Prince Edward was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada West (now Ontario). It was created in 1841, upon the establishment of the Province of Canada by the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Prince Edward 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

Prince Edward electoral district was based on Prince Edward County, which occupied a large presque-isle on the north shore of Lake Ontario, south of the Bay of Quinte. The portage or carrying-place on the isthmus is now a National Historic Site.Parks Canada: Carrying Place of the Bay of Quinte National Historic Site.

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.

Prince Edward 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). and its boundaries were not altered by the Union Act. Those boundaries 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 Prince Edward was not changed by the Union Act, those boundaries continued to be used for the new electoral district. Prince Edward was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Prince Edward was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. The following were the members for Prince Edward.

Parliament YearsMembersJ.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 1841–1844John Philip RoblinUnionist; Moderate Reformer 2nd Parliament1844–1847 1844–1846

Notes

Abolition

Prince Edward 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 the electoral districts of Prince Edward in both the House of Commons of CanadaConstitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2 and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.Constitution Act, 1867, s. 70.

References