List of elections in the Province of Canada

Province of Canada

The Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...

was the union

Act of Union 1840

The Act of Union, formally the The British North America Act, 1840 , was enacted in July 1840 and proclaimed 10 February 1841. It abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and established a new political entity, the Province of Canada to replace them...

of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada

Upper Canada

The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...

and later Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

) and Canada East

Canada East

Canada East was the eastern portion of the United Province of Canada. It consisted of the southern portion of the modern-day Canadian Province of Quebec, and was primarily a French-speaking region....

(formerly Lower Canada

Lower Canada

The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...

and later Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

).

The Province of Canada held 8 unique elections from 1841 to 1863 before Confederation. While party lines were somewhat blurred, there were political parties.

There are many examples of groups of MPs going against the party line, or splitting a party into two. A good example of this is when a number of Liberal MPs supported John A. Macdonald

John A. Macdonald

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...

, a Conservative

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

, and his idea for Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

, many other Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

members were opposed to Confederation.

After the establishment of the double majority

Double majority

A double majority is the name given to a vote which requires a majority of votes according to two separate criteria. The mechanism is usually used to require strong support for any measure considered to be of great importance...

principle, any bill, in order to be passed, needed a majority of MPs from both Canada West and Canada East. This sometimes led to coalitions between Ontario Liberals and Quebec Tories, or vice versa. The elections listed below are divided into "Left" or "Reformer" camps, and "Right" or "Conservative" camps.

1841

Four major parties contested the 1841 election. The Reformers from Canada West were a group of pro-democracy, radical Reformers who wanted to change the government. The Family Compact

Family Compact

Fully developed after the War of 1812, the Compact lasted until Upper and Lower Canada were united in 1841. In Lower Canada, its equivalent was the Château Clique. The influence of the Family Compact on the government administration at different levels lasted to the 1880s...

from Canada West was a group of rich Tories interested in the status quo.

Canada East had two similar groups. Les Patriotes, a reformist group consisting almost exclusively of French Canadians, and the Tories, a mostly English group.

Movement	Canada West	Canada East	Total Seats
Reform Left-Wing	Reform - 29	Patriotes - 21	50
Conservative Right-Wing	Family Compact - 10	Tories - 17	27
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	Independent - 4	5

1844

By 1844, the Family Compact had started calling itself Tories as well. This election also saw the creation of the Liberal Party, made up of pro-Patriot members from Canada East, who spoke English.

Movement	Canada West	Canada East	Total Seats
Conservative Right-Wing	Tories - 28	Tories - 13	41
Reform Left-Wing	Reform - 12	Patriotes - 23 Liberal-5	40
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	Independent - 1	2

Due to the double majority rule (legislation needed a majority of both Canada East and Canada West MPs) this parliament was not able to get much done.

1848

By 1848, the Reformers were popular once more in Canada West.

Movement	Canada West	Canada East	Total Seats
Reform Left-Wing	Reform - 23	Patriotes - 23 Liberal - 9	55
Conservative Right-Wing	Tories - 18	Tories - 6	24
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	Independent - 1	2

Due to the problems of the last parliament, the Governor General was ordered to sign everything that came from this legislature, marking the birth of responsible government

Responsible government

Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...

in Canada.

1851

Before the 1851 election, the Patriotes changed their name to Ministeralists. After being popular and in power for so long, they began to somewhat favour the status quo, and began to lose their "radical" roots. The remaining Patriotes, became "Rouges", or "Reds" in English.

Movement	Canada West	Canada East	Total Seats
Status Quo Reform Left-of-Center	Reform - 20	Ministeralists - 23 Liberal-9	62
Conservative Right-Wing	Tories - 20	Tories - 3	24
Radical Reform Left-Wing	None	Rouges - 4	4
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	Independent - 3	4

1854

1854 was unique, seeing a new group rise. Some reformers were unhappy with the slow pace of reforms, and began to oppose the reformist government. They called themselves "Clear Grits" in Canada West, and gained the support of the Liberals and Rouges in Canada East. Also, around this time, the Tories began to refer to their group as the "Conservative Party".

Movement	Canada West	Canada East	Total Seats
Status Quo Reform Centrist	Reform - 19	Ministeralists - 35	54
Radical Reform Left-Wing	Clear Grits - 14 Left-wing Reform - 6	Rouges & Liberals - 19	39
Conservative Right-Wing	Conservative - 25	Conservative - 9	34
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	None	1

In order to stay in government, the moderate reformers formed a coalition with the Conservatives. The better-formed Conservative party took over the Reform Party, and the remaining Reformers left for the Clear Grits, renaming the party, the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party is still known as the 'Grits' in most of English speaking Canada today.

1858

1858 saw the birth of the "Bleu" movement in Quebec. Former Ministeralists became French-Canadian Tories, and took on the name "Bleu" or Blue, to oppose the Rouges. The "new" politics were more Liberal vs. Conservative than Reform vs. the status quo as many former Reformers began to sit with the Conservatives.

Movement	Canada West	Canada East	Total Seats
Liberal Left-Wing	Liberal - 34	Rouges - 10 Liberal - 5	49
Conservative Right-Wing	Conservative - 24	Conservative - 15	39
Former Reformer Centrist	Moderate Reformer - 5	Bleu - 33	38
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	None	1

1861

The election of 1861 saw the Liberal party finally become united. This election is notable as exactly 29 Liberals were elected from each half of the Province of Canada, and exactly 35 MPs supportive of the Conservative/Centrist movements were elected from each half, which created a regionally balanced government.

Movement	Canada West	Canada East	Total Seats
Liberal Left-Wing	Liberal - 29	Liberal - 29	58
Conservative Right-Wing	Conservative - 29	Conservative - 8	37
Former Reformer Centrist	Moderate Reformer - 6	Bleu - 27	33
Non-Aligned Independent	None	None	None

1863

The final election for the Province of Canada took place in 1863. By this time, most liberals and conservatives were in favour of representation by population and confederation. George Brown

George Brown (Canadian politician)

George Brown was a Scottish-born Canadian journalist, politician and one of the Fathers of Confederation...

led a group of Upper Canadian liberals to form a coalition with the Upper Canadian conservatives and the Lower Canadian Bleus, and began a discussion on confederation

Confederation

A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...

of all of the British North America colonies. The confederation project received wide support from Upper Canada, general opposition from the maritimes and Lower Canada was divided. Confederation, was eventually achieved when 3 of the 6 colonies joined together to become the first four provinces of Canada.

Movement	Canada West	Canada East	Total Seats
Liberal Left-Wing	Liberal - 41	Liberal - 25	66
Conservative Right-Wing	Conservative - 24	Conservative - 11	35
Former Reformer Centrist	Moderate Reformer - 2	Bleu - 25	27
Non-Aligned Independent	None	Independent - 1	1

This election was followed by the first federal election, the Canadian federal election, 1867

Canadian federal election, 1867

The Canadian federal election of 1867, held from August 7 to September 20, was the first election for the new nation of Canada. It was held to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons, representing electoral districts in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec in the...

, and later on the first provincial elections. 1867 marked the beginning of two founding myth

Founding myth

A national myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as an important national symbol and affirm a set of national values. A national myth may sometimes take the form of a national epic...

s: the founding of the Canadian nation in English Canada and the pact between two founding peoples in French Canada.

When Canada became a Dominion of the British Empire, the Conservatives and Liberals retained their names, while the former Reformers became Liberal-Conservatives, and continued to work very closely with the Conservative Party.