List of elections in the Province of Canada

List of elections in the Province of Canada

The Province of Canada was the union of Upper Canada, also known as Ontario or Canada West, and Lower Canada, also known as Quebec or Canada East.

The Province of Canada held 8 unique elections from 1841 to 1864 before Confederation. While party lines were somewhat blurred, there were political parties.

There are many examples of groups of MP's going against the party line, or splitting a party into two pieces. A good example of this is when a number of Liberal MP's supported Sir John A. Macdonald, a Conservative, and his idea for Canadian Confederation, despite the Liberal Party being officially opposed to Confederation.

Any bill, in order to be passed, needed a majority of MP's 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.

Table of contents

1 1841
2 1844
3 1848
4 1852
5 1854
6 1858
7 1862
8 1864
9 Further Reference

1841

Four major parties contested the 1841 election. The Reformers from Canada West were a group of left-wing pro-democracy "radical" Reformers who wanted to change the government. The Family Compact 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	Total - 50
Conservative Right-Wing	Family Compact - 10	Tories - 17	Total - 27
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	Independent - 4	Total - 5

1844

By 1844, the Family Compact had started calling itself Tories as well. Also, a new party was born in Canada East, the Liberals, who were Pro-Patriot, but English.

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

Due to the double majority rule (legislation needs a majority of both Canada East and Canada West MP's) 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	Total - 55
Conservative Right-Wing	Tories - 18	Tories - 6	Total - 24
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	Independent - 1	Total - 2

Due to the problems of the last parliament, the Governor General was ordered to sign anything and everything that came from this legislature, marking the birth of Democracy in Canada.

1852

Before the 1852 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	Total - 62
Conservative Right-Wing	Tories - 20	Tories - 3	Total - 24
Radical Reform Left-Wing	None	Rouges - 4	Total - 4
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	Independent - 3	Total - 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 themselvs "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	Total - 54
Radical Reform Left-Wing	Clear Grits - 14 Left-wing Reform - 6	Rouges & Liberals - 19	Total - 39
Conservative Right-Wing	Conservative - 25	Conservative - 9	Total - 34
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	None	Total - 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.

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 then 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	Total - 49
Conservative Right-Wing	Conservative - 24	Conservative - 15	Total - 39
Former Reformer Centrist	Moderate Reformer - 5	Bleu - 33	Total - 38
Non-Aligned Independent	Independent - 1	None	Total - 1

1862

The election of 1862 saw the Liberal party finally become united and whole. This election is notable as exactly 29 Liberals were elected from each half of the Province of Canada, and exactly 35 MP's supportive of the Conservative/Centrist movements were elected from each half.

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

1864

The final election for the Province of Canada took place in 1864. Conservatives were supportive of a greater confederation, but Liberals opposed it. Eventually George Brown led a group of Canada West Liberals to form a coalition with the Conservatives, and Canada was born.

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

This election was followed by the first federal election in the new nation, the Canadian federal election, 1867

When Canada became a new nation, the Conservatives and Liberals retained their names, while the former Reformers became Liberal-Conservatives, and continued to work very closly with the Conservative Party

Further Reference

List of Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada
List of Canadian federal elections
List of Ontario general elections
List of Quebec general elections