PROVINCE OF CANADA

(Redirected from United Province of Canada)

The 'Province of Canada' or the 'United Province of Canada' was a in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham after the Rebellions of 1837, the united province was designed to prevent future unrest.

Contents

History

Capitals

Responsible Government

Legislative deadlock

Accomplishments

Population

See also

History

Before 1841, the territory roughly corresponding to Southern Ontario in Canada belonged to the British colony of Upper Canada, while the southern portion of Quebec and the Labrador region of Newfoundland and Labrador belonged to the colony of Lower Canada. One of the cultural differences between Upper and Lower Canada was that the first was primarily anglophone, whereas the latter was francophone. The ''Act of Union (1840)'', passed July 23, 1840 by the British parliament and proclaimed by the Crown on February 10, 1841, merged the two colonies by abolishing the legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada and replacing them with a single legislative assembly.
While this new legislature maintained equal representation for both of the former colonies, the democratic nature of Lower Canada's elections were fundamentally flawed. Despite the francophone majority in Lower Canada, most of the power was concentrated on the anglophone minority, who exploited the lack of a secret ballot to intimidate the electorate.
The area that had previously comprised Upper Canada was unofficially designated Canada West, while the area that had comprised Lower Canada was unofficially designated Canada East. After the British North America Act was passed by British Parliament, the province of Canada ceased to exist. Subsequently, the Upper and Lower Canada were renamed Ontario and Quebec respectively.

Capitals

The location of the capital city of the Province of Canada changed six times in its 26-year history. Notably, the capital moved from Montreal to Toronto in 1849 when rioters protesting the Rebellion Losses Bill burned down Montreal's parliament buildings. In 1857, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the permanent capital of the Province of Canada, initiating construction of Canada's current parliament buildings. The first stage of this construction was completed in 1865, just in time to host the final session of the last parliament of the Province of Canada before Confederation.
'Chronology'

★ Kingston 1841 - 1843

★ Montreal 1843 - 1849

★ Toronto 1849 - 1852

★ Quebec 1852 - 1856

★ Toronto 1856 - 1858

★ Quebec 1859 - 1866

★ Ottawa 1866 - 1867
'Further reading'

★ Knight, David B. Choosing Canada's capital : conflict resolution in a parliamentary system. 2nd ed. (Ottawa : Carleton University Press, 1991). xix, 398 p. ISBN 0886291488.

Responsible Government

The Act of Union (1840) made no provision for responsible government (i.e. government responsible to the elected legislature instead of the colonial office); in fact, it explicitly gave the governor of the province the authority to reject any bill passed by the elected assembly. Early governor generals of the province were closely involved in political affairs, maintaining a right to make Executive Council and other appointments without the input of the legislative assembly, and even manipulating election results using intimidating mobs at polling stations. At this time, secret ballot had not been introduced, so the democratic nature of this colony was fundamentally flawed.
However, in 1848 Governor General James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, appointed a cabinet nominated by the majority party of the Legislative Assembly, the Baldwin-Lafontaine coalition that had won elections in January. Lord Elgin upheld the principles of responsible government by not repealing the Rebellion Losses Bill, which was highly unpopular with some English-speaking Tories who favoured imperial over majority rule.

Legislative deadlock

As Canada East and Canada West each held 42 seats in the Legislative Assembly, there was legislative deadlock between English, mainly from Canada West, and French, mainly from Canada East. Initially, the majority of the province was French, and demanded "rep-by-pop" (representation by population), which the anglophones opposed.
Once the English population, rapidly growing due to immigration, exceeded the French, the English demanded rep-by-pop. In the end, the legislative deadlock between English and French led to a movement for a federal union which resulted in the broader Canadian Confederation in 1867.

Accomplishments

Amongst its accomplishments, the Province of Canada negotiated the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 with the United States, built the Grand Trunk Railway, improved the educational system in Canada West under Egerton Ryerson, reinstated French as an official language of the legislature and the courts, codified the Civil Code of Lower Canada in 1866, and abolished the seigneurial system in Canada East.
Longstanding municipal reform was another important achievement. Originally, local government in Canada West operated mainly at the district level, until 1849, when a system based on counties was introduced. In 1841, elected district councils were introduced; prior to that time, district officials were appointed by the lieutenant-governor.

Population

Year	Population (Lower) Canada East	Population (Upper) Canada West
1841	n/a	455,688
1844	697,084	n/a
1848	765,797-786,693 estimates	725,879
1851-52	890,261	952,004
1860-61	1,111,566	1,396,091

★ Source: Statistics Canada website Censuses of Canada 1665 to 1871.

See also

Political history

★ Canada under British Imperial control (1764-1867)

★ List of elections in the Province of Canada

★ List of Governors General of Canada
Political struture

★ Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada

★ Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada