Columbia (electoral district)

Columbia was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the election of 1903. It lasted until the 1928 election, when it was merged into Columbia-Revelstoke for the 1933 election. Following the election the new Pattullo government moved to reestablish Columbia as a separate riding, and former MLA Thomas King was elected by acclamation in a 1934 by election.

In 1966 the riding was renamed Columbia River. This riding was later merged with the Revelstoke riding to become Columbia River-Revelstoke, the current riding for the western part of the area. The eastern part of the riding is now part of East Kootenay.

For other current and historical electoral districts in the Kootenay region, please see Kootenay (electoral districts).

Demographics[edit]

Population, 1901
Population change, 1901–1911
Area (km²)
Population density (people per km²)

Note: Winners of each election are in bold.

13th British Columbia election, 1912
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent Conservative	Harold Ernest Forster¹	282	51.74%
	Conservative	George Henry Parson	263	48.26%
Total valid votes			545	100.00%
¹ When he failed to obtain the official nomination, Forster ran as an Independent Conservative but in full support of the McBride government.

16th British Columbia election, 1924
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Andrew Buckham	644	56.84%		unknown
	Conservative	Arthur Murray Chisholm	294	25.95%		unknown
	Provincial	James Stewart Johnston	195	17.21%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			1,133	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

17th British Columbia election, 1928
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	John Andrew Buckham	659	50.23%	unknown
	Independent	Gladys Elspeth Cross	26	1.98%	unknown
	Conservative	Earle Jennings Scovil	627	47.79%	unknown
Total valid votes			1,312	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			23
Turnout			%

After the 1928 election, there was a redistribution. The Columbia riding was merged with the Revelstoke riding into Columbia-Revelstoke, which first appeared only in the 1933 general election. For the 1937 election, the riding name "Columbia" was re-established.

19th British Columbia election, 1937
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Leonard G. Gaddes	371	22.99%	unknown
	Liberal	Thomas King	921	57.06%	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	William Henry Tallis	322	19.95%	unknown
Total valid votes			1,614	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			39
Turnout			%

20th British Columbia election, 1941
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Leonard G. Gaddes	384	25.28%	unknown
	Liberal	Thomas King	648	42.66%	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	James Herbert Mathews	487	32.06%	unknown
Total valid votes			1,519	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			9
Turnout			%

20th British Columbia election, 1945
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Thomas James Alton	588	46.70%		unknown
	Coalition	Thomas King	671	53.30%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			1,259	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			24
Turnout			%

21st British Columbia election, 1949
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Thomas James Alton	581	31.09%		unknown
	Coalition	Thomas King	1,288	68.91%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			1,869	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			24
Turnout			%

22nd British Columbia election, 1952 ²
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Liberal	Vaughn Stanley Kimpton	649	29.30%	860	42.28%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Chris Madson	365	16.48%				unknown
	B.C. Social Credit League	Richard Orr Newton	841	37.97%	1,174	57.72%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Edward Jefferson Zinkan	360	16.25%				unknown
Total valid votes			2,215	100.00%	2,034
Total rejected ballots			101
Turnout			%
² Preferential ballot. First and final counts of three only shown.

23rd British Columbia election, 1953 ³
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Eileen Catherine Madson	481	22.26%				unknown
	Liberal	Henry Headley Moore	676	31.28%	787	43.12%		unknown
	B.C. Social Credit League	Richard Orr Newton	924	42.76%	1,038	56.88%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Edward Jefferson Zinkan	80	3.70%	-	-.- %		unknown
Total valid votes			2,161	100.00%	1,825
Total rejected ballots			105
Turnout			%
³ Preferential ballot. First and final counts of three only shown.

24th British Columbia election, 1956
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Chris Madson	248	12.56%		unknown
	Social Credit	Richard Orr Newton	1,074	54.41%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Samuel Forrest Thompson	652	33.03%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			1,974	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			20
Turnout			%

25th British Columbia election, 1960
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Liberal	Herbert Alexander Blakley	593	22.52%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Robert Beverly Harris	775	29.43%		unknown
	Social Credit	Richard Orr Newton	1,115	42.35%	–	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Gordon Truls Rad	150	5.70%		unknown
Total valid votes			2,633	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			88
Turnout			%

v t e British Columbia provincial by-election, July 15, 1963
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Social Credit	Frank Greenwood	1,122	36.68
	Progressive Conservative	Alvin Walter John Trott	685	22.39
	Liberal	Robert Keenleyside	643	21.02
	NDP-CCF	Robert Beverly Harris	609	19.91
Total valid votes			3,059
Total rejected ballots			13
Called upon the death of R. O. Newton on 14 February 1963.
Source: http://www.elections.bc.ca/docs/rpt/1871-1986_ElectoralHistoryofBC.pdf

26th British Columbia election, 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±	Expenditures
	Social Credit	James Roland Chabot	1,305	40.08%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Robert Beverly Harris	467	14.34%		unknown
	Liberal	Robert Keenleyside	392	12.04%	–	unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Alvin Walter Jo	1,092	33.54%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,256	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			41
Turnout			%

The riding was redistributed after the 1963 election. In 1966, it was succeeded by the Columbia River riding.