Chambly (Province of Canada electoral district) explained

Chambly
Province:Province of Canada
Prov-Status:defunct
Prov-Created:1841
Prov-Abolished:1867
Prov-Election-First:1841
Prov-Election-Last:1863

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.

The electoral district was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Quebec.

Boundaries

The Union Act, 1840 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 Chambly 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:

The electoral district was located south of Montreal, in the Montérégie region. The elections were held at Longueuil.[3]

Members of the Legislative Assembly (1841–1867)

Chambly was a single-member constituency.[4]

The following were the members of the Legislative Assembly for Chambly. 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]

ParliamentMembersYears in OfficeParty
1st Parliament
1841–1844
John YuleUnionist and Government supporter
Louis LacosteFrench-Canadian Group
2nd Parliament
1844–1847
Louis LacosteFrench-Canadian Group
3rd Parliament
1848–1851
Pierre BeaubienFrench-Canadian Group
Louis LacosteMinisterialist
4th Parliament
1851–1853
Louis LacosteMinisterialist
5th Parliament
1854–1857
Noël DarcheRouge
6th Parliament
1858–1861
Louis LacosteBleu
7th Parliament
1861–1863
Charles Boucher de BouchervilleIndependent
8th Parliament
1863–1867
Confederation; Bleu

Notes

Abolition

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]

Notes and References

  1. https://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/PreConfederation/ua_1840.html Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict., c. 35
  2. https://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/PreConfederation/ua_1840.html Union Act, 1840
  3. http://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00926_39/488?r=0&s=1 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, s. 3.
  4. https://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/PreConfederation/ua_1840.html Union Act, 1840
  5. J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860 (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43–58.
  6. http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/membres/notices/index.html Québec Dictionary of Parliamentary Biography, from 1764 to the present
  7. Paul G. Cornell, Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841–67 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93–111.
  8. British North America Act, 1867, now the Constitution Act, 1867, s. 6.
  9. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/section-40.html#h-6 Constitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2
  10. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/section-80.html#h-12 Constitution Act, 1867, s. 80.