Stormont (Province of Canada electoral district)

This article is about the pre-Confederation electoral district. For the successor federal electoral district, see Stormont (electoral district). For the successor provincial electoral district, see Stormont (provincial electoral district).

Stormont
Canada West

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

Stormont 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. Stormont was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. It was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Ontario.

Boundaries

Stormont electoral district was based on Stormont County, Canada West (now part of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario). It was located in the eastern part of Canada West, on the Saint Lawrence River.

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]

Stormont County had been an electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, ^[3] and its boundaries were not altered by the Union Act. Those boundaries had originally been set by a proclamation of the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, in 1792:

That the second of the said counties be hereafter called by the name of the county of Stormont ; which county is to be bounded on the east by the westernmost line of the county of Glengary, on the south by the river St. Lawrence, to the westernmost boundary of the late township of Osnaburg, and on the west by the easternmost boundary line of the late township of Williamsburgh, running north twenty-four degrees west until it intersects the Ottawa or Grand river, then descending the said river until it meets the northwesternmost boundary of the county of Glengary. The said county of Stormont is to comprehend all the islands in the said river St. Lawrence nearest to the said county, in the whole or greater part fronting the same. ^[4]

The boundaries had been further defined by a statute of Upper Canada in 1798:

That the townships of Cornwall, Osnaburg, Finch and Roxburg, together with such of the Islands in the river Saint Lawrence as are wholly or in greater part opposite thereto, shall constitute and form the County of Stormont. ^[5]

The effect of these boundaries was to reduce the size of Stormont County, with several townships removed to form the new Russell County, Ontario. ^[6]

Since Stormont County was not changed by the Union Act, those boundaries continued to be used for the new electoral district. Stormont electoral district was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. ^[2]

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Stormont was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. ^[2] The following were the members for Stormont.

Parliament	Years	Members [7]		Party [8]
1st Parliament 1841–1844	1841–1844	Alexander McLean		Moderate Tory

Abolition

Stormont 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. ^[9] It was succeeded by two electoral districts named Stormont, one in the House of Commons of Canada ^[10] and one in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. ^[11]

References

1. Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2.
2. Union Act, 1840, s. 16.
3. 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).
4. Proclamation, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, July 16, 1792; reprinted in Statutes of the Province of Upper Canada; Together with Such British Statutes, Ordinances of Quebec, and Proclamations, as Relate to the Said Province (Kingston: F. M. Hill, 1831), p. 24.
5. An act for the better division of this province, SUC 1798 (38 Geo. III), c. 5, s. 2. 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).
6. An act for the better division of this province, SUC 1798 (38 Geo. III), c. 5, s. 2.
7. J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860, (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43-58.
8. 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.
9. British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), s. 6.
10. Constitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2
11. 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. 2.