| Dorchester | |
| Province: | Province of Canada |
| Prov-Status: | defunct |
| Prov-Created: | 1841 |
| Prov-Abolished: | 1867 |
| Prov-Election-First: | 1841 |
| Prov-Election-Last: | 1863 |
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. The new district was south of Quebec City, and was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
In 1853, the Parliament of the Province of Canada expanded the size of the Legislative Assembly. Canada East's representation increased from forty-two members to sixty-five members. In the redistribution of seats, the Dorchester riding was split into two ridings, with the new electoral district of Beauce carved off from Dorchester. The new electoral map came into force for the next general elections, in 1854.
Dorchester electoral district was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Quebec.
The Union Act, 1840, passed by the British Parliament, 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.Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2.
The Union Act provided that while many of the pre-existing electoral boundaries of Lower Canada and Upper Canada would continue to be used in the new Parliament, some electoral districts would be defined directly by the Union Act itself.[1] Dorchester was one of those new electoral districts. The Union Act merged two previous electoral districts, the County of Dorchester and the County of Beauce, to create a new district, also called Dorchester.[2]
Under the previous legislation, enacted in 1829, the former district of Dorchester had been based on the seigniory of Lauzon, on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence, near Lévis.[3]
The former district of Beauce had been immediately to the south east of the former district of Dorchester, and was defined as follows:
The effect of the Union Act provision was to merge those two sets of boundaries into one district. The Dorchester electoral district was thus south of Quebec City, between the Saint Lawrence and the border with the United States, in the current Chaudière-Appalaches administrative region.
In 1853, the Parliament of the Province of Canada expanded the Legislative Assembly. Canada East went from forty-two seats to sixty-five seats. As part of the redistribution of seats, Dorchester was split into two seats. The northern portion of the riding continued to be named Dorchester, while the southern portion was split into a new riding of Beauce.[4] [5]
The new boundaries for Dorchester were as follows:
Dorchester was a single-member constituency, represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.[2] [6]
The following were the members of the Legislative Assembly from Dorchester. 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.[7] [8] [9]
| Parliament | Member | Years in Office | Party | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Parliament 1841–1844 | Antoine-Charles Taschereau | 1841–1844 | Anti-unionist; French-Canadian Group | |||||
| 2nd Parliament of the Province of Canada 1844–1847 | Pierre-Elzéar Taschereau | 1844–1845 | French-Canadian Group | |||||
| Joseph-André Taschereau | 1845–1847 (by-election) | "British" Tory | ||||||
| François-Xavier Lemieux | 1847 | French-Canadian Group | ||||||
| 3rd Parliament 1848–1851 | François-Xavier Lemieux | 1848–1851 | French-Canadian Group | |||||
| 4th Parliament 1851–1854 | Ministerialist | |||||||
| 5th Parliament 1854–1857 | Barthélemy Pouliot | 1854–1857 | Bleu | |||||
| 6th Parliament 1858–1861 | Hector-Louis Langevin | 1858–1867 | Bleu | |||||
| 7th Parliament 1861–1863 | ||||||||
| 8th Parliament 1863–1867 | Confederation; Bleu | |||||||
The Dorchester riding 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.[10] It was succeeded by electoral districts of the same name in the House of Commons of Canada[11] and the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.[12]