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 |
Saint Maurice was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, between Montreal and Quebec City. It was created for the first Parliament in 1841, and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
The electoral district lost some territory in the redistribution of 1853, when the district of Maskinongé was created, in part out of Saint Maurice. The district was abolished in 1867 upon the creation of Canada and the province of Quebec.
The electoral district of Saint Maurice roughly covered the current Mauricie region of Quebec, except for the city of Trois-Rivières. The original boundaries were partially reduced in the 1853 redistribution, which created the new electoral district of Maskinongé from part of the Saint Maurice district.
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 Lower Canada and Upper Canada would continue to be used in the new Parliament, unless altered by the Union Act itself. [2]
The Saint Maurice electoral district of Lower Canada was not altered by the Act, and therefore continued with the same boundaries which had been set by a statute of Lower Canada in 1829:
Saint Maurice was a single-member constituency. [4]
The following were the members of the Legislative Assembly for Saint Maurice. The party affiliations are based on the biographies of individual members given by the National Assembly of Quebec, as well as votes in the Legislative Assembly. "Party" was a fluid concept, especially during the early years of the Province of Canada. [5] [6] [7]
Parliament | Members | Years in Office | Party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st Parliament 1841–1844 | Joseph-Édouard Turcotte [lower-alpha 1] | 1841 | Anti-unionist; French-Canadian Group | |||
1842–1844 (by-election) | French-Canadian Group | |||||
2nd Parliament 1844–1847 | François Lesieur Desaulniers | 1844–1847 | French-Canadian Group | |||
3rd Parliament 1848–1851 | Louis-Joseph Papineau | 1848–1851 | French-Canadian Group, then Liberal | |||
4th Parliament 1851–1854 | Joseph-Édouard Turcotte | 1851–1854 | Ministerialist | |||
5th Parliament 1854–1857 | Louis-Léon Lesieur Desaulniers | 1854–1863 | Bleu | |||
6th Parliament 1858–1861 | ||||||
7th Parliament 1862–1863 | ||||||
8th Parliament 1863–1867 | Charles Gérin-Lajoie | 1863–1867 | Anti-Confederation; Rouge | |||
The Saint Maurice electoral district lost some of its original territory in the redistribution of seats in 1853, when the new electoral district of Maskinongé was created.
The district was abolished on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act, 1867 came into force, splitting the Province of Canada into Quebec and Ontario. [8] It was succeeded by electoral districts of the same name in the House of Commons of Canada [9] and the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. [10]
Champlain was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East. It was on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, with the town of Champlain being the main centre of the district.
Beauharnois was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, in a rural area south of Montreal. It was created for the first Parliament in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Bonaventure was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East. It was created in 1841, based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Chambly was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East. It was created in 1841, based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, for an area south of Montreal. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Dorchester was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East. It was created in 1841, by the merger of two previous electoral districts of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, Dorchester and Beauce. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Drummond was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East. It was created in 1841, based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, in a rural area to the north-east of Montreal. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Gaspé was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East. Located on the Gaspé Peninsula, it was created in 1841, based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Huntingdon was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, south of Montreal. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral districts of L'Acadie and Laprairie in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Kamouraska was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, in a rural area in the Gaspé region. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Leinster was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, west of Montreal. It was created in 1841, and was based on the previous electoral districts of l'Assomption and La Chesnaye in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
L'Islet was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River, north-east of Quebec City. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Lotbinière was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, near Quebec City. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Missiskoui was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, in the Eastern Townships. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Montmorency was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, near Quebec City. It was created in 1841 by the merger of two electoral districts from the former Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, Montmorency and Orleans. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Montreal County was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East. It was created in 1841 and was partially based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the former Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. However, a significant part of the old district was carved out of it and formed the new electoral district of Montreal, a linguistic and ethnic gerrymander designed to gain support for the new Province of Canada, which had resulted from the merger of Lower Canada and Upper Canada.
Nicolet was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, centred on the town of Nicolet. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Portneuf was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, immediately west of Quebec City. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
Vaudreuil was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, west of Montreal. It was created in 1841, based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada.
Quebec County was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, surrounding Quebec City. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada.
Yamaska was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, in a rural area south of the Saint Lawrence River. It was created in 1841, based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain :An Act to make a new and more convenient subdivision of the Province into Counties, for the purpose of effecting a more equal Representation thereof in the Assembly than heretofore, SLC 1829, c. 73.