Parliament of Upper Canada

“ However this may be, the true prosperity of Upper Canada may be mainly attributed to their influence on the minds of the people.
Possessing many of the external forms of a parliament, they are admirable political schools for a free people. The most intelligent men in the different townships are freely elected by the inhabitants, and assemble in the county town to deliberate and make by-laws, to levy taxes, and, in short, to do everything which in their judgment will promote the interest of their constituents. ”

“ In Lower Canada the Government did not carry a single French-Canadian constituency, and in Upper Canada they failed of a majority, taking only twenty seats out of forty-two. In accordance with the more decorous practice of those days, the Ministry, instead of accepting their defeat at the hands of the press, met parliament like men, and awaited the vote of want of confidence from the people's representatives. This was not long in coming; whereupon they resigned, and the Reform leaders Baldwin and LaFontaine reigned in their stead. ”

“ When the American colonies gained their independence, there came across the border to what are now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and Ontario some forty thousand Loyalists mainly from New England and the South. These Loyalists, of course, refused to be dominated by French rule; so the Constitutional Act was passed in 1791 by the Imperial Parliament. The people of Canada were represented for the first time in an assembly elected by themselves, The Governor-General for Quebec—Lower Canada—and the Lieutenant-Governor for Ontario—Upper Canada—were both appointed by the Crown. ”

“ The numbers of the commons vary according to the population. The local legislatures generally consist of one house, though Quebec and Nova Scotia still retain their upper houses. The Federal Parliament is quinquennial, the local legislatures quadrennial. The lieutenant-governors of the provinces are appointed by the governor-general in council. The governor-general (appointed by the King, though paid by Canada) has a right to disallow or reserve bills for imperial consent ”

“ In the general election which followed, Mr. Cartier defeated Mr. Dorion in Montreal East. The seventh parliament of the province of Canada was opened on the 20th of March, 1862. In the debate on the Address, the burning question of Representation by Population again came up. The Hon. William Macdougall, one of its most able and ardent supporters, moved an amendment to the Address. It set forth that, by the recent census, the population of Upper Canada exceeded that of Lower Canada, in February, 1861, by no fewer than 285,427 souls. ”

“ The house of commons originally consisted of 181 members, of whom 82 were for Ontario, 65 for Quebec, 19 for Nova Scotia, and 15 for New Brunswick. Since then 6 have been added for British Columbia, and 4 for Manitoba. There is no fixed date for the annual meeting of parliament; that body is summoned, as in England, by the executive, at convenient times for the despatch of business. The electoral divisions of Quebec (late Lower Canada) , Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick remained the same as before the confederation was formed; those of Ontario (late Upper Canada) were somewhat altered. ”

“ In Upper Canada the more advanced Reformers gained great influence, and began agitating for a change in the basis of representation in Parliament. They claimed that as Upper Canada was more populous and wealthy than Lower Canada, and paid more taxes, it should send more members to Parliament. Against this it was urged that at the time of the Union Lower Canada had a larger population, greater wealth, and a smaller public debt than Upper Canada—yet, it was given the same number of representatives. ”

“ When next the Parliament met, on the 20th January, 1808, the same fears that were felt in Lower Canada, being felt in Upper Canada, an Act was passed to raise and train the Militia; £1,600 was granted towards the construction of roads and bridges; £200 of yearly salary was granted to an Adjutant-General of Militia; £75 additional was given to the Clerks of the Assembly; £62 10s. per ton was to be the price of hemp purchased under an Act of Parliament for the encouragement of its growth in the Province; an Act for the more equal representation of the Commons was passed ”

“ In Upper Canada the majority of the Assembly were attached to British Institutions; but this Majority was asserted to have been brought about by unconstitutional means on the part of Government, and the use which the revolutionary Party had made of a majority in Parliament when they had it, was precisely the same here as in Lower Canada: namely, to coerce the Government by a refusal to grant the necessary supplies. The Revolutionists in neither province hoped by themselves to overthrow the Government. ”

“ During the recess following the close of the first session of the Eighth Provincial Parliament, which was prorogued on the 14th of April, 1821, a vacancy occurred in the representation of the constituency of the United Counties of Lennox and Addington. The local Reformers took advantage of the opportunity thus afforded of bringing out a candidate who had rendered much service to Liberal principles in Upper Canada, and who was eminently fitted to impart strength to the Opposition in the Assembly. ”

“ So George Brown, speaking from his place in Parliament, and using, at the same time, his extraordinary and unequalled influence as editor of The Globe, flung himself into the fray, seeking, as his motion of 1857 ran, "that the representation of the people in Parliament should be based upon population, without regard to a separating line between Upper and Lower Canada." ”

“ It never entered the head of a single member that Sir James Craig, who, on first meeting a Canadian Parliament, had been so courteous, would have been so abruptly censorious. A prorogation was anticipated, when the Usher of the Black Rod commanded, by order of His Excellency, their presence at the Bar of the Upper House, but the possibility of a dissolution of Parliament never occurred to any one. The constitution, boasted so much of, was certainly a happy one. The representatives of the people were suddenly sent back to their constituents as unfitted for their business. ”

“ Then came the manifold efforts of the official party to avoid being amenable to the Assembly, and the counter exertions of the Assembly to bring them under their control. In all these disputes M. Papineau took a prominent part, and he rose greatly in the estimation of his compatriots.
In 1822, a proposal was brought before parliament to unite the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. This measure was not popular in either province. In Lower Canada especially, the opposition was very great ”

“ To His Majesty and to Parliament the Governor of Upper Canada is at all times most fully responsible for his official acts. That this responsibility is not merely nominal, but that His Majesty feels the most lively interest in the welfare of his Canadian subjects, and is ever anxious to devote a patient and laborious attention to any representations which they may address to him, either through their representatives or as individuals, is proved not only by the whole tenor of the correspondence of my predecessors in this office, but by the despatch which I am now addressing to you. ”

“ In both cases compensation was made by Parliament for the losses the clergy and the seigneurs suffered by the change. In this way two grievances of long standing were happily removed, and the last link uniting Church and State in Upper Canada was broken. Two other political changes must be noted. In 1853, the population having increased greatly since the Union, the number of members of the Legislative Assembly was increased from eighty-four to one hundred and thirty, each Province still having an equal number of members. ”

“ In a new country the representatives of the people would, for the most part, be persons engaged in trade, who might be unable to attend Parliament for seven consecutive years. The qualifications necessary for electors in towns and counties were much too high. It seemed to him that ministers intended to prevent the introduction of popular government into Canada. While the number of the members of the Assembly were limited, the numbers of the Council, although they could not be less than seven members, were unlimited. ”

“ That is what I mean when I say that Canada's constitution is a vital, living, growing thing, not a dead formula by which the Past binds and impedes the Present and the Future.
There must be a session of the Dominion Parliament once every year. Five years is the limit of any tenure of office by the Commons. Every five years the Commoners must go to the country for reelection. Usually the government in power goes to the country for reendorsement before the term of Parliament expires. ”

“ Its walls are lined with large paintings of Canadian troops in action in the World War. The ninety-six senators who represent the various provinces are appointed for life by the government in power whenever vacancies occur. Seats in this body are often handed out as political plums. The Canadian Senate has not nearly as much power in national affairs as the upper house of our Congress, but a seat in it means both honour and a living. ”

“ 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. ”

“ We ought not to have two electoral bodies. Only one body, members to be elected once in every three years. Should have whole legislative power—subject to lieutenant-governor. I would have lieutenant-governors appointed by general government. It would thus bring these bodies into harmony with the general government. In Upper Canada executive officers would be attorney-general, treasurer, secretary, commissioner of crown lands and commissioner of public works. These would form the council of the lieutenant-governor. ”

“ No one foresaw, in truth, that the Senate would consider measures chiefly on party grounds, and would fail to demonstrate the usefulness of a second chamber by industry and capacity in revising hasty legislation. The delegates actually believed that equality of representation between the three divisions, Upper Canada, Lower Canada, and the Maritime Provinces, would make the Senate a bulwark of protection to individual provinces. ”

“ The first parliament of the new Dominion met in the autumn of 1867 in the new buildings at Ottawa—also chosen as the seat of government of the federation—and was probably the ablest body of men that ever assembled for legislative purposes within the limits of old or new Canada. In the absence of the legislation which was subsequently passed both in Ontario and Quebec against dual representation—or the election of the same representatives to both the Dominion parliament and the local legislatures—it comprised the leading public men of all parties in the two provinces in question. ”

“ 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. ”