Province House

“ When, a short time ago, the Finance Bill received its third reading, as it left this House it represented, I believe, in a greater degree than can be said of any measure of our time, the mature, the well-sifted, the deliberate work of an overwhelming majority of the representatives of the people upon a matter which, by the custom of generations and by the course of a practically unbroken authority, is the province of this House, and of this House alone. ”

“ The new houses built of wood, being large, neatly finished, and painted white, are more imposing in their appearance than those of brick and stone. Amongst the public buildings, the government house,—the residence of the governor of the province for the time,—is a large gloomy-looking structure, built of freestone, and situated at the southern extremity of the town. The Province Building, which is admitted to be the most splendid edifice in North America, stands within a square in the centre of the town. ”

“ We must express our regret that the accomplishment of the wishes of Parliament, was left to the Principal Agent of His Majesty's Government in this Province, the present Governor in Chief, in whose power it lay, more than in that of any of his predecessors, (by reason of the latitude allowed him, as to the number and choice of the persons whom he might call to the Legislative Council,) to allay, for a time at least, the intestine divisions which rend this Colony, and to give to the said Body a character of greater independence and respectability by judicious nominations. ”

“ The most important feature in it was the division of the province into two parts, as Upper and Lower Canada, and the establishment of a distinct local Legislature for each division, a House of Assembly being created in each, and a Council, so as, in Pitt's words, "to give both divisions the full advantages of the British constitution." The Assemblies were to have the power of taxation (so that there was no room left for such perverse legislation by a British Parliament as had lately cost its sovereign the United States) . ”

“ The question of a new meeting-house was now agitating the inhabitants of Dunstable. Their former building was in another Province, where different laws prevailed respecting the qualifications and settlement of ministers. It was clearly evident that another structure must be built, and the customary dispute of small communities arose in regard to its site. Some persons favored one locality, and others another; some wanted the centre of territory, and others the centre of population. ”

“ Under our third division the narrower political history of our Province begins, the introduction of constitutional government—the work of the legislature, some of whose early records are lost, the outbreak of the War of 1812, the progress of settlement, and the development of municipal and commercial institutions, the restiveness leading to the rising of 1837, and the concessions made to responsible government. ”

“ The Government of each of the absorbing Provinces shall, by order notified in the official Gazette, provide for the administration of the enclaves included in the Province, either by constituting them or any part of them into one or more new districts, or by making them or any part of them part of one or more existing districts, or partly by one and partly by the other of the said methods, and may make such further provision as appears to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulties arising in connection with the absorption of the enclaves in the Province. ”

“ Parliament may alter the boundaries of any province, divide a province into two or more provinces, or form a new province out of provinces within the Union, on the petition of the provincial council of every province whose boundaries are affected thereby. ”

“ In the most distant provinces, with no other safeguard than the respect with which he has inspired the Indians, he exercises the most unlimited authority, and administers the whole of the civil and ecclesiastical government, not only of a parish, but often of a whole province. ”

“ In order to promote the prosperity of the provinces, there shall be in each of them a council, which shall be denominated provincial council, and which shall be presided over by the person exercising the supreme authority within the province. ”

“ Whatever may be the frame of government, it should be built upon the most finished improvements of others. Whether the settlers are to be considered children of mature age, made free, and setting up for themselves, constituting in some degree, an independent Province, the friend and ally of the mother country; sharing in her generous and maternal solicitude; or whether they are to be a Colony, planted, cherished, and protected by her, depends entirely on Congress. ”

“ We, the delegates of the confederated counties of Richelieu, Saint-Hyacinthe, Rouville, Acadie, Chambly, and Verchères, hereby publicly record the solemn and determined resolution of the people which we represent, to put in practice, as soon as possible, the preceding recommendations, and never to stop our patriotic efforts until the various grievances of which we complain today are rectified; and by these, we invite all our fellow-citizens in all the province to join their efforts to ours in order to get for our common fatherland a system of good government, inexpensive and responsible. ”

“ At the present time all the provinces, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, have an excellent municipal system, which enables every defined district, large or small, to carry on efficiently all those public improvements essential to the comfort, convenience and general necessities of the different communities that make up the province at large. Even in the territories of the north-west, every proper facility is given to the people in a populous district, or town, to organise a system equal to all their local requirements. ”

“ From the date of our charter to the time of the Stamp Act, and indeed since that time, (notwithstanding the misrepresentations of our charter constitution, as too popular and republican,) the council of this province have been generally on the side of the governor and the prerogative. For the truth of this, I appeal to our whole history and experience. The art and power of governors, and especially the negative, have been a stronger motive on the one hand, than the annual election of the two houses on the other. ”

“ The estates-collegium or provincial council is an institution by which all such as belong to civil society in general, and are to that degree private persons, participate in the governmental power, especially in legislation—viz. such legislation as concerns the universal scope of those interests which do not, like peace and war, involve the, as it were, personal interference and action of the State as one man, and therefore do not belong specially to the province of the sovereign power. ”

“ The successive stages of integration are the township or ward, which is the unit of organization; the county or province, which is an aggregation of townships or wards; and the national domain or territory, which is an aggregation of counties or provinces; the people of each of which are organized into a body politic. It taxed the Greeks and Romans to the extent of their capacities, after they had gained civilization, to invent the deme or township and the city ward; and thus inaugurate the second great plan of government, which remains among civilized nations to the present hour. ”

“ Each province has a Landsthing, or assembly, which meets for a few days annually, in September, under the presidency of a member designated by the crown. All members are elected directly by the voters of the towns and rural districts, in accordance with the principle of proportional representation, and under a body of franchise regulations which, while much liberalized in 1909, still is based essentially upon property-holding. The function of the Landsthing is the enactment of provincial legislation and the general supervision of provincial affairs. ”

“ French population incapable of aiding central authority.The utter want of any machinery of executive government in the Province is not, perhaps, more striking than might be observed in some of the most flourishing portions of the American continent. ”

“ The passing of the said Act hath been one of the most effectual methods of making known to the inhabitants of this Province the justice and magnanimity of the British character, and hath for ever secured to your Majesty's Government the inviolable confidence, affection, and fidelity, of all classes of your Majesty's subjects in this colony.
The said Act, modelled on the Constitution of the Mother Country by some of the greatest and wisest statesmen establishes powers sufficient to remedy abuses, redress injuries, allay discontents, and provide for the general welfare of the Province. ”

“ Several other gentlemen, charmed with the excellent quality and beautiful disposition of the lands in this part of the country, have taken up adjoining townships; but at none of them have any settlements been made, nor is it probable that any will be, until the proprietaries get better titles: indeed, it has excited the surprise of a numerous set of people in the province, to see even the little settlement I have spoken of established on land held under such a tenure. ”

“ This word province signifies a charge or care of business, which he whose it is committeth to another man to be administered for and under him; and therefore when in one Commonwealth there be diverse countries that have their laws distinct one from another, or are far distant in place, the administration of the government being committed to diverse persons, those countries where the sovereign is not resident, but governs by commission, are called provinces. But of the government of a province, by an assembly residing in the province itself, there be few examples. ”

“ The municipal and internal affairs are managed by a provincial assembly elected by the people. Every villa or borough throughout the province also possesses its municipal council, and in thinly-populated districts, the inhabitants choose every four years a justice of the peace who adjudicates in small disputes between neighbours. ”

“ The provinces were divided into a number of territories, over which were kings of a still lower grade, each under the king of his own province. If the district was not large enough to have a king, it was ruled by a chief, who was subject to the king of the larger territory in which the district was included.
[Pg 2] The king was always chosen from one particular ruling family; and when a king died, those chiefs who had votes held a meeting, lasting for three days and three nights, at which they elected whatever member of that family they considered the wisest, best, and bravest. ”

“ Aside from specifying that provincial and communal institutions shall be regulated by law, it contents itself with an enumeration of certain principles—among them direct elections, publicity of sittings of provincial and communal councils, publicity of budgets and accounts—whose application is regularly to be maintained. [771] Of local governmental units there are three: [772] the province, the arrondissement, and the commune. The provinces are nine in number. [773] In each is a council, elected by all resident citizens who are entitled to participate in the direct election of senators. ”

“ The inhabitants of these provinces, each community within its own borders, went on, from year to year, in their various pursuits of peaceful industry, governed mainly, in their relations to each other, by the natural sense of justice instinctive in man, and by those thousand local institutions and usages which are always springing up in all human communities under the influence of this principle. There were governors stationed over these provinces, whose main duty it was to collect and remit to the king the tribute which the province was required to furnish him. ”

“ The Parliament of Canada may from time to time establish new Provinces in any territories forming for the time being part of the Dominion of Canada, but not included in any Province thereof, and may, at the time of such establishment, make provision for the constitution and administration of any such Province, and for the passing of laws for the peace, order and good government of such Province, and for its representation in the said Parliament. ”

“ That the Province has made enormous strides in population, wealth, intelligence and importance, during the last thirty years, admits of no doubt. Our forests have disappeared, an improved system of agriculture has followed, manufactories have sprung up, railways have connected every county, a daily press has become an established and indispensable institution, the telegraph has economized time by practically annihilating distance, while numerous inventions and discoveries have created new wants, and supplied as rapidly as they have made them. ”

“ III.; the inhabitants of Lower became entitled to property, civil laws, religious liberties and rights, in many respect different from, and in some instances at variance with, those that have prevailed or do prevail in the other British Colonies. The existing constitution ensures them the full enjoyment of all these, without alteration, unless the majority of the qualified electors throughout the Province should consent to change them, by Representatives chosen by themselves. ”

“ It will be in vain for any to expect that the people of this Country will now be contented with a partial and temporary relief, or that they will be amused by Court promises while they see not the least relaxation of Grievances. By the vigilance and activity of Committees of Correspondence among the several towns in the Province they have been wonderfully enlightened and animated. They are united in sentiment and their opposition to unconstitutional Measures of Government in become systematical, Colony communicates freely with Colony. ”