1979 British Columbia general election

{{Short description|Canadian provincial election}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}

{{more citations needed|date=July 2021}}

{{Infobox election

| election_name = 1979 British Columbia general election

| country = British Columbia

| type = parliamentary

| ongoing = no

| party_colour = no

| party_name = no

| previous_election = 1975 British Columbia general election

| previous_year = 1975

| next_election = 1983 British Columbia general election

| next_year = 1983

| outgoing_members = 31st Parliament of British Columbia

| elected_members = 32nd Parliament of British Columbia

| seats_for_election = 57 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
29 seats were needed for a majority

| election_date = May 10, 1979

| image1 = x160px

| colour1 = {{Canadian party colour|BC|Social Credit|nohash}}

| leader1 = Bill Bennett

| leader_since1 = 1973

| party1 = {{Canadian party colour|BC|Social Credit|name}}

| leaders_seat1 = Okanagan South

| last_election1 = 35 seats, {{abbr|49.25%|Share of the total popular vote in the previous election}}

| seats1 = 31

| seat_change1 = {{decrease}}4

| popular_vote1 = 677,607

| percentage1 = 48.23%

| swing1 = {{decrease}}1.02

| image2 = x160px

| colour2 = {{Canadian party colour|BC|NDP|nohash}}

| leader2 = Dave Barrett

| leader_since2 = 1969

| party2 = {{Canadian party colour|BC|NDP|name}}

| leaders_seat2 = Vancouver East

| last_election2 = 18 seats, {{abbr|39.16%|Share of the total popular vote in the previous election}}

| seats2 = 26

| seat_change2 = {{increase}}8

| popular_vote2 = 646,188

| percentage2 = 45.99%

| swing2 = {{increase}}6.83

| image3 =

| colour3 = {{Canadian party colour|BC|Conservative|nohash}}

| leader3 = Victor Stephens

| leader_since3 = 1977

| party3 = {{Canadian party colour|BC|PC|name}}

| leaders_seat3 = Oak Bay-Gordon Head (lost re-election)

| last_election3 = 1 seat, {{abbr|3.86%|Share of the total popular vote in the previous election}}

| seats3 = 0

| seat_change3 = {{decrease}}1

| popular_vote3 = 71,078

| percentage3 = 5.06%

| swing3 = {{increase}}1.20

| map_image =

| map_size =

| map_caption =

| title = Premier

| before_election = Bill Bennett

| before_party = {{Canadian party colour|BC|Social Credit|name}}

| posttitle = Premier after election

| after_election = Bill Bennett

| after_party = {{Canadian party colour|BC|Social Credit|name}}

}}

The 1979 British Columbia general election was the 32nd general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 3, 1979. The election was held on May 10, 1979, and the new legislature met for the first time on June 6, 1979.

The governing Social Credit Party of British Columbia of Bill Bennett was re-elected with a majority government, and won almost half of the popular vote. The electorate was polarized between the Socreds and the social democratic New Democratic Party of former premier Dave Barrett, which won just under 46% of the popular vote and all of the remaining seats in the legislature. The NDP made up much of the ground it had lost in its severe defeat of four years earlier. However, the Socreds dominated the Fraser Valley and the Interior, allowing Bennett to cling to government by three seats.

Of the other parties, only the Progressive Conservatives won over 1% of the popular vote, but their 5% of the vote did not enable them to hold on to their single seat in the legislature. That party was shut out until 2024. The party leader, Victor Stephens, complained during the campaign that the Federal PC Party was providing no assistance to the provincial party and favoured Social Credit instead. That caused embarrassment for the federal party leader, Joe Clark, who was leading his own election campaign for the May 22, 1979 federal election. The Liberals were shut out of the legislature, garnered only 0.5% of the vote, and did not return until 1991.