Leeds (Province of Canada electoral district)
Leeds was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in the eastern area of Canada West (now Ontario). Leeds was created in 1841, upon the establishment of the Province of Canada by the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. It was based on Leeds County, located on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River.
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Defunct pre-Confederation electoral district | |
Legislature | Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada |
District created | 1841 |
District abolished | 1867 |
First contested | 1841 |
Last contested | 1863 |
Leeds was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. It was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Ontario.
Boundaries
Leeds electoral district was based on Leeds County (now included in the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville). It was located in the eastern area of Canada West, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Brockville was the major centre for the riding, although it was a separate electoral district.
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]
The general outline of the Upper Canada electoral district of Leeds was not altered by the Act. The boundaries for Leeds had originally been set by a proclamation of the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, in 1792:
The boundaries had been further defined by a statute of Upper Canada in 1798:
Since Leeds was not changed by the Union Act, those boundaries continued to be used for the new electoral district, with one significant change: the Union Act provided that the town of Brockville would be a separate electoral district.[5] Brockville therefore ceased to be included in Leeds electoral district.
Members of the Legislative Assembly
Leeds was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.[2] The following were the members for Leeds.
Parliament | Years | Member[6] | Party[7] | |
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1st Parliament 1841–1844 |
1841–1844 | James Morris | ![]() |
Unionist; Reform |
Abolition
The electoral 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.[8] It was succeeded by electoral districts Leeds North and Grenville North, and Leeds South, in both the House of Commons of Canada[9] and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.[10]
References
- Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2.
- Union Act, 1840, s. 16.
- Proclamation, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, July 16, 1792; reprinted in Statutes of the Province of Upper Canada; Together with Such British Statutes, Ordinances of Quebec, and Proclamations, as Relate to the Said Province (Kingston: F. M. Hill., 1831) p. 24.
- An act for the better division of this province, SUC 1798 (38 Geo. III), c. 5, s. 8. Reprinted in The Statutes of Upper Canada to the Time of Union, Revised and Published by Authority, Vol. I - Public Acts (Toronto: Robert Stanton, Queen's Printer, 1843).
- Union Act, 1840, s. 17.
- J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860, (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43-58.
- 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.
- British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), s. 6.
- Constitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2
- Constitution Act, 1867, s. 70.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Proclamation, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, July 16, 1792
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: An act for the better division of this province, SUC 1798, c. 5, s. XX..