Looking back to BC’s first (and so far only) minority government
Posted May 14, 2017 8:53 am.
Last Updated June 15, 2017 4:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It may be a couple of weeks before BC voters know whether or not they have a minority government. So far, this province has only elected one: 65 years ago.
The year was 1952. A wartime coalition formed by the Liberals and the Conservatives was falling apart, prompting an election. The two parties decided to use a preferential ballot, hoping voters would pick one of them instead of the CCF, the forerunners of today’s NDP. But they hadn’t planned for what happened next.
“A popular second choice ended up being a party that no-one had ever voted for before, no-one had ever elected before in British Columbia, called Social Credit,” explains historian David J. Mitchell.
After the votes were counted, Social Credit had the most seats and selected from its elected members a former Conservative MLA named W.A.C. Bennett. When he won a majority the next year, the first thing he did was get rid of the preferential ballot, “because [he] believed that was a system designed to produce minority governments and he wanted a majority, he wanted a strong government, he had great ambitions.”
Mitchell says the election has lessons we can draw from today. “The party that wins the largest percentage of the vote doesn’t always get to form a government. We know that from 1952.”
He says the party that prevails is the one that can gain the confidence of the House. The Socreds were nearly kept from power by a coalition of the Liberals and the CCF. Today’s Liberals could be kept from power by a coalition of the NDP and the Greens. Mitchell says this could be a teachable moment for the electorate. “There are very few British Columbians who can think back 65 years ago to 1952. So, this might be a good civics lesson if we take advantage of the opportunity.”
Mitchell also points out Bennett would create the conditions for the defeat of his own government months later to force another election. He says that could happen again in BC, but at great risk to whoever attempts it. “If someone wanted to be a little bit too clever and try to engineer their own defeat, the Lieutenant Governor would have the option of asking the Opposition party with the next largest number of seats if they felt they could command the confidence and support of the Legislature.”
Mitchell is a former BC. MLA and author of “W.A.C. Bennett and The Rise of British Columbia”.
