This is Part Three in a multipart series on the history of the North Island's voting patterns in the British Columbia General Elections.
James Dunsmuir became the first Comox MLA born in North America (he was born in Fort Vancouver, present-day Vancouver, Washington), born to Scottish parents after winning in 1898. He won with 297 votes. William James McAllan had 162.
It only took two years for the next election to happen. The 1900 general election was the last one in which candidates were not part of a party. Dunsmuir also didn't run in this election for Comox, instead running for the South Nanaimo riding, which he won and became the 14th Premier of British Columbia, replacing Joseph Martin. Dunsmuir ran a campaign that resisted pressure from the public to limit immigration and Asian labour, particularly around mining and railway construction. Dunsmuir, who was known for union busting and strike-breaking, was not resisting this for humanitarian reasons, but for cheap labour, after all, he ran his family's coal mine business from 1876 to 1910. At the time, mines in the province were extremely dangerous, with 23 men dying on the job per million tons of coal processed from 1889 to 1903.
Joseph McPhee and Lewis Alfred Mounce were the two candidates for the Comox riding this election, with Mounce winning in an election. It was also the first time the riding broke 500 or more votes cast, with 617. Mounce collected 338 of those votes. Mounce was the first MLA for Comox to be born in Canada but in Nova Scotia. He was also the Mayor of Cumberland from 1897 to 1898 and was a supporter of the Conservative Party.
The 1903 general election was the first election with political parties. Five parties entered candidates in the election, including the Conservative and Liberal parties. The other three parties were the Socialist Party of British Columbia (1901 to 1935), the Labour Party and the Socialist Labour Party. Only two parties, the Conservative and Liberal parties were active in the Comox Riding for the 1903 and 1907 elections, represented by Robert Grant who won both, becoming the third person to win consecutive terms as MLA in the riding, and the second MLA in Comox to be born in Nova Scotia. He served a short stint as the Mayor of Cumberland. Overall, the Conservative Party Leader, Richard McBride, would become Premier of British Columbia from 1903 until 1915.
The 1909 General Election had four people vying for MLA in the Comox riding. James Cartwright was running as the Socialist candidate, the first time the party had a candidate in the riding. James McKelvey Forrest was running for the Liberals, while Michael Manson ran for the Conservative Party. William Duncan was running as an independent conservative. Manson, another Scottish-born politician, was elected. Manson came to British Columbia from the Shetland Islands in 1874, where he was the director of the Call Creek Oyster Company, a justice of the peace, and operated a trading post on Cortes Island (Mansons Landing is named after him).
Manson would win a second term in 1912, where he beat out the only other candidate running for office, Wallis Walter Lefeaux of the Socialist Party. The 1912 election was the first time the riding had more than 1,000 votes submitted. Manson won with 694 votes, while Lefeaux only had 355.
However, Manson did not have enough votes in 1916, losing to Hugh Stewart of the Liberal Party. The Socialist Party entered a candidate for the third time in a row in the riding, with William Arthur Pritchard, who became a central figure in 1920's sedition trial for the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, as the hopeful MLA-elect. Unfortunately for him, he only received an 11.57 per cent share of the vote. Social Democratic Party's George Edgar Winkler only received 83 votes in total. It was the first time the Social Democratic ran a candidate in the riding. It was a tight battle between Manson and Stewart, with the former getting 882 votes against Steward's 916.
Harlan Carey Brewster, a Liberal, became the 18th Premier of British Columbia. Possibly due to the breakout of the First World War, the Conservative Party's popular vote from 60 per cent to just over 40 per cent. The Liberals also formed a majority government, winning 36 seats as opposed to the 1912 election, where they had none. A referendum was also on Election Day concerning women's suffrage. As of Brewster's term as premier, women were allowed to vote for the first time starting in the 1920 general election. Women could also hold office. Brewster died suddenly in 1918 and was succeeded by John Oliver (and held the position until 1927)
Comox's new MLA, Stewart was born in New Brunswick.
No Socialist or Social Democratic party members ran in the Comox Riding in 1920, but the two big parties did with the Liberal's Patrick Daly (806 votes) and William Edward Anderson ran for the Conservatives (1,233 votes). William Wallace Burns McInnes ran as an independent liberal (731). But it was an upstart who won this year's election. The People's Party contested and won its first election, with Ontario-born Thomas Menzies taking 1,354 votes.
The 1924 election also resulted in another victory for the Oliver's Liberal Party in BC. However, in the Comox Riding the party did not run a candidate. Duncan, who ran as an independent conservative in 1909, ran again, this time as an official Conservative member. A new party also made his debut in the riding.
The Provincial Party of British Columbia was formed by dissidents from the Conservative Party in 1923. George Every-Clayton was the candidate chosen to run for MLA in the riding. Paul Phillips Harrison ran as an independent liberal. The party's campaign focused on alleged and unproven claims of Premier Oliver's and former Premier Bowser's corruption. Harrison would win the election, however, did not seek a second term. McRae, who twas the Provincial Party's Leader was not elected. Oliver and Bowser both lost their seats but Oliver remained Premier. The Provincial Party disappeared after the election when McRae reconciled with the Conservative Party and realized his federal political ambitions.
The Liberal Party returned in 1928, with John William McKenzie. However, his 1,497 votes were not enough to beat Conservative George Kerr McNaugton, who received 2,058. William Law ran as an independent labour candidate but received a mere 267 votes. McNaugton's seat helped elect Simon Fraser Tolmie as the new Premier of British Columbia.
