British Columbia general election, 1882

This was the third election held after British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20 1871.

Political Context

Issues and Debates

Non-Party System

There were to be no political parties in the new province. The designations "Government" and "Opposition" and "Independent" (and variations on these) functioned in place of parties, but they were very loose and do not represent formal coalitions, more alignments of support during the campaign. "Government" meant in support of the current Premier; "Opposition" meant campaigning against him, and often enough the Opposition would win and immediately become the Government. The Elections British Columbia notes for this election describe the designations as "Government (GOV.) candidates supported the administration of G.A.B. Walkem. Those opposed ran as Reform (REF.), Opposition (OPP.), Independent Reform (IND.REF.), or Independent Opposition (IND.OPP.) candidates. Those who ran as straight Independents (IND.) were sometimes described as Government supporters (IND./GOV.)."

The Beaven and Smithe Governments

The election was precipitated by the resignation of Premier] George Anthony Boomer Walkem. The Premiership was taken over by Robert Beaven, who managed to retain the reins of government though not with as much support as had been enjoyed by Walkem. His government lasted only about seven months, after which William Smithe became Premier due to shifting loyalties in the House, seeking and winning approval in the next election in May 1886.

Byelections not shown

Any changes due to byelections are shown below the main table showing the theoretical composition of the House after the election. A final table showing the composition of the House at the dissolution of the Legislature at the end of this Parliament can be found below the byelections. The main table represents the immediate results of the election only, not changes in governing coalitions or eventual changes due to byelections.

List of ridings

The original ridings were increased by one (Cassiar) and Cowichan was reduced to a one-member seat, although the total of 25 members remained. There were no political parties were not acceptable in the House by convention, though some members were openly partisan at the federal level (usually Conservative, although both Liberal and Labour allegiance were on display by some candidates).

These ridings were:

*Cariboo (three members)
*Cassiar
*Comox
*Cowichan
*Esquimalt (two members)
*Kootenay
*Lillooet (two members)
*Nanaimo (two members)
*New Westminster (two members)
*New Westminster City
*Victoria (two members)
*Victoria City (four members)
*Yale (three members)

Polling Conditions

Natives (First Nations) and Chinese were disallowed from voting, although naturalized Kanakas (Hawaiian colonists) and American and West Indian blacks and certain others participated. The requirement that knowledge of English be spoken for balloting was discussed but not applied.

Results by riding

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align-left"|¹ Premier-Elect and Incumbent Premier||
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align-left"|¹Premier at Dissolution
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align-left" colspan=7|Note: Government/Opposition/Independent Designations in this table are not indicative of house alignment at dissolution. This is because those who had been Opposition at the time of the election in 1882 may (or may not) have been part of the outgoing government bench at the time of dissolution.
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align="center" colspan="10"|Source: [http://www.elections.bc.ca/elections/electoral_history/toc.html Elections BC]
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Further reading & references

*"In the Sea of Sterile Mountains: The Chinese in British Columbia", Joseph Morton, J.J. Douglas, Vancouver (1974). Despite its title, a fairly thorough account of the politicians and electoral politics in early BC.