# 1898 British Columbia general election

The 1898 British Columbia general election was held in 1898. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.
Unlike in the previous BC general election, in 1898 of the 38 MLAs 24 were elected in single member districts. There were also three 2-member districts and two 4-member districts. Each voter could cast as many votes as there were seats to fill in the district.

## Party politics

There were no political parties in this election — until the 1903 election, British Columbia politics were officially non-partisan and political parties were not part of the process. This trend began to change in the 1898 and 1900 elections with the appearance of party-designated candidates and some party-declared members; for example, Ralph Smith in South Nanaimo. The political alignments designated at the time of the dropping of the writ did not necessarily have anything to do with the jockeying for power and support once the election returns were in. Therefore, members shown as "Government" or "Opposition" only ran under that slate and had no necessary allegiances or party loyalties to follow. If a new government formed from the "Opposition" slate, as here with Charles Augustus Semlin, there was nothing to say that someone who'd run under the "Government" banner might not cross the floor either to join the governing caucus, or actually be invited over to take a cabinet position.
In the table below, the seating is only as it was when the House convened. The failure of Semlin's government fell on the shoulders of an over-ambitious Joseph Martin by early 1900. He held on to power despite a petition from Members of the House to the Lieutenant-Governor, but the Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas Robert McInnes, continued to support Martin so long as there was no sitting of the House, such that a situation of non-confidence could be proven, even though Martin had only himself and one other member in his caucus. Martin held out for six months, but the inevitable sitting of the House and immediate vote of non-confidence and subsequent election removed him from power and brought in James Dunsmuir.
It was because of this debacle, born in this election and the ones that preceded it, that party politics was finally introduced to British Columbia for the 1903 election.

## Results by riding

Results of British Columbia general election, 1898 :
| Government | Government | Government | Government | Opposition | Opposition | Opposition |
| | Member | Riding & party | Riding & party | Riding & party | Riding & party | Member |
| | Charles William Digby Clifford | Cassiar Government | | | Alberni Opposition | Alan Webster Neill |
| | John Irving | Cassiar Government | | | Cariboo Opposition | Hans Lars Helgesen |
| | James Dunsmuir | Comox Government | | | Cariboo Opposition | John Charlton Kinchant |
| | Charles Edward Pooley | Esquimalt Opposition | | | Esquimalt Opposition | David Williams Higgins |
| | William Russell Robertson | Cowichan Government | | | Lillooet East Opposition | James Douglas Prentice |
| | William George Nielson | East Kootenay (north riding) Government | | | Nanaimo City Opposition | Robert Edward McKechnie |
| | James Baker | East Kootenay (south riding) Government | | | South Nanaimo Labour | Ralph Smith |
| | Alfred Wellington Smith | Lillooet West Government | | | Vancouver City Opposition | Francis Lovett Carter-Cotton |
| | Alexander Henderson | New Westminster City Government | | | Vancouver City Opposition | Robert Macpherson |
| | John Bryden | North Nanaimo Government | | | Vancouver City Opposition | Joseph Martin |
| | John Paton Booth | North Victoria Government | | | Vancouver City Opposition | Charles Edward Tisdall |
| | David McEwen Eberts | South Victoria Government | | | West Kootenay-Nelson Opposition | John Frederick Hume |
| | Richard Hall | Victoria City Government | | | West Kootenay-Revelstoke Opposition | James M. Kellie |
| | Henry Dallas Helmcken | Victoria City Government | | | West Kootenay-Rossland Opposition | James Morris Martin |
| | Albert Edward McPhillips | Victoria City Government | | | West Kootenay-Slocan Opposition | Robert Francis Green |
| | John Herbert Turner$^1$ | Victoria City Government | | | Westminster-Chilliwhack Opposition | Charles William Munro |
| | Richard McBride | Westminster-Dewdney Government | | | Westminster-Delta Opposition | Thomas William Forster |
| | Price Ellison | Yale-East Government | | | Westminster-Richmond Opposition | Thomas Kidd |
| | | | | | Yale-North Opposition | Francis John Deane |
| | | | | | Yale-West Opposition | Charles Augustus Semlin$^2$ |
| | $^1$ Incumbent Premier | | | | | $^2$ Premier-Elect |
| Source: ||||||||||