Similkameen (electoral district)

Similkameen was the name of a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia formed around the historic mining district of the same name. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the election of 1903. After the 1963 election, which was the occasion of this riding's last appearance, this electoral district was combined with the Boundary District to form Boundary-Similkameen for the 1966 election.

Demographics

Population, 1901
Population change, 1901–1961
Area (km²)
Population density (people per km²)

Notable MLAs

• Lytton Wilmot Shatford (Conservative, 1903–1917)
• William Alexander McKenzie (Conservative, 1918–1933)
• Charles Herbert Percy Tupper (Liberal, 1933–1941)
• Frank Richter, Jr. (Social Credit, 1953–1966)

Electoral history

Note: Winners of each election are in bold.

10th British Columbia election, 1903
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Lytton Wilmot Shatford	299	58.28%		unknown
	Liberal	William Alexander McLean	214	41.72%		unknown
Total valid votes			513	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

11th British Columbia election, 1907
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Lytton Wilmot Shatford	298	56.55%		unknown
	Liberal	Curtis Smith	200	37.95%		unknown
	Socialist	George Edgar Winkler	29	5.50%	–	unknown
Total valid votes			527	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

12th British Columbia election, 1909
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Lytton Wilmot Shatford	440	68.22%		unknown
	Liberal	Richard Elmhirst	205	31.78%		unknown
Total valid votes			645	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%
^1 Also spelled Elmhurst.

13th British Columbia election, 1912
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Lytton Wilmot Shatford	Acclaimed	-.-%		unknown
Total valid votes			n/a	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

14th British Columbia election, 1916
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Lytton Wilmot Shatford	650	55.41%		unknown
	Liberal	Robert Scott Conklin	523	44.59%		unknown
Total valid votes			1,173	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

15th British Columbia election, 1920
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	William Alexander McKenzie	1,354	51.72%		unknown
	Liberal	Edward John Chambers	1,264	48.28%		unknown
Total valid votes			2,618	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

16th British Columbia election, 1924
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	William Alexander McKenzie	1,306	39.56%		unknown
	Provincial	Percy Walter Gregory	1,224	37.08%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Zella May McGregor	771	23.36%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,301	100.00%
Total rejected ballots
Turnout			%

17th British Columbia election, 1928
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	William Alexander McKenzie	2,079	55.53%		unknown
	Liberal	Charles Herbert Percy Tupper ^2	1,665	44.47%		unknown
Total valid votes			3,744	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			63
Turnout			%
^2 Not to be confused with Canadian Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper or his son, Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper.

18th British Columbia election, 1933
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Charles Herbert Percy Tupper	1,765	43.23%		unknown
	Non-Partisan Independent Group	William Alexander McKenzie	1,386	33.95%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Francis Henry (Frank) Brown	730	17.88%		unknown
	Independent	Thomas Heeney	202	4.95%		unknown
Total valid votes			4,083	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			81
Turnout			%

18th British Columbia election, 1937
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Charles Herbert Percy Tupper	2,266	43.55%		unknown
	Conservative	Harry Howes Boyle	2,130	40.94%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Francis Henry (Frank) Brown	807	15.51%		unknown
Total valid votes			5,203	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			71
Turnout			%

19th British Columbia election, 1941
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	George Bernard Webber	2,601	41.16%		unknown
	Liberal	Charles Herbert Percy Tupper	1,965	31.10%		unknown
	Conservative	Thomas F. Daly	1,753	27.74%		unknown
Total valid votes			6,319	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			118
Turnout			%

19th British Columbia election, 1945
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Coalition	Reginald Robert Laird	3,447	57.09%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Bernard George Webber	2,591	42.91%		unknown
Total valid votes			6,038	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			53
Turnout			%

20th British Columbia election, 1949
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Coalition	Maurice Patrick Finnerty	5,744	58.78%	–	unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Bernard George Webber	4,028	41.22%		unknown
Total valid votes			9,772	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			284
Turnout			%

21st British Columbia election, 1952 ^3
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Harold Sidney Kenyon	3,433	32.02%	4,668	49.77%		unknown
	B.C. Social Credit League	Harry Denyer Francis	3,344	31.19%	4,712	50.23%		unknown
	Liberal	Maurice Patrick Finnerty	2,545	23.73%	-	-.- %		unknown
Total valid votes			10,723	100.00%	9,380
Total rejected ballots			296
Turnout			%
^3 Preferential ballot. First and final of three counts only shown.

22nd British Columbia election, 1953 ^4
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	±%
	Social Credit	Frank Richter, Jr.	4,465	43.29%	5,418	56.89%
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Harold Sidney Kenyon	3,419	33.14%	4,105	43.11%		unknown
	Liberal	James Bowie Fairley	2,109	20.44%	-	-.- %		unknown
	Conservative	John Brown McLaren Clarke	323	3.13%	-	-.- %
Total valid votes			10,316	100.00%	9,523
Total rejected ballots			347
Turnout			%
^4 Preferential ballot. First and second of three counts only shown.

23rd British Columbia election, 1956
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Richter, Jr.	5,189	53.94%	–	unknown
	Liberal	Frank William Laird	1,181	37.94%		unknown
	Co-operative Commonwealth Fed.	Stephen Archibald Mepham	2,200	22.87%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	James Douglas Southworth	487	5.06%		unknown
Total valid votes			9,620	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			90
Turnout			%

24th British Columbia election, 1960
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Richter, Jr.	4,797	46.84%	–	unknown
	CCF	Francis Douglas Stuart	3,151	30.77%		unknown
	Liberal	Johannes Joseph Winkelaar	1,454	14.20%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Winnifred Odetta Mathias	840	8.20%		unknown
Total valid votes			10,242	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			75
Turnout			%

25th British Columbia election, 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Frank Richter, Jr.	5,093	48.71%	–	unknown
	New Democratic	Francis Douglas Stuart	2,636	25.21%		unknown
	Liberal	Alwyn Day Coleman Washington	1,423	13.61%		unknown
	Progressive Conservative	Evelyn Annie McElroy	1,303	12.46%		unknown
Total valid votes			10,455	100.00%
Total rejected ballots			86
Turnout			%

The riding was redistributed following the 1963 election. The main successor riding was Boundary-Similkameen.

Sources

Elections BC Historical Returns