Prescott was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada West (now Ontario). It was created in 1841, upon the establishment of the Province of Canada by the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Prescott was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. It was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Ontario.
 Province of Canada electoral district | |
|---|---|
| Defunct pre-Confederation electoral district | |
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada |
| District created | 1841 |
| District abolished | 1867 |
| First contested | 1841 |
| Last contested | 1863 |
Boundaries
editPrescott electoral district was based on Prescott County (now part of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell). It was located east of Bytown (now Ottawa, Ontario), on the Ottawa River, which formed the border with Canada East (now the province of Quebec).
The Union Act, 1840 had merged the two provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada, with a single Parliament. The separate parliaments of Lower Canada and Upper Canada were abolished.[1] The Union Act provided that the pre-existing electoral boundaries of Upper Canada would continue to be used in the new Parliament, unless altered by the Union Act itself.[2]
Prescott County had been an electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada,[3] and its boundaries had not been altered by the Union Act. Those boundaries had originally been defined by a statute of Upper Canada in 1798:
That the townships of Hawkesbury, Longueil, with the tract of land in its rear, Alfred and Plantagenet, with such of the Islands in the Ottawa river as are wholly or in greater part opposite thereto, shall constitute and form the County of Prescott.[4]
Since Prescott's boundaries were not changed by the Union Act, those boundaries continued to be used for the new electoral district. Prescott was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.[2]
Members of the Legislative Assembly
editPrescott was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.[2] The following were the members for Prescott.
| Parliament | Years | Members[5] | Party[6] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Parliament 1841–1844 |
1841–1844 | Donald McDonald | Unionist; moderate Reformer | |
Abolition
editPrescott electoral district was abolished on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act, 1867 came into force, creating Canada and splitting the Province of Canada into Quebec and Ontario.[7] It was succeeded by the electoral districts of Prescott in both the House of Commons of Canada[8] and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.[9]
References
edit- ^ Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2.
- ^ a b c Union Act, 1840, s. 16.
- ^ Journal of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, from the eighth day of November, 1836, to the fourth day of March, 1837, p. 15 (November 8, 1836).
- ^ An act for the better division of this province, SUC 1798 (38 Geo. III), c. 5, s. 4. Reprinted in The Statutes of Upper Canada to the Time of Union, Revised and Published by Authority, Vol. I - Public Acts (Toronto: Robert Stanton, Queen's Printer, 1843).
- ^ J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860, (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43-58.
- ^ For party affiliations, see Paul G. Cornell, Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841-67 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93-111.
- ^ British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), s. 6.
- ^ Constitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2
- ^ Constitution Act, 1867, s. 70.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Proclamation, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, July 16, 1792.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: An act for the better division of this province, SUC 1798, c. 5, s. 4.