Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada

“ Resolved, That this House is nowise disposed to admit the excellence of the present Constitution of Canada, although His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies has unreasonably and erroneously asserted, that it has conferred on the two Canadas the institutions of the Great Britain; nor to reject the principle of extending the system of frequent elections much further than it is at present carried; and that this system ought especially to be extended to the Legislative Council ”

“ Resolved, That this vicious system, which has been carefully maintained, has given to the Legislative Council a great character of animosity to the country than it had at any former period, and is as contrary to the wishes of Parliament, as that which, in order to resist the wishes of the people of England for the Parliamentary Reform, should have called into the House of Lords a number of men notorious for their factious and violent opposition to that great measure. ”

“ Resolved, That as the grand inquest of the province, it is the duty of this House to inquire concerning all grievances, and all circumstances which may endanger the general welfare of the inhabitants of the province, or be of a nature to excite alarm in them with regard to their lives, their liberty, and their property, to the end that such representations may be made to our Most Gracious Sovereign, or such legislative measures introduced, as may lead to the redress of such grievances, or tend to allay such alarm ”

“ If local circumstances and institutions permitted a complete re-union of the Provinces, it could only be rendered useful by the seats in the Legislative Council and in the Assembly becoming vacant, and by appointing Legislative Councillors, who would generally attend in their places, who would not be composed almost exclusively of executive Officers, and particularly of the Judges, whose duties, as such, are sufficient in Canada to occupy the whole of their time ”

“ These resolutions of the Assembly, respecting the conduct of the Honorable John Richardson were taken by special messengers to the Governor and to the Legislative Council. The Governor considered the resolutions undignified. They were as much a breach of the privileges of the Council as the remarks of Mr. Richardson would have been a breach of the privileges of the Assembly if uttered anywhere else than in the Council. Mr. Richardson had a perfect right to express himself freely in parliament. Freedom of debate was as necessary to the Upper as it was to the Lower House. ”

“ The British North America Act assigns to the different provinces, as to the central parliament, their spheres of control, but all residuary powers are given to the general government. Within these limitations the provincial assemblies have a wide range of legislative power. In Nova Scotia and Quebec the bicameral system of an upper and lower house is retained; in the other provinces legislation is left to a single representative assembly. ”

“ That a representative body similar to that which attempted to overturn the constitution in Lower Canada can work well, and even usefully reform when in the hands of loyal English subjects, is acknowledged by his lordship, who says, “the course of the Parliamentary contest in Upper Canada has not been marked by that singular neglect of the great duties of a legislative body, which I have remarked in the proceedings of the Parliament of Lower Canada. ”

“ You have been so intemperate in debate that moderation and forbearance is scarcely to be looked for without a new Assembly. Gentlemen, Parliament is dissolved. A new Parliament will be convened as soon as convenience will permit. My object in thus acting, is to preserve the true principles of the free and happy constitution of the Province." He turned with peculiar satisfaction from lecturing to the Assembly, to offer his acknowledgements to the gentlemen of the Legislative Council, for their unanimity, zeal, and unremitting attention to the public business, manifested in their proceedings. ”

“ They would find it very difficult to vindicate those peculiar privileges, if they were once invaded by an Act of the Colonial Legislature; their property and their persons might for a time be at the disposal of a prejudiced or self-interested minority of the population, having the power of a majority of the representative Assembly, and the support of the whole Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Authority. ”

“ Resolved, That it was in consequence of a correct idea of the state of the country, and of society generally in America, that the Committee of the House of Commons asked, whether there was not in the two Canadas a growing inclination to see the institutions become more and more popular, and in that respect more and more like those of the United States; and that John Neilson, esquire, one of the agents sent from this country, answered, that the fondness for popular institutions had made great progress in the two Canadas ”

“ The Upper House never encroached upon the privileges of the Lower House. The agent was not appointed. The Houses could not agree upon a messenger, and although the Governor promised to send two messengers to London, at the public expense, if the Assembly desired it, no one is to this hour very certain whether the address of the Legislative Assembly, to the Prince Regent, ever reached his royal fingers. ”

“ From these causes it too often happened that the members of the House of Assembly came to the meeting of the legislature ignorant of the real character of the general interests entrusted to their guardianship, intent only on promoting sectional objects, and anxious chiefly to secure for the county they happen to represent, or the district with which they are connected, as large a proportion as possible of any funds which the legislature may have at its disposal. In Upper Canada, however, the means of doing this were never so extensive as those possessed by the Lower Province ”

“ For years he contended for a legislative council elected by the people: and it is curious to note that none of the men who were at the head of the popular party in Lower Canada ever recognized the fact, as did their contemporaries in Upper Canada, that the difficulty would be best solved, not by electing an upper house, but by obtaining an executive which would only hold office while supported by a majority of the representatives in the people's house. ”

“ Practical working of the Assembly in Lower Canada.It was not until some years after the commencement of the present century that the population of Lower Canada began to understand the representative system which had been extended to them, and that the Assembly evinced any inclination to make use of its powers. ”

“ He declared that Lower Canada had resisted representation by population under a legislative union, but that if a federal union were obtained, it would be tantamount to a separation of the provinces, and Lower Canada would thereby preserve its autonomy, together with all the institutions it held so dear. ”

“ Throughout the Union period there were two leaders in each Cabinet, two Attorney Generals, and two distinct judicial systems. Every session laws were passed applying to one section alone. This continued separation had its beginning in a clause of the Union Act itself, which provided that each section should have equal representation in the Assembly, even though Lower Canada then had a much larger population than Upper Canada. When the tide of overseas immigration put Canada West well in the lead, it in its turn was denied the full representation its greater population warranted. ”