Legislative Council of the Province of Canada

Legislative Council of the Province of Canada Conseil législatif de la Province du Canada
Type
Type	Upper house of the Parliament of the Province of Canada
History
Founded	February 10, 1841
Disbanded	July 1, 1867
Preceded by	Legislative Council of Lower Canada Legislative Council of Upper Canada
Succeeded by	Senate of Canada (federally) none in Ontario Legislative Council of Quebec

The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the province of Ontario. It was created by The Union Act of 1840.

The first session of parliament began in Kingston in Canada West in 1841. It succeeded the Legislative Council of Lower Canada and Legislative Council of Upper Canada.

The 24 legislative councillors were originally appointed. In 1856, a bill was passed to replace the appointed members by election. Members were to be elected from 48 divisions, 24 in each of Canada East and Canada West. 12 members were elected every two years from 1856 to 1862.

The British North America Act of 1867 divided the Province of Canada into the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, each with representation in the unelected Senate of Canada. As a province, Ontario never created a Legislative Council; however, Quebec had its own Legislative Council until 1968. Both the provincial and federal upper houses used (and, in the case of the Senate, continues to use to the present day) the same 24 divisions for Quebec as had been used for Canada East by the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada prior to Confederation.

List of legislative councillors

Member	District	Start	Stop	Notes
Augustus Warren Baldwin	Canada West	1841	1841	appointed
John Hamilton	Canada West	1841	1867	appointed[1]
James Crooks	Canada West	1841	1860	appointed
William Morris	Canada West	1841	1858 (died)	appointed
John Macaulay	Canada West	1841	1857 (died)	appointed
Adam Fergusson	Canada West	1841	1862	appointed
Peter Boyle de Blaquière	Canada West	1841	1860 (died)	appointed
Alexander Fraser	Canada West	1841	1853 (died)	appointed
Thomas McKay	Canada West	1841	1855 (died)	appointed
Robert Sympson Jameson	Canada West	1841	1853	appointed
John McDonald	Canada West	1841	1843	appointed
Robert Baldwin Sullivan	Canada West	1841	1851	appointed
René-Édouard Caron	Canada East	1841	1857	appointed
François-Pierre Bruneau	Canada East	1841	1851 (died)	appointed
Antoine-Olivier Berthelet	Canada East	1841	1841	resigned
Philip Henry Moore	Canada East	1841	1867	appointed
Jules-Maurice Quesnel	Canada East	1841	1842 (died)	appointed
Gabriel Roy	Canada East	1841	1848 (died)	appointed
Barthélemy Joliette	Canada East	1841	1850 (died)	appointed
Peter McGill	Canada East	1841	1860 (died)	appointed
Adam Ferrie	Canada East	1841	1863	appointed
Paul Holland Knowlton	Canada East	1841	1863 (died)	appointed
George Pemberton	Canada East	1841	1849	appointed
Étienne Mayrand	Canada East	1841	1841	resigned
John Fraser	Canada East	1841	1843	resigned
Jean-Baptiste Taché	Canada East	1841	1849 (died)	appointed
Joseph Dionne	Canada East	1842	1859	appointed
William Walker	Canada East	1842	1863 (died)	appointed
Amable Dionne	Canada East	1842	1852 (died)	appointed
George Jervis Goodhue	Canada West	1842	1867	appointed
Levius Peters Sherwood	Canada West	1842	1850 (died)	appointed
Louis Massue	Canada East	1843	1851	appointed [2]
Pierre-Amable Boucher de Boucherville	Canada East	1843	1857 (died)	appointed
René-Joseph Kimber	Canada East	1843	1843 (died)	appointed
Christopher Widmer	Canada West	1843	1858 (died)	appointed
Jacob Æmilius Irving	Canada West	1843	1856 (died)	appointed
William Henry Draper	Canada West	1843	1844	appointed
John Neilson	Canada East	1844	1848 (died)	appointed
James Morris	Canada West	1844	1865 (died)	appointed
James Gordon	Canada West	1845	1865 (died)	appointed
James Ferrier	Canada East	1847	1867	appointed[1]
Hamnett Kirkes Pinhey	Canada West	1847	1857	appointed
Roderick Matheson	Canada West	1847	1867	appointed [1]
George Strange Boulton	Canada West	1847	1867	appointed
Denis-Benjamin Viger	Canada East	1848	1858	appointed
James Leslie	Canada East	1848	1867	appointed[1]
Étienne-Paschal Taché	Canada East	1848	1865 (died)	appointed
Frédéric-Auguste Quesnel	Canada East	1848	1866 (died)	appointed
Joseph Bourret	Canada East	1848	1859 (died)	appointed
Georges-René Saveuse de Beaujeu	Canada East	1848	1865 (died)	appointed
Louis Méthot	Canada East	1848	1857	appointed
Joseph-Ovide Turgeon	Canada East	1848	1857 (died)	appointed
John Ross	Canada West	1848	1867	appointed[1]
Samuel Crane	Canada West	1849	1858	appointed
Samuel Sylvester Mills	Canada West	1849	1867	appointed[1]
Robert Jones	Canada East	1849	1850	resigned
Louis Panet	Canada East	1852	1867	appointed
Charles Wilson	Canada East	1852	1867	appointed [1]
Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau	Canada East	1852	1867	appointed
Benjamin Seymour	Canada West	1854?	1867	appointed[1]
David Morrison Armstrong	Canada East	1855	1867	appointed
Eusèbe Cartier	Canada East	1855	1862 (died)	appointed
Joseph Légaré	Canada East	1855	1855 (died)	appointed
Walter Hamilton Dickson	Canada West	1855	1867	appointed[1]
Ebenezer Perry	Canada West	1855	1867	appointed[1]
Marc-Pascal de Sales Laterrière	Laurentides	1856	1864
Elzéar-Henri Juchereau Duchesnay	Lauzon	1856	1867	[1]
John Simpson	Queen's	1856	1867	[1]
James Patton	Saugeen	1856	1862	[3]
Hollis Smith	Wellington	1856	1863 (died)
Isidore-Édouard-Candide Masson	Thousand Islands	1856	1864
Louis Renaud	Salaberry	1856	1867	[1]
Louis-Antoine Dessaulles	Rougemont	1856	1863	[2]
Philip Michael Matthew Scott VanKoughnet	Rideau	1856	1862
Harmannus Smith	Burlington	1856	1864
Edmund Murney	Trent	1856	1861 (died)
John Prince	Western	1857	1860	[4]
Joseph-François Armand	Alma	1858	1867	[1]
George Crawford	St. Lawrence	1858	1867	[1]
Alexander Campbell	Cataraqui	1858	1867	[1]
David Christie	Erie	1858	1867	[1]
Ulric-Joseph Tessier	Gulf	1858	1867	[1]
Alexandre-Édouard Kierzkowski	Montarville	1858	1861	unseated
Jean-Baptiste Guévremont	Sorel	1858	1867	[1]
Pierre-Urgel Archambault	Repentigny	1858	1867
Édouard-Louis-Antoine-Charles Juchereau Duchesnay	La Salle	1858	1867	[1]
George Alexander	Gore	1858	1867	[1]
George William Allan	York	1858	1867	[1]
Donald McDonald	Tecumseth	1858	1867	[1]
James Shaw	Bathurst	1860	1867	[1]
Robert Unwin Harwood	Rigaud	1860	1863
David Reesor	King's	1860	1867	[1]
Asa Belknap Foster	Bedford	1860	1867	[1]
William Hamilton Merritt	Niagara	1860	1862 (died)
Adam Johnston Fergusson Blair	Brock	1860	1867	[1]
Pierre-Gabriel Huot	Stadacona	1860	1861	unseated
Luc Letellier de S^t-Just	Grandville	1860	1867	[1]
John Hamilton	Inkerman	1860	1867	[1]
Jean-Baptiste-Georges Proulx	La Vallière	1860	1867
Malcolm Cameron	St. Clair	1860	1863	[5]
Allan Napier MacNab	Western	1860	1862 (died)
Andrew Jeffrey	Newcastle	1860	1863
Louis Lacoste	Montarville	1861	1867	by-election [1]
Sidney Smith	Trent	1861	1863	resigned
Charles-François-Xavier Baby	Stadacona	1861	1864 (died)	by-election
James Cox Aikins	Home	1862	1867	[1]
Thomas H. Bennett	Eastern	1862
William McMaster	Midland	1862	1867	[1]
Jacques-Olivier Bureau	Lorimier	1862	1867	[1]
Elijah Leonard	Malahide	1862	1867	[1]
Charles-Christophe Malhiot	Shawinigan	1862	1867	[1]
François-Xavier Lemieux	La Durantaye	1862	1864 (died)
Alexandre Bareil, dit Lajoie	Lanaudière	1862	1862 (died)
Luther Hamilton Holton	Victoria	1862	1863	[6]
Robert Read	Quinte	1862	1867
John McMurrich	Saugeen	1862	1864	by-election
Charles Cormier	Kennebec	1862	1867	[1]
James Currie	Niagara	1862	1866	resigned
Walter McCrea	Western	1862	1867	[1]
James Skead	Rideau	1862	1867	[1]
Oliver Blake	Thames	1862	1867	[1]
Louis Auguste Olivier	Lanaudière	1863	1867	by-election[1]
Alexander Vidal	St. Clair	1863	1867	[1]
John Sewell Sanborn	Wellington	1863	1867	acclaimed[1]
Thomas Ryan	Victoria	1863	1867	by-election [1]
Billa Flint	Trent	1863	1867	by-election [1]
Eustache Prud'homme	Rigaud	1863	1867	by-election
Asa Burnham	Newcastle	1863	1867	[1]
William Henry Chaffers	Rougemont	1864	1867	[1]
David Edward Price	Laurentides	1864	1867	[1]
Joseph-Noël Bossé	La Durantaye	1864	1867	by-election [1]
Jean-Élie Gingras	Stadacona	1864	1867	by-election
Léandre Dumouchel	Thousand Islands	1864	1867	by-election [1]
David Lewis Macpherson	Saugeen	1864	1867	[1]
Harcourt Burland Bull	Burlington	1864	1867	[1]

Speakers of the Legislative Council

The speaker was the presiding officer of the Legislative Council, and was appointed by the Queen-in-Council. The speaker was styled "The Honourable, the Vice-Chancellor, Speaker."^[7]

The office preceded by the Speaker of Legislative Council of Upper Canada and Speaker of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada.

• Robert Sympson Jameson 1841-1843
• Peter McGill 1847-1848
• René-Édouard Caron 1843-1847; 1848-1853
• James Morris 1853-1854; 1858
• John Ross 1854-1856
• Étienne-Paschal Taché 1856-1857
• Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau 1857-1858; 1858-1862
• Sir Allan MacNab 1862
• Alexander Campbell 1863
• Ulric-Joseph Tessier 1863-1866

Source:^[8]

Parliament Buildings

The Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada sat a various buildings in Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa:

• 1841-1843 three sessions were held at the 3 storey Kingston General Hospital
• 1843 Parliament moves to Montreal and sites at renovated St. Anne's Market; burned down in 1849; rebuilt as market only and burned down again in 1902; site later as parking lot and now public square called Place d'Youville.
• 1849 temporary sites for Parliament at Bonsecours Market and the Freemason's Hall, Montreal for single session.
• 1849-1850 Parliament returns to Toronto to the site of the Third Parliament Buildings at Front and Simcoe Street.
• 1851 Parliament relocates to Quebec City in 1851 to the Quebec Parliament Building until fire in destroys the building in 1854.
• 1854-1859 Parliament remains in Quebec and relocates to Quebec Music Hall and Quebec City Courthouse.
• 1859 Parliament return to Toronto to the site of the last parliament held there in 1849-1851 sessions.
• 1860-1865 Parliament returns to Quebec and new Parliament Buildings, Quebec at Parc Montmercy; re-used as Parliament of Quebec 1867-1883
• 1866-1867 Parliament locates in Ottawa on Parliament Hill to the completed and original Centre Block, as well as the East and West Block; Centre Block was later destroyed by fire

See also

• List of by-elections to the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada

References

1. re-appointed to the Senate of Canada
2. resigned to accept appointment to government office
3. appointed Solicitor-General for Canada East
4. appointed judge
5. appointed Queen's printer
6. appointed Minister of Finance
7. Journals of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada ... being the first session, of the first provincial Parliament, 1841. 1841. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
8. Catalogue - Library of Parliament. 1858. pp. 1656–1657.

External links

• Assemblée nationale du Québec (French)
• The Canadian parliamentary companion : first year, HJ Morgan (1862)
• The Canadian parliamentary companion, HJ Morgan (1867)