List of elections in the Province of Canada

The Province of Canada was the union of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada and later Ontario) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada and later Quebec). The new Province had a single bicameral Parliament, replacing the parliaments of Lower Canada and Upper Canada. The new Parliament consisted of the elected lower house, the Legislative Assembly, and the appointed upper house, the Legislative Council.

The Province of Canada lasted from 1841 to 1867, when it was dissolved upon the creation of Canada by the Confederation process. During its existence, there were eight general elections to elect the members of the Legislative Assembly. The first general election was in the spring of 1841, while the eighth and last was in 1863. While party lines were somewhat blurred, there were political parties.

There are many examples of groups of MPs going against the party line, or splitting a party into two. A good example of this is when a number of Liberal MPs supported John A. Macdonald, a Conservative, and his idea for Canadian Confederation, many other Liberal Party members were opposed to Confederation.

After the establishment of the double majority principle, any bill, to be passed, needed a majority of MPs 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.


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