1917:

After years of opposition, numerous defeated bills, and a provincial referendum, the women of British Columbia are finally granted the right to vote, following a unanimous decision in the Legislature.

“The bill did not require much discussion,” reports The Province, “as the proposal to make effective the women suffrage plan undoubtedly met with the approval of both sides of the House, as well as the people of the country.”

B.C. is the fourth Canadian province to grant the franchise to women. However, as the article is quick to point out, “Conservatives in the House had voted against it when suffrage bills had been introduced[...] (Premier Brewster) himself had voted against it because he and other Conservatives had not then believed that the time was ripe. But their views had changed, particularly because of the noble part the women played in the war.”

The only dissenting opinion is presented by one Captain Hayward, who, while grudgingly giving suffrage his vote, (and who had voted against it on four previous occasions) notes that “he did not think the majority of the women in the province really wanted the vote in the past or at the present time.”

“I do not think women care tuppence about politics,” he declares, before being silenced by the Speaker of the House, “and they will likely astonish both political parties when they mark their ballots.”

The story is presented on page 14 of The Province, after boxing and tennis news, social announcements, and an article about an irrigation bill.

Image: Third session, seventh parliament, at the Legislature in Victoria, circa 1898. Image courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.