5th Parliament of the Province of Canada
The 5th Parliament of the Province of Canada was summoned in August 1854, following the general election for the Legislative Assembly in July 1854. The number of seats in the Assembly had been increased by the 4th Parliament of the Province of Canada to 130, 65 for each section. Sessions were held in Quebec City until 1856 and then in Toronto. The Parliament was dissolved in November 1857.
About the time of the election of the 5th Parliament in 1854, the government negotiated the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty.
The 1854 election was flawed by excessive turnout due to vote fraud. In the county of Saguenay, more votes were cast than its total population.[1] This occurred despite restrictions on the franchise through application of a property-owners' and age qualification and also due to use of voter registration. John A. Macdonald was unwilling to be drawn into granting a wide franchise and also unwilling to use old restricted franchise rules so the 1857 election would be held using complex rules and a reliance on a multitude of oaths.[1]
During the 5th Parliament, in 1854 and 1855, measures were introduced to abolish seigneurial tenure in Canada East and the clergy reserves in Canada West. A bill was passed in 1855 to make the Legislative Council an elected body, effective the following year. The Audit Act of 1855 established an auditor of public accounts, the first auditor general and the Audit Board, a new government department, which reviewed the public accounts.
The Speaker of this parliament was Louis-Victor Sicotte.
Members
Canada East – 65 seats
Canada West – 65 seats
| Riding | Member | Party | First elected/previously elected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brant | Daniel McKerlie[q] | Conservative | 1854 |
| David Christie (1855) | Clear Grit | 1855 | |
| West Brant | Herbert Biggar | Reformer | 1854 |
| Brockville | George Crawford | Conservative | 1841 |
| Bytown | Agar Yielding | Conservative | 1854 |
| Carleton | William F. Powell | Conservative | 1854 |
| Cornwall | Roderick McDonald | Clear Grit | 1851 |
| Dundas | John Pliny Crysler | Conservative | 1848, 1854 |
| East Durham | Francis H. Burton | Conservative | 1854 |
| West Durham | Henry Munro | Reformer | 1854 |
| East Elgin | George Southwick | Reformer | 1854 |
| West Elgin | George Macbeth | Conservative | 1854 |
| Essex | Arthur Rankin | Conservative | 1854 |
| Frontenac | Henry Smith, Jr | Conservative | 1841 |
| Glengarry | John Sandfield Macdonald | Clear Grit | 1841 |
| Grenville | William Patrick | Reformer | 1851 |
| Grey | George Jackson | Reformer | 1854 |
| Haldimand | William Lyon Mackenzie | Reformer | 1851 |
| Halton | George King Chisholm | Conservative | 1854 |
| Hamilton | Allan Napier MacNab | Conservative | 1841 |
| North Hastings | Edmund Murney[r] | Conservative | 1851 |
| George Benjamin (1856) | Conservative | 1856 | |
| South Hastings | Billa Flint | Clear Grit | 1847, 1854 |
| Huron & Bruce | William Cayley | Tory | 1846, 1854 |
| Kent | Edwin Larwill | Conservative | 1854 |
| Kingston | John A. Macdonald | Conservative | 1844 |
| Lambton | George Brown | Reformer | 1851 |
| North Lanark | Robert Bell | Reformer | 1854 |
| South Lanark | James Shaw | Conservative | 1851 |
| North Leeds & Grenville | Basil R. Church | Reformer | 1854 |
| South Leeds | Jesse Delong | Reformer | 1854 |
| Lennox and Addington | David Roblin | Reformer | 1854 |
| Lincoln | William Hamilton Merritt | Clear Grit | 1844 |
| London | John Wilson | Conservative | 1854 |
| East Middlesex | William E. Niles | Reformer | 1854 |
| West Middlesex | John Scatcherd | Clear Grit | 1854 |
| Niagara (town) | Joseph Curran Morrison | Reformer | 1852 |
| Norfolk | John Rolph | Clear Grit | 1851 |
| East Northumberland | James Ross | 1854 | |
| West Northumberland | Sidney Smith | Reformer | 1854 |
| North Ontario | Joseph Gould | Reformer | 1854 |
| South Ontario | John McVeagh Lumsden | Clear Grit | 1854 |
| North Oxford | Donald Matheson | Clear Grit | 1854 |
| South Oxford | Ephraim Cook[s] | Clear Grit | 1854 |
| Peel[t] | James Cox Aikins | Clear Grit | 1854 |
| Perth | Thomas Mayne Daly | Reformer | 1854 |
| Peterborough | John Langton[u] | Conservative | 1851 |
| Wilson Seymour Conger (1856) | Conservative | 1856 | |
| Prescott | Henry Wellesly McCann | Conservative | 1854 |
| Prince Edward | David Barker Stevenson | Conservative | 1848 |
| Renfrew | Francis Hincks[v] | Reformer | 1841, 1848 |
| John Supple (1856) | 1856 | ||
| Russell | George Byron Lyon-Fellowes | Conservative | 1848 |
| North Simcoe | Angus Morrison | Reformer | 1854 |
| South Simcoe | William Benjamin Robinson | Conservative | 1844 |
| Stormont | William Mattice | Clear Grit | 1851 |
| Toronto | John George Bowes | Conservative | 1854 |
| John Hillyard Cameron | Conservative | 1854 | |
| Victoria | James Smith | Reformer | 1854 |
| North Waterloo | Michael Hamilton Foley | Reformer | 1854 |
| South Waterloo | Robert Ferris | Clear Grit | 1854 |
| Welland | John Fraser | Reformer | 1854 |
| North Wellington | William Clarke | Conservative | 1854 |
| South Wellington | Adam Johnston Fergusson Blair | Reformer | 1849 |
| North Wentworth | Robert Spence | Independent | 1854 |
| South Wentworth | Samuel B Freeman | Reformer | 1854 |
| East York | Amos Wright | Reformer | 1851 |
| North York | Joseph Hartman | Reformer | 1851 |
| South York | John William Gamble | Tory | 1851 |
Notes
- ^ Mégantic
- ^ Jean Chabot was elected in Bellechasse and Quebec City, choosing to represent the latter; Octave-Cyrille Fortier was elected in a by-election in October 1854.
- ^ Leinster
- ^ resigned for health reasons in January 1855; David Edward Price was elected in a by-election held in April 1855.
- ^ Nicolet/Saguenay
- ^ Bonaventure
- ^ formerly Montreal (county)
- ^ formerly Leinster
- ^ Saint-Maurice
- ^ died in July 1857; George Bryson was elected in a by-election in October 1857.
- ^ resigned his seat to accept an appointment; François Évanturel was elected in a by-election in August 1855.
- ^ resigned to accept an appointment as judge; Georges-Honoré Simard was elected in a by-election in October 1856.
- ^ resigned due to ill health in 1857; George Okill Stuart was elected in a by-election in April 1857.
- ^ resigned his seat in 1857; Michel Guillaume Baby was elected in a by-election in February 1857.
- ^ resigned his seat to run unsuccessfully for a seat on the Legislative Council; William Henry Chaffers was elected in a by-election in October 1856.
- ^ resigned his seat in 1857 to allow Louis-Siméon Morin to be elected.
- ^ David Christie appealed the election of Daniel McKerlie and was declared elected in March 1855.
- ^ resigned; George Benjamin was elected to the seat in a by-election in 1856.
- ^ Francis Hincks, elected in both South Oxford & Renfrew, chose to sit for Renfrew; Ephraim Cook elected in October 1854
- ^ formerly West York
- ^ resigned his seat to become auditor general; Wilson Seymour Conger was elected in a by-election held in 1856.
- ^ resigned his seat in November 1855; John Supple was elected in a by-election in the following year.
References
- Bibliography
- George Emery, Elections in Oxford County 1838–1875, University of Toronto Press (2011)
- Upper Canadian politics in the 1850s, Underhill (and others), University of Toronto Press (1967)
- Côté, George Oliver (1860). Political appointments and elections in the province of Canada. 1841 to 1860. St. Michael & Darveau.