Huron (Province of Canada electoral district)

Huron was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada West (now Ontario). It was created in 1841, upon the establishment of the Province of Canada by the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, and was based on Huron County. Huron was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. It was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Ontario.

This article is about the pre-Confederation electoral district. For one of the successor federal electoral districts, see Huron North. For another successor federal electoral district, see Huron South.
Huron
Canada West
Province of Canada electoral district
Defunct pre-Confederation electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
District created1841
District abolished1867
First contested1841
Last contested1863

Boundaries

Huron electoral district was located on the south-west shore of Lake Huron, Canada West. It was based on Huron County. The town of Goderich was the major centre.

The Union Act, 1840 had 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 Upper Canada would continue to be used in the new Parliament, unless altered by the Union Act itself.[2]

Huron County had been set up just six years before the creation of the Province of Canada, by a statute of the Parliament of Upper Canada in 1835:

That the townships of Williams, McGillivray, Stephen, Hay, Stanley, Goderich, Colborne, Hullet, McKillop, Tuckersmith, Hibbert, Logan, Fullarton, Usborne, Biddulph, Blanchard, Downie, Ellice, North Easthope, and South Easthope, do constitute and form the County of Huron in the London District.[3]

The boundaries had been further defined by a statute of Upper Canada in 1840:

That the Township of Ashfield, and such other townships as may hereafter be surveyed, being the first range of Townships lying immediately contiguous to the Northerly Boundary of the said County, be attached to and form part of the County of Huron...[4]

Since the Union Act did not change the boundaries of Huron for the new Parliament, the former boundaries continued to be used.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Huron was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.[2] The following were the members for Huron.

Parliament Years Member[5] Party[6]
1st Parliament
1841–1844		 1841
Election overturned		 James McGill Strachan Unionist; Compact Tory
1841–1844 William "Tiger" Dunlop Unionist; Moderate Tory

Significant elections

The 1841 election to the first Parliament was a controversial one. The two candidates were James McGill Strachan and William "Tiger" Dunlop. Strachan was the preferred candidate of the Canada Company, the land company which owned much of the Huron Tract and was responsible for developing it.[7] Strachan was also the son of Bishop Strachan, one of the leaders of the Family Compact, the oligarchic group which had controlled the government of Upper Canada. Dunlop was a former employee of the Canada Company who had resigned from it in a dispute over his military service during the Upper Canada rebellions. He represented the interests of the prosperous local landowners in Colborne Township.[8]

Strachan was a lawyer who lived and practised in York, while Dunlop was a local resident of the area, living at Gairbraid, near Goderich, and familiar with local conditions from his years of working for the Canada Company. A local newspaper confidently predicted that Strachan would have "...no more chance, than a stump-tailed ox in fly time."[7] Nonetheless, Strachan was declared the winner by the local returning officer.

Strachan took his seat in the Assembly when it convened in June, 1841.[9] He participated in the proceedings of the Assembly for the next two months. However, Dunlop filed a controverted election petition with the Assembly, which appointed a select committee to review the allegations of election irregularities. On August 20, 1841, the committee reported, recommending that Strachan be removed and Dunlop declared the successful candidate. The Assembly adopted the committee report and awarded the seat to Dunlop, who replaced Strachan as member for Huron for the duration of the first Parliament.[10][11][12]

Abolition

The district was abolished on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act, 1867 came into force, creating Canada and splitting the Province of Canada into Quebec and Ontario.[13] It was succeeded by two electoral districts, Huron North and Huron South, in both the House of Commons of Canada[14] and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.[15]

References
  1. Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2.
  2. Union Act, 1840, s. 16.
  3. An Act to form certain Townships in the London District into a County, and to attach certain Townships to the Counties of Middlesex and Kent, in the London and Western Districts, SUC 1835 (5 Will. IV), c. 45, s. 1.
  4. An Act to attach certain Townships to the County of Huron, SUC 1840 (3 Vict.), c. 38.
  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. For party affiliations, see Paul G. Cornell, Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841-67 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93-111.
  7. Roger D. Hall, "Strachan, James McGill", Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. IX (1861–1870.).
  8. Gary Draper and Roger Hall, "Dunlop, William, known as Tiger Dunlop", Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. VII (1836–1850).
  9. Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, 1st Parliament, 1st Session, 1841, pp. xi–xii.
  10. Journal of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, First Session, First Provincial Parliament of the Province of Canada, 1841, p. 387.
  11. J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860, (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 44, 59 note (12).
  12. Anette Stewart, "The 1841 election of Dr. William Dunlop as member of parliament for Huron County", Ontario History, XXXIX (1947), 51–62.
  13. British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), s. 6.
  14. Constitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2
  15. Constitution Act, 1867, s. 70.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: An Act to form certain Townships in the London District into a County, and to attach certain Townships to the Counties of Middlesex and Kent, in the London and Western Districts, SUC 1835 (5 Will. IV), c. 45.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: An Act to attach certain Townships to the County of Huron, SUC 1840 (3 Vict.), c. 38.

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