8th Parliament of the Province of Canada
The 8th Parliament of the Province of Canada was summoned in August 1863, following the general election for the Legislative Assembly in August 1863. The Parliament was abolished when the British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867) came into force on July 1, 1867, creating the new country of Canada.
The members were elected in a mixture of multi-member districts (four in East Canada, ten in West Canada), each electing two members, and single-member districts, using Block voting and first past the post respectively.
The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly was Lewis Wallbridge.
The first session of this Parliament sat from 13 August 1863 to 15 October 1863.[1] Sessions were held in Quebec City until the fourth session 8 August 1865 to 18 September 1865.[2]
The fifth and last session was held in Ottawa in the newly completed Parliament building 8 June 1866 to 15 August 1866.[3] This was the last session of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. Following Confederation the following year, it was succeeded by the 1st Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Toronto, the 1st Quebec Legislature in Quebec City, and the 1st Canadian Parliament in Ottawa.
Most members went on to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons, while others served at provincial level either in Quebec or Ontario, were appointed to the Senate of Canada, as a provincial Lieutenant Governor or to another government post, or retired from politics altogether.
Members
Canada East – 65 Seats
Canada West – 65 Seats
| Riding | Member | Party | First elected/previously elected |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Brant | John Young Bown | Liberal-Conservative | 1861 |
| West Brant | Edmund Burke Wood | Reformer | 1863 |
| Brockville | Fitzwilliam Henry Chambers | Reformer | 1863 |
| Carleton | William F. Powell | Conservative | 1854 |
| Cornwall | John Sandfield Macdonald | Reformer | 1841 |
| Dundas | John Sylvester Ross | Conservative | 1861 |
| East Durham | John Shuter Smith | Reformer | 1861 |
| West Durham | Henry Munro | Reformer | 1854 |
| East Elgin | Leonidas Burwell | Reformer | 1858 |
| West Elgin | John Scoble | Reform | 1863 |
| Essex | Arthur Rankin | Reformer | 1854, 1861, 1863 |
| Frontenac | William Ferguson | Conservative | 1863 |
| Glengarry | Donald Alexander Macdonald | Reformer | 1858 |
| Grenville | Walter Shanly | Liberal-Conservative | 1863 |
| Grey | George Jackson | Conservative | 1861 |
| Haldimand | David Thompson | Reformer | 1863 |
| Halton | John White | Reformer | 1858 |
| Hamilton | Isaac Buchanan[j] | Conservative | 1858 |
| Charles Magill (1866) | Liberal | 1866 | |
| North Hastings | Thomas Campbell Wallbridge | Reformer | 1863 |
| South Hastings | Lewis Wallbridge | Reformer | 1858 |
| Huron and Bruce | James Dickson | Reformer | 1861 |
| Kent | Archibald McKellar | Reformer | 1858 |
| Kingston | John A. Macdonald | Liberal-Conservative | 1844 |
| Lambton | Alexander Mackenzie | Reformer | 1861 |
| North Lanark | Robert Bell[k] | Reformer | 1854 |
| William McDougall (1864) | Reformer | 1858, 1864 | |
| South Lanark | Alexander Morris | Conservative | 1861 |
| North Leeds and Grenville | Francis Jones | Reformer | 1861 |
| South Leeds | Albert Norton Richards[l] | Reformer | 1863 |
| David Ford Jones (1864) | 1864 | ||
| Lennox and Addington | Richard John Cartwright | Conservative | 1863 |
| Lincoln | William McGiverin | Reformer | 1863 |
| London | John Carling | Liberal-Conservative | 1858 |
| East Middlesex | Crowell Willson | Reformer | 1863 |
| West Middlesex | Thomas Scatcherd | Reformer | 1854, 1861 |
| Niagara | John Simpson[m] | Conservative | 1858 |
| Angus Morrison (1864) | Reformer | 1854,[n] 1864 | |
| Norfolk | Aquila Walsh | Conservative | 1861 |
| East Northumberland | James Lyons Biggar | Reformer | 1861 |
| West Northumberland | James Cockburn | Liberal-Conservative | 1861 |
| North Ontario | William McDougall[o] | Reformer | 1858,[p] 1864 |
| Matthew Crooks Cameron (1864) | Conservative | 1861, 1864 | |
| South Ontario | Oliver Mowat[q] | Reformer | 1858 |
| Thomas Nicholson Gibbs (1864) | Reformer | 1864 | |
| City of Ottawa | Joseph Merrill Currier | Conservative | 1863 |
| North Oxford | Hope Fleming Mackenzie[r] | Reformer | 1863 |
| Thomas Oliver (1866) | Reformer | 1866 | |
| South Oxford | George Brown | Reformer | 1851,[s] 1863 |
| Peel | John Hillyard Cameron | Conservative | 1854 |
| Perth | Robert MacFarlane | Reformer | 1863 |
| Peterborough | Wilson Seymour Conger[t] | Independent | 1856, 1863 |
| Frederick W. Haultain (1864) | Conservative | 1864 | |
| Prescott | Thomas Higginson | Conservative | 1863 |
| Prince Edward | Walter Ross | Reformer | 1863 |
| Renfrew | Robert McIntyre | Reformer | 1863 |
| Russell | Robert Bell | Conservative | 1861 |
| North Simcoe | Thomas David McConkey | Reformer | 1863 |
| South Simcoe | Thomas Roberts Ferguson | Conservative | 1858 |
| Stormont | Samuel Ault | Reformer | 1861 |
| East Toronto | Alexander Mortimer Smith | Reformer | 1863 |
| West Toronto | John Macdonald | Reformer | 1863 |
| Victoria | James W Dunsford | Reformer | 1861 |
| North Waterloo | Michael Hamilton Foley[u] | Reformer | 1854 |
| Isaac Erb Bowman (1864) | Reformer | 1864 | |
| South Waterloo | James Cowan | Reformer | 1861 |
| Welland | Thomas Clark Street | Conservative | 1861 |
| North Wellington | Thomas Sutherland Parker | Reformer | 1863 |
| South Wellington | David Stirton | Reformer | 1858 |
| North Wentworth | William Notman | Reformer | 1848,[v] 1858 |
| James McMonies (1865) | Reformer | 1865 | |
| South Wentworth | Joseph Rymal | Reformer | 1858 |
| East York | Amos Wright | Reformer | 1851 |
| North York | James Pearson Wells | Reform | 1863 |
| West York | William Pearce Howland | Reformer | 1858 |
Notes
- ^ Drummond—Arthabaska
- ^ resigned his seat in 1864 to run for a position in the Legislative Council; Pierre-Alexis Tremblay was elected in a by-election in January 1865.
- ^ Bonaventure
- ^ Montreal
- ^ resigned his seat to accept the post of inspector of prisons; Guillaume Gamelin Gaucher was elected in a by-election in August 1864.
- ^ Saguenay
- ^ accepted an appointment as a judge in 1863; Rémi Raymond was elected in a by-election in October 1863.
- ^ died in December 1864; Louis-Charles Boucher de Niverville was elected in a by-election in January 1865.
- ^ Saint-Maurice
- ^ resigned in 1865; Charles Magill was elected in a by-election in 1866.
- ^ resigned his seat to allow William McDougall to be elected in November 1864.
- ^ appointed Solicitor-General for Canada West; David Ford Jones was elected in a by-election in January 1864.
- ^ resigned in 1864; Angus Morrison was elected in a by-election in September 1864.
- ^ North Simcoe
- ^ accepted an appointment to cabinet and was defeated by Matthew Crooks Cameron in a by-election in July 1864.
- ^ North Lanark
- ^ received an appointment; Thomas Nicholson Gibbs was elected to the seat in a by-election in 1864.
- ^ died in 1866; Thomas Oliver was elected in a by-election in the same year.
- ^ Kent/Lambton/Toronto
- ^ died in 1864; Frederick W. Haultain was elected to the seat in a by-election in the same year.
- ^ was forced to seek reelection due to an appointment; Isaac Erb Bowman was elected in a by-election in April 1864.
- ^ Middlesex
References
- ^ Journals of the Legislative Assembly 1863 https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00952_22/5
- ^ Journals of the Legislative Assembly 1865 https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00952_25/5
- ^ Journals of the Legislative Assembly 1866 https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00952_26/5
- Bibliography
- Upper Canadian politics in the 1850s, Underhill (and others), University of Toronto Press (1967)