31st Parliament of British Columbia

The 31st Legislative Assembly of British Columbia sat from 1976 to 1979. The members were elected in the British Columbia general election held in December 1975.^[1] The Social Credit Party led by Bill Bennett formed the government.^[2] The New Democratic Party (NDP) led by William Stewart King formed the official opposition. Dave Barrett had lost his seat in the election; he was reelected in a by-election held in June 1976 and resumed his role as party leader.^[3]

Dean Smith served as speaker for the assembly until 1978 when he resigned as speaker. Harvey Schroeder replaced Smith as speaker in 1979.^[4]

Members of the 31st General Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1975:^[1]

Member	Electoral district	Party
Robert Evans Skelly	Alberni	NDP
Frank Arthur Calder	Atlin	Social Credit
James J. (Jim) Hewitt	Boundary-Similkameen	Social Credit
Raymond L. Loewen	Burnaby-Edmonds	Social Credit
Eileen Dailly	Burnaby North	NDP
Elwood Neal Veitch	Burnaby-Willingdon	Social Credit
Alexander Vaughan Fraser	Cariboo	Social Credit
Harvey Schroeder	Chilliwack	Social Credit
James Roland Chabot	Columbia River	Social Credit
Karen Elizabeth Sanford	Comox	NDP
George Herman Kerster	Coquitlam	Social Credit
Barbara Brookman Wallace	Cowichan-Malahat	NDP
Kenneth Walter Davidson	Delta	Social Credit
George Mussallem	Dewdney	Social Credit
Lyle Benjamin James Kahl	Esquimalt	Social Credit
Howard John Lloyd	Fort George	Social Credit
Rafe Kenneth Mair	Kamloops	Social Credit
George Wayne Haddad	Kootenay	Social Credit
Robert Howard McClelland	Langley	Social Credit
Don Lockstead	Mackenzie	NDP
David Daniel Stupich	Nanaimo	NDP
Lorne Nicolson	Nelson-Creston	NDP
Dennis Geoffrey Cocke	New Westminster	NDP
Patricia Jordan	North Okanagan	Social Credit
Dean Edward Smith	North Peace River	Social Credit
Gordon Fulerton Gibson	North Vancouver-Capilano	Liberal
John (Jack) Davis	North Vancouver-Seymour	Social Credit
George Scott Wallace	Oak Bay	Progressive Conservative
Jack Joseph Kempf	Omineca	Social Credit
Graham Lea	Prince Rupert	NDP
William Stewart King	Revelstoke-Slocan	NDP
James Arthur Nielsen	Richmond	Social Credit
Christopher D'Arcy	Rossland-Trail	NDP
Hugh Austin Curtis	Saanich and the Islands	Social Credit
Leonard Bawtree	Shuswap	Social Credit
Cyril Morley Shelford	Skeena	Social Credit
William Richards Bennett	South Okanagan	Social Credit
Donald McGray Phillips	South Peace River	Social Credit
William Nick (Bill) Vander Zalm	Surrey	Social Credit
Rosemary Brown	Vancouver-Burrard	NDP
Norman Levi	Vancouver-Burrard	NDP
Emery Oakland Barnes	Vancouver Centre	NDP
Gary Lauk	Vancouver Centre	NDP
Alexander Barrett MacDonald	Vancouver East	NDP
Robert Arthur Williams	Vancouver East	NDP
Grace Mary McCarthy	Vancouver-Little Mountain	Social Credit
Evan Maurice Wolfe	Vancouver-Little Mountain	Social Credit
Garde Basil Gardom	Vancouver-Point Grey	Social Credit
Patrick Lucey McGeer	Vancouver-Point Grey	Social Credit
Charles Stephen Rogers	Vancouver South	Social Credit
William Gerald Strongman	Vancouver South	Social Credit
Charles Frederick Barber	Victoria	NDP
Robert Samuel Bawlf	Victoria	Social Credit
Louis Allan Williams	West Vancouver-Howe Sound	Social Credit
Thomas Manville Waterland	Yale-Lillooet	Social Credit

Notes:

Party standings

Affiliation		Members
	Social Credit	35
	New Democratic Party	18
	Liberal	1
	Progressive Conservative	1
Total		55
Government Majority		15

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons:^[1]

Electoral district	Member elected	Party	Election date	Reason
Vancouver East	David Barrett	NDP	June 3, 1976	R.A. Williams resigned February 27, 1976, to provide seat for D. Barrett
Oak Bay	Victor Albert Stephens	Progressive Conservative	March 20, 1978	G.S. Wallace resigned December 31, 1977, to return to medical practice

Notes: Two by-elections were called in 1979 for the ridings of North Vancouver-Seymour and North Vancouver-Capilano but they were cancelled when a 1979 general election was scheduled.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986" (PDF). Elections BC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
^ "Premiers of British Columbia 1871-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
^ "Leaders of the Opposition in British Columbia 1903-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-20. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
^ "Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 1872-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-09-23.

[elections-1] "Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986" (PDF). Elections BC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2011-07-27.

[premier-2] "Premiers of British Columbia 1871-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-09-23.

[3] "Leaders of the Opposition in British Columbia 1903-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-20. Retrieved 2011-07-20.

[4] "Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 1872-" (PDF). BC Legislature. Retrieved 2011-09-23.

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