Portneuf was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada in Canada East (now Quebec), immediately west of Quebec City. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.
The boundaries for the district were altered to some extent by a redistribution of seats in 1854. The electoral district was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Quebec.
Boundaries 1841 to 1854
Portneuf electoral district was to the west of Quebec City (now in the Portneuf Regional County Municipality), running from the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River to the northern boundary of the Province.
The Union Act, 1840, passed by the British Parliament, merged the two provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada into the Province of Canada, with a single Parliament. The separate parliaments of Lower Canada and Upper Canada were abolished.Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2. The Union Act provided that the pre-existing electoral boundaries of Lower Canada and Upper Canada would continue to be used in the new Parliament, unless altered by the Union Act itself.Union Act, 1840, s. 18.
The Lower Canada electoral district of Portneuf County was not altered by the Act. The district therefore continued with the same boundaries which had been set by a statute of Lower Canada in 1829:
1854 to 1867
In 1853, the Parliament of the Province of Canada passed a new electoral map. The boundaries of Nicolet were altered to some extent by the new map, which came into force in the general elections of 1854:
Members of the Legislative Assembly (1841–1867)
Portneuf was a single-member constituency in the Legislative Assembly.An Act to enlarge the Representation of the People of this Province in Parliament, s. 3.
The following were the members of the Legislative Assembly for Portneuf. The party affiliations are based on the biographies of individual members given by the National Assembly of Quebec, as well as votes in the Legislative Assembly. "Party" was a fluid concept, especially during the early years of the Province of Canada.J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860 (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43–58.Québec Dictionary of Parliamentary Biography, from 1764 to the present.Paul G. Cornell, Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841–67, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015) pp. 93–111.
Parliament Members Years in Office Party 1st Parliament1841–1844 Thomas Cushing Aylwin 1841–1844 Anti-unionist; French-Canadian Group 2nd Parliament 1844–1847 Lewis Thomas Drummond 1844–1847 "English" Liberal 3rd Parliament 1848–1851 Édouard L.A.C. Juchereau Duchesnay 1848–1851 French-Canadian Group 4th Parliament 1851–1854 Ulric-Joseph Tessier 1851–1854 Ministerialist 5th Parliament 1854–1857 Joseph-Élie Thibaudeau 1854–1861 Bleu 6th Parliament 1858–1861 Rouge 7th Parliament 1861–1863 Jean-Docile Brousseau 1861–1867 Bleu 8th Parliament 1863–1867 Confederation; Bleu
Notes
Abolition
The district was abolished on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act, 1867 came into force, splitting the Province of Canada into Quebec and Ontario.British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), s. 6. It was succeeded by electoral districts of the same name and boundaries in the House of Commons of CanadaConstitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2. and the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.Constitution Act, 1867, s. 80.
See also List of elections in the Province of Canada
References