Lanark was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada West (now Ontario). Based on Lanark County, it was created in 1841, upon the establishment of the Province of Canada by the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
Lanark 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
Lanark electoral district was located in the eastern area of Canada West (now Ontario). It was based on Lanark County. Perth 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.Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2. 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.Union Act, 1840, s. 16.
Lanark County had been an electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada.Journal of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, from the eighth day of November, 1836, to the fourth day of March, 1837, p. 15 (November 8, 1836). Its boundaries were not altered by the Union Act. The boundaries had been set when Lanark County was created in 1824, when it was severed from Carleton County. The 1824 Upper Canada statute described Lanark as follows:
Since Lanark was not changed by the Union Act, those boundaries continued to be used for the new electoral district.
Members of the Legislative Assembly
Lanark was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. The following were the members for Lanark.
Parliament YearsMemberJ.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860, (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43-58. PartyFor 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. 1st Parliament1841–1844 1841–1844 Malcolm Cameron 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.British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), s. 6. It was succeeded by electoral districts Lanark North and Lanark South in the House of Commons of CanadaConstitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2 and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.Constitution Act, 1867, s. 70.
References