television program). CBC Digital Archives. Hourglass News. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
- ^ "Electoral History of British Columbia 1871-1986 Part One 30th General Election 1972". elections.bc.ca. Archived from the original on December 21, 2004.