Allan Warnke

Allan Warnke
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Richmond-Steveston
In office October 17, 1991 – May 28, 1996
Preceded by	Riding established
Succeeded by	Geoff Plant
Personal details
Born	(1946-10-27)October 27, 1946 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Died	June 27, 2021(2021-06-27) (aged 74) Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
Political party	British Columbia Liberal Party (1991-1996) Independent (1996-2001)
Other political affiliations	Liberal Party of Canada (ca. 1988) Canadian Action Party (ca. 2000-2004)
Spouse	Geraldine Warnke ​ (died 2018)​
Occupation	political scientist professor

Allan Warnke (October 27, 1946 – June 27, 2021) was a Canadian political scientist, professor and politician. He was a former Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, representing the Richmond-Steveston electoral district from 1991 to 1996.

Biography

Before his election to the BC legislature, he ran as a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada in the 1988 federal election in the riding of North Island—Powell River. He then contested the 1991 provincial election as a BC Liberal candidate, and defeated Harold Steves of the New Democratic Party to become member of the legislative assembly for Richmond-Steveston. He served as the official opposition critic for aboriginal affairs in the 35th Parliament.

For the 1996 provincial election, he was passed over for the Liberal nomination in favour of Geoff Plant. Warnke contested the election as an independent candidate, finishing in fifth place. He ran again for his old seat in the 2001 provincial election, this time finishing in sixth place. He also ran as a candidate of the Canadian Action Party in the 2000 federal election in the riding of Delta—South Richmond, then in 2004 in the riding of Richmond, but was unsuccessful in both attempts.

Warnke was a professor of political science at Vancouver Island University and its predecessor Malaspina University-College, as well as being the department chair. He died suddenly in June 2021 from heart disease and medical complications due to obesity and hypertension. He was predeceased by his wife of forty-one years Geraldine (née Byers).

Electoral record

Provincial

2001 British Columbia general election: Richmond-Steveston
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Geoff Plant	14,508	69.23	$56,820
	New Democratic	Billie Mortimer	2,564	12.24	$2,734
	Green	Kevan Hudson	2,257	10.77	$1,063
	Marijuana	Gordon Mathias	561	2.68	$705
	Unity	Vincent Paul	381	1.82	$610
	Independent	Allan Warnke	358	1.71	$1,562
	Conservative	Barry Edward Chilton	160	0.76	$240
	Reform	Sue Wade	145	0.69	$610
	People's Front	Edith Petersen	21	0.10	$100
Total valid votes			20,955	100.00
Total rejected ballots			125	0.60
Turnout			21,080	73.27
Source: Elections BC

1996 British Columbia general election: Richmond-Steveston
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Geoff Plant	9,643	56.65	$39,769
	New Democratic	Gail Paquette	5,041	29.61	$32,144
	Progressive Democrat	Pat Young	919	5.40	$550
	Reform	Shirley Abraham-Kirk	556	3.27	$2,765
	Independent	Allan Warnke	450	2.64	$5,795
	Green	Brian Gold	188	1.10	$100
	Conservative	Gary L. Cross	99	0.58	$1,132
	Social Credit	Gordon Neuls	88	0.52	$4,315
	Natural Law	Nancy Stewart	38	0.23	$123
Total valid votes			17,022	100.00
Total rejected ballots			85	0.50
Turnout			17,107	74.36
Source: Elections BC

1991 British Columbia general election: Richmond-Steveston
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Allan Warnke	6,664	38.32	$2,332
	New Democratic	Harold Steves	6,054	34.81	$24,142
	Social Credit	Nick Loenen	4,609	26.50	$44,277
	Conservative	Gary L. Cross	65	3.19	$2,858
Total valid votes			17,392	100.00
Total rejected ballots			321	1.81
Turnout			17,713	77.67

Federal

2004 Canadian federal election: Richmond Centre
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Raymond Chan	18,204	44.48	+2.44	$64,433
	Conservative	Alice Wong	14,457	35.32	-14.51	$71,614
	New Democratic	Dale Jackaman	6,142	15.00	+9.32	$11,072
	Green	Stephen H.F. Kronstein	1,743	4.25	+2.36	$160
	Canadian Action	Allan Warnke	376	0.91	–	$625
Total valid votes			40,922	100.0
Total rejected ballots			226	0.55	+0.08
Turnout			41,148	62.29	+0.59
	Liberal hold		Swing		+8.48

2000 Canadian federal election: Delta—South Richmond
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Alliance	John M. Cummins	30,882	56.78	$59,872
	Liberal	Jim Doswell	15 858	29.16	$67,469
	Progressive Conservative	Curtis MacDonald	3,838	7.05	$123
	New Democratic	Ernie Fulton	3,060	5.62	$2,416
	Canadian Action	Allan Warnke	517	0.95
	No affiliation	Frank Wagner	225	0.41	$626
Total valid votes			54,380
Total rejected ballots			170	0.31
Turnout			54,550	65.84

1988 Canadian federal election: North Island—Powell River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Raymond Skelly	22,179	52.02
	Progressive Conservative	Michel Rabu	10,411	24.42
	Liberal	Allan Warnke	6,867	16.11
	Christian Heritage	John A. Krell	1,521	3.57
	Reform	Dodd W. Pellant	718	1.68
	Green	Michael Conway-Brown	519	1.22
	Rhinoceros	Philip John Hicks	299	0.70
	Communist	Nickolas Chernoff	121	0.28
Total valid votes			42,635	100.00
This riding was created from Comox—Powell River, and New Democrat Ray Skelly was the incumbent.