1st Parliament of Ontario | |||
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Coalition parliament | |||
3 September 1867 – 25 February 1871 | |||
Parliament leaders | |||
Premier | John Sandfield Macdonald | ||
Party caucuses | |||
Government | Conservative Party | ||
Opposition | Liberal Party | ||
* Coalition government | |||
Legislative Assembly | |||
Speaker of the Assembly | John Stevenson | ||
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The 1st Parliament of Ontario was in session from September 3, 1867, until February 25, 1871, just prior to the 1871 general election. This was the first session of the Legislature after Confederation succeeding the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada (last session was the 8th Parliament of the Province of Canada).
The 1867 general election produced a virtual tie between the Conservative Party led by John Sandfield Macdonald and the Liberal Party led by Archibald McKellar. Macdonald ended up securing the Premiership by leading a coalition government with the support of moderate Liberals. His Cabinet, nicknamed the Patent Combination, included two conservatives (John Carling and Matthew Crooks Cameron), a coalition Grit (Edmund Burke Wood) and two old school Baldwinite Reformers (Sandfield Macdonald himself and Stephen Richards). The first ministry would survive the first parliament by less than a year, resigning in December 1871.
In the first several years of Confederation, individuals could be elected to both federal and provincial parliaments and serve as MPs and MPPs at the same time. In the first Parliament of Ontario, provincial cabinet ministers John Sandfield Macdonald, Edmund Burke Wood, and John Carling all sat in both parliaments, as did Edward Blake, Thomas Roberts Ferguson, John Lorn McDougall (after 1869) and Frederick William Cumberland (after 1871). Generally, they represented the same riding, but it was not necessarily so; for example, Edward Blake represented Bruce South in the provincial parliament but Durham West at the federal level.
John Stevenson served as speaker for the assembly. [1]
Below is a list of members of Ontario's first parliament. Bolded names are cabinet ministers; Capitalized names also sat in federal parliament.
Sir Adams George Archibald was a Canadian lawyer and politician, and a Father of Confederation. He was based in Nova Scotia for most of his career, though he also served as first Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba from 1870 to 1872.
Dominick Edward Blake, known as Edward Blake, was the second premier of Ontario, from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1880 to 1887. He is one of three federal permanent Liberal leaders never to become Prime Minister of Canada, the others being Stéphane Dion and the latter's immediate successor Michael Ignatieff. He may be said to have served in the national politics of what developed as the affairs of three nationalities: Canadian, British, and Irish. Blake was also the founder, in 1856, of the Canadian law firm now known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.
The 1867 Canadian federal election was held from August 7 to September 20, 1867, and was the first election of Canada. It was held to elect members representing electoral districts in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec to the House of Commons of the 1st Canadian Parliament. The provinces of Manitoba (1870) and British Columbia (1871) were created during the term of the 1st Parliament of Canada and were not part of this election.
John Sandfield Macdonald, was the joint premier of the Province of Canada from 1862 to 1864. He was also the first premier of Ontario from 1867 to 1871, one of the four founding provinces created at Confederation in 1867. He served as both premier and attorney general of Ontario from July 16, 1867, to December 20, 1871.
Sir Matthew Crooks Cameron, was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1867 to 1878. He represented the riding of Toronto East. He served in the cabinet of the first Premier, John Sandfield Macdonald. After Macdonald's defeat in 1871, he became leader of the Conservative Party and served as Leader of the Opposition until his retirement from politics in 1878. After the legislature, he served as Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas until his death in 1887. In 1887 he was made a Knight Bachelor.
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Ontario to become law. Together, the Legislative Assembly and Lieutenant Governor make up the unicameral Legislature of Ontario. The assembly meets at the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park in the provincial capital of Toronto.
The 1st Canadian Parliament was in session from November 6, 1867, until July 8, 1872. The membership was set by the 1867 federal election from August 7 to September 20, 1867. It was prorogued prior to the 1872 election.
Alexander Morris was a Canadian politician. He served in the cabinet of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald (1869–1872), and was the second Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (1872–1877). He also served as the founder and first Lieutenant Governor of the District of Keewatin.
Joseph-Édouard Cauchon, was a prominent Quebec politician in the middle years of the nineteenth-century. Although he held a variety of portfolios at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, he never achieved his goal of becoming the Premier of Quebec.
James Cox Aikins, was a Canadian politician in the 19th century. He twice served as a cabinet minister in the government of John A. Macdonald, and was the fourth Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba from 1882 to 1888.
Sir Richard John Cartwright was a Canadian businessman and politician.
Luc Letellier de Saint-Just, was a Canadian politician. He also served as the third Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (1876–1879).
The 1871 Ontario general election was the second general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on March 21, 1871, to elect the 82 Members of the 2nd Legislative Assembly of Ontario ("MLAs").
The 1867 Ontario general election was the first general election held in the newly created Province of Ontario, Canada. Previously, the territory was known as Canada West, a part of the Province of Canada. The election was held on September 3, 1867, to elect the 82 members of the 1st Legislative Assembly (MLAs). The dates of the election in 1867 varied from August 20 to September 26.
The Great Coalition was a grand coalition of political parties that brought an end to political deadlock in the Province of Canada. It existed from May 1864 until Confederation in 1867.
Edmund Burke Wood was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for Brant South, and served as the first provincial treasurer of Ontario from 1867 to 1871 under Premier John Sandfield Macdonald. He also served as a federal Member of Parliament representing the electoral districts of Brant South and Durham West from 1867–1874 under Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.
The Second Parliament of Ontario was in session from March 21, 1871, until December 23, 1874, just prior to the 1875 general election.
The Fourth Legislature of Quebec was the provincial legislature of Quebec, Canada that existed from 1878 to 1881, following the general election of 1878.
This article is the Electoral history of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada.
The first Cabinet for Ontario, Canada consisted of Premier John Sandfield Macdonald four other Cabinet ministers. It was known as the "Patent Combination."