1st Parliament of the Province of Canada
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The First Parliament of the Province of Canada was summoned in 1841, following the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada as the Province of Canada on February 10, 1841. The Parliament continued until dissolution in late 1844.
The Parliament of the Province had two chambers: the elected lower house, the Legislative Assembly, and the appointed upper house, the Legislative Council. The first general election for the Legislative Assembly was held in April, 1841. Canada East (formerly Lower Canada) and Canada West (formerly Upper Canada)) each had forty-two seats in the Legislative Assembly. The members of the Legislative Council, twenty-four in number, were appointed by the British Governor General, Lord Sydenham.
All sessions were held at Kingston, Canada West, with the first session of the Parliament called in June 1841. The Parliament had three annual sessions, but then was prorogued for close to a year due to a political crisis in the relations between the Legislative Assembly and the Governor General. The Parliament was dissolved in September, 1844, triggering the second general election for the Province, and the second Parliament, which met in Montreal.
In 1841, the District Councils Act was passed which established a system of local government in Canada West based on district councils. Prior to 1841, local affairs were dealt with by the District Court of Quarter Sessions.
First government and election
The Governor General, Lord Sydenham, appointed the first members to the Executive Council on February 13, 1841.[1]Template:Rp All of the members were anglophones, with no francophones. They were appointed as advisors to the Governor General, who continued to exercise the executive powers of the government.
The first general election for the new Legislative Assembly was held in the spring of 1841. There was no single election date. The returning officer in each electoral district chose the date for the election in their district.
The Governor General, following the policy of assimilation set out in Lord Durham's Report, drew boundaries and chose the location of polling stations in Canada East in anglophone areas, in an effort to favour voters of British stock and to make it more difficult for francophone voters to exercise their franchise.[2]
The election was marred by violence. In the district of Montreal, riots broke out in six counties. At St. Laurent, an English mob scattered French voters, and then when the Tories had a majority, it closed down the vote although only a hundred voters had voted in a district with a population of 60,000.[3]
In the riding of Terrebonne in Canada East, the threat of a riot at the polling station forced Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, a proponent of responsible government, to withdraw his candidacy. In response, Robert Baldwin in Canada West, also a supporter of responsible government, proposed to his father, William Warren Baldwin, that they should assist Lafontaine's election. Baldwin senior was a candidate for a riding in the Toronto area. He withdrew his nomination to allow Lafontaine to stand for election. Lafontaine was elected.[2] This was the beginning of the Lafontaine-Baldwin alliance which ultimately led to responsible government in the Province of Canada.[4]
Candidates at this time were loosely affiliated in early political parties, but party structure was not strong. Different parties were active in Canada East and Canada West. The election gave no single party group a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly.
Governors General
One of the unusual features of the 1st Parliament was the high turnover in the position of governor general. Charles Poulett Thomson was the governor general from February 1841 until September 1841, when he died from tetanus resulting from a riding accident. His deputy, Major-General John Clitherow, immediately prorogued Parliament. Clitherow was replaced by the Administrator, Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Downes Jackson, shortly afterwards. Jackson acted as Administrator until January 1842, when Sir Charles Bagot was appointed Governor General. Bagot resigned the office in March, 1843 due to ill health, dying shortly afterwards. Sir Charles Metcalfe then took over, and stayed in office until November 1845. He retired to England and died of cancer shortly afterwards.
Legislative Assembly
Canada East
Members elected in the general election
The following members were elected to the Legislative Assembly from Canada East in the 1841 general election. The party affiliations are based on the biographies of individual members given by the National Assembly of Quebec, as well as votes in the Legislative Assembly. "Party" was a fluid concept, especially during the early years of the Province of Canada.[5][6][7][8]
Vacancies during the First Parliament
By-elections during the First Parliament
The following members were elected in by-elections during the First Parliament. The party affiliations are based on the biographies of individual members given by the National Assembly of Quebec, as well as votes in the Legislative Assembly.[1]Template:Rp[7][8]
| Riding | Members Elected in By-Elections | Reason for Vacancy | By-election date | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauharnois | Wakefield, Edward Gibbon | Incumbent resigned following appointment as Warden, Trinity House, Montreal | November 9, 1842 | French-Canadian Group, then "British" Tory | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Bellechasse | Turgeon, Abraham | Incumbent resigned following appointment as Registrar, district of Rimouski | June 6, 1842 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Chambly | Lacoste, Louis | Incumbent resigned seat | October 23, 1843 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Champlain | Judah, Henry | Incumbent appointed to Legislative Council | September 22, 1843 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Leinster | De Witt, Jacob | Incumbent resigned to take appointment as District Registrar of Leinster | August 8, 1842 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Montreal (1843) |
Beaubien, Pierre | Incumbent resigned to protest movement of provincial seat of government from Kingston to Montreal | November 22, 1843 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Montreal (1844) |
Drummond, Lewis Thomas | Incumbent resigned to return to work at Bank of Montreal | April 17, 1844 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Montreal County | Jobin, André | Seat vacated when incumbent appointed Clerk of the Crown, Montreal Sessions of the Peace, a civil service position | October 26, 1843 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Nicolet | Viger, Louis-Michel | Incumbent appointed to the bench | February 15, 1842 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Ottawa County | Papineau, Denis-Benjamin | Incumbent appointed to the bench | August 17, 1842 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Portneuf | Aylwin, Thomas Cushing | Ministerial by-election, triggered by appointment as Solicitor-General of Canada East | October 20, 1842 | French Canadian group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Quebec City | Chabot, Jean | Incumbent resigned on bankruptcy | September 18, 1843 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Rimouski | Baldwin, Robert | Incumbent resigned to allow Baldwin to stand for election | January 30, 1843 | Ultra Reformer | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Rouville (1842) |
Walker, William | Incumbent accepted office of profit under the Crown; Walker won subsequent ministerial by-election | July 7, 1842 | "British" Tory | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Rouville (1843) |
Franchère, Timothée | Incumbent resigned due to ill-health | September 25, 1843 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Saguenay | Morin, Augustine-Norbert | Incumbent resigned to take government position | November 28, 1842 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Saint Maurice | Turcotte, Joseph-Édouard | Required to resign seat on accepting two offices of profit under the Crown; re-elected in by-election | July 8, 1842 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Two Mountains | Forbes, Charles John | Death of incumbent | April 18, 1842 | "British" Tory | Template:Canadian party colour | |
| Verchères | James Leslie | Resignation of incumbent to allow Leslie to stand for election | December 28, 1841 | French-Canadian Group | Template:Canadian party colour | |
Canada West
Members elected in the general election
The following members were elected to the Legislative Assembly from Canada West in the 1841 general election.[5][6]
Vacancies during the First Parliament
By-elections and election petitions during the First Parliament
The following members were elected in by-elections during the First Parliament, or installed as a result of election petitions challenging an election.[1]
| Riding | Members Elected in By-Elections or by Petition | Party[8] | Reason for Vacancy | Date of By-election or Petition decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hastings | Murney, Edmund | Tory | Incumbent (Robert Baldwin) vacated seat after accepting appointment to Executive Council, an office of profit under the Crown; but in the resulting ministerial by-election he was defeated by Murney. Subsequently, he ran in a byelection in 1843 and was elected. | November 4, 1842 |
| Huron | Dunlop, William "Tiger" | Moderate Tory | Election of Strachan overturned on election petition | August 20, 1841 |
| Kingston | Harrison, Samuel Bealey | Reformer | Incumbent vacated seat by accepting appointment as Collector of Customs for Toronto, an office of profit under the Crown | July 1, 1841 |
| London | Killaly, Hamilton Hartley | Unionist; moderate Reformer | Killaly was elected in the general election, 1841; vacated seat on December 21, 1842, on being appointed Chairman of the Board of Works, an office of profit under the Crown; re-elected in by-election; resigned seat on November 30, 1843. | September 28, 1842 |
| Middlesex | Parke, Thomas | Unionist; moderate Reformer | Parke was elected in the general election, 1841; vacated seat on June 7, 1841, on being appointed Surveyor-General, an office of profit under the Crown; re-elected in by-election. | July 10, 1841 |
| Niagara | Boulton, Henry John | Ultra-Reformer | Election of Edward C. Campbell overturned on election petition; Boulton declared the winner. | September 26, 1842 |
| Russell | Stewart, William | Moderate Tory | Incumbent (William Draper) appointed to the Legislative Council | September 14, 1843 |
| Toronto | Sherwood, Henry | Compact Tory | Incumbent (Isaac Buchanan) resigned | March 6, 1843 |
References
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- ↑ a b c J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860 (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860).
- ↑ a b CBC: 1841 - The First Election after the Act of Union.
- ↑ Garner, Franchise and Politics in BNA, p. 99-100
- ↑ James H. Marsh, "Editorial: Baldwin, LaFontaine and Responsible Government", Canadian Encyclopedia, January 24, 2012.
- ↑ a b "Return of the names of the Members chosen to serve in the Legislative Assembly of Canada", Office of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, Kingston, 14th. June, 1841, Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, 1st Parliament, 1st Session, 1841, pp. xi–xii.
- ↑ a b J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860 (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43–58.
- ↑ a b Québec Dictionary of Parliamentary Biography, from 1764 to the present.
- ↑ a b c d Paul G. Cornell, Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841–67 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93–111.
- ↑ Robert Baldwin was elected in both Hastings and 4th York; Louis Hippolyte LaFontaine was elected in a by-election in 4th York.
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Bibliography
- Cornell, P.G., Underhill, F.H., Brown G.W., and Careless J.M.S., Upper Canadian politics in the 1850s, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967).
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