25th Parliament of British Columbia

The 25th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia sat from 1957 to 1960. The members were elected in the British Columbia general election held in September 1956.^[1] The Social Credit Party led by W. A. C. Bennett formed the government.^[2] The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) led by Robert Strachan formed the official opposition.^[3]

Thomas James Irwin served as speaker for the assembly until April 1957; he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons later that year. Lorne Shantz replaced Irwin as speaker in 1958.^[4]

Members of the 25th Parliament

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1956:^[1]

	Member	Electoral district	Party	First elected / previously elected
	Stanley John Squire	Alberni	CCF	1952
	William James Asselstine	Atlin	Social Credit	1933,[a] 1956
	Gordon Dowding	Burnaby	CCF	1956
	Ernest Edward Winch			1933
	Cedric Cox (1957)			1957
	William Ralph Talbot Chetwynd	Cariboo	Social Credit	1952
	William Collins Speare (1957)		Social Credit	1957
	William Kenneth Kiernan	Chilliwack	Social Credit	1952
	Richard Orr Newton	Columbia	Social Credit	1952, 1953
	Daniel Robert John Campbell	Comox	Social Credit	1956
	Robert Martin Strachan	Cowichan-Newcastle	CCF	1952
	Leo Thomas Nimsick	Cranbrook	CCF	1949
	Thomas Irwin	Delta	Social Credit	1952
	Nehemiah George Massey			1956
	Gordon Lionel Gibson (1957)			1957
	Lyle Wicks	Dewdney	Social Credit	1952
	Herbert Joseph Bruch	Esquimalt	Social Credit	1953
	Thomas Aubert Uphill	Fernie	Labour	1920
	Ray Gillis Williston	Fort George	Social Credit	1953
	Lois Mabel Haggen	Grand Forks-Greenwood	CCF	1956
	Philip Arthur Gaglardi	Kamloops	Social Credit	1952
	Randolph Harding	Kaslo-Slocan	CCF	1945
	Donald Frederick Robinson	Lillooet	Social Credit	1955
	Anthony John Gargrave	Mackenzie	CCF	1952
	Earle Cathers Westwood	Nanaimo and the Islands	Social Credit	1956
	Wesley Drewett Black	Nelson-Creston	Social Credit	1952
	John McRae (Rae) Eddie	New Westminster	CCF	1952
	Lorne Shantz	North Okanagan	Social Credit	1952
	Harold Earl Roche	North Peace River	Social Credit	1956
	John Melvin Bryan, Jr.	North Vancouver	Social Credit	1956
			Independent
			Liberal
	Newton Phillips Steacy	Social Credit	1956
	Philip Archibald Gibbs	Oak Bay	Liberal	1952
	Cyril Morley Shelford	Omineca	Social Credit	1952
	William Harvey Murray	Prince Rupert	Social Credit	1956
	Arvid Lundell	Revelstoke	Social Credit	1949,[b] 1956
	Robert Edward Sommers	Rossland-Trail	Social Credit	1952
	Donald Leslie Brothers (1958)		Social Credit	1958
	John Douglas Tidball Tisdalle	Saanich	Social Credit	1953
	James Allan Reid	Salmon Arm	Social Credit	1952
	Francis Xavier Richter	Similkameen	Social Credit	1953
	Hugh Addison Shirreff	Skeena	Social Credit	1956
	William Andrew Cecil Bennett	South Okanagan	Social Credit	1941,[b] 1949
	Stanley Carnell	South Peace River	Social Credit	1956
	Eric Charles Fitzgerald Martin	Vancouver-Burrard	Social Credit	1952
	Bert Price			1952
	Alexander Small Matthew	Vancouver Centre	Social Credit	1953
	Leslie Raymond Peterson			1955
	Frederick Morton Sharp	Vancouver East	Social Credit	1956
	Arthur James Turner		CCF	1941
	Thomas Audley Bate	Vancouver-Point Grey	Social Credit	1953
	Robert William Bonner			1952
	Buda Hosmer Brown			1956
	William Neelands Chant	Victoria City	Social Credit	1953
	George Frederick Thompson Gregory		Liberal	1953
	John Donald Smith		Social Credit	1956
	Irvine Finlay Corbett	Yale	Social Credit	1952

Party standings

Affiliation		Members
	Social Credit	39
	Co-operative Commonwealth	10
	Liberal	2
	Labour	1
Total		52
Government Majority		26

By-elections

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

Electoral district	Member elected	Party	Election date	Reason
Burnaby	Cedric Cox	CCF	September 9, 1957	death of E.E. Winch January 11, 1957
Cariboo	William Collins Speare	Social Credit	September 9, 1957	death of W.R.T. Chetwynd April 3, 1957
Delta	Gordon Lionel Gibson	Social Credit	September 9, 1957	T.J. Irwin resigned to contest federal election April 26, 1957
Rossland-Trail	Donald Leslie Brothers	Social Credit	December 15, 1958	R.E. Sommers resigned November 7, 1958; convicted of bribery and conspiracy

Other changes

• John Melvin Bryan, Jr. becomes an Independent on February 3, 1958. He joins the Liberals on February 25, 1959.^[5]
• Oak Bay (dec. Philip Archibald Gibbs March 1960)^[6]

Notes

1. First elected as a Liberal
2. First elected as a Conservative