The parliament met at Ottawa on the 8th of June in the midst
of the Fenian excitement. The address of His Excellency, the
governor general, forecasted the hope that the next time
parliament met at Ottawa it would be under the confederation
of Province. It lasted to the 15th of August. About three months
later a joint delegation of the representatives of Canada, Nova
Scotia, and New Brunswick met on December 4th in London at the
Westminster Palace Hotel and a conference was held. Prince Edward
Island and Newfoundland had seceded from the project. The upshot
of the negotiations was such that on the 22d of May, 1867, the
Confederation Act, technically known as “the British North
American Act, 1867,” was proclaimed at Windsor Castle by Her
Majesty, Queen Victoria, appointing the 1st of July following as
the date upon which it should come into force. This act joined
Canada (Upper and Lower), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into
one Dominion, under the name of CANADA. There should be one
federal parliament, consisting of the Queen, represented by the
governor general, an _upper house_ consisting of seventy-two
_life_ members appointed by the Crown, and a House of Commons
_elected_ on the principle of representation by population. Its
jurisdiction was to affect matters concerning the Dominion at
large. Each of the four provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick was to have a provincial legislature to manage
its internal affairs. Each was to have a lieutenant governor. In
Ontario the legislature consisted only of a house of assembly. In
the other three provinces a council was added.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: CONFEDERATION SISTERS Arranged from studies of the
Cartier monument (G.W. Hill) being erected in 1914]
In the following year the northwest territories were added to the
Dominion, in 1870 Manitoba, in 1871 British Columbia, and in 1873
Prince Edward Island, and in 1905 the new provinces of Alberta
and Saskatchewan were established. Since confederation the
history of Canada has been one of continued commercial and social
development. The British North American act was the Magna Charta
of Canadian nationhood.
Montreal is proud of the share it took in the promotion of
Confederation.
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FOR MONTREAL DISTRICT FROM THE
CONSTITUTIONAL ACT, 1791 TO CONFEDERATION, 1867
MEMBERS
Montreal (County)--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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