# Legislative Council of the Province of Canada

The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada (French: Conseil législatif de la province du Canada) was the upper house for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the province of Ontario. It was created by The Union Act of 1840. With the lower house, the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, the two houses constituted the Parliament of the Province of Canada.
The first session of parliament began in Kingston in Canada West in 1841. It succeeded the Legislative Council of Lower Canada and Legislative Council of Upper Canada.
The 24 legislative councillors were originally appointed for life. In 1854, the British Parliament authorized their election, and implementing legislation was passed by the Province of Canada in 1856. It was provided that:
   * The present appointed councillors would continue to hold their positions until they had vacated them.
   * Members were to be elected for eight-year terms from each of 48 divisions (24 in each of Canada East and Canada West).
   * The order in which divisions were to be selected for elections was to be determined by lot.
   * 12 members were elected every two years from 1856 to 1862.
The British North America Act, 1867 divided the Province of Canada into the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, each with representation in the unelected Senate of Canada. As a province, Ontario never created a Legislative Council; however, Quebec had its own Legislative Council until 1968. Both the provincial and federal upper houses used (and, in the case of the Senate, continues to use to the present day) the same 24 divisions for Quebec as had been used for Canada East by the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada prior to Confederation.

## List of legislative councillors

† = died in office ‡ = elected in byelection # = resigned from office ↑ = elected by acclamation ↓ = unseated
| Member | District | Start | End | Appointed | Elected | Appointed to the Senate of Canada | Appointed to the Legislative Council of Quebec |
| Augustus Warren Baldwin | Canada West | 1841 | 1841 | Y | | | |
| John Hamilton | Canada West | 1841 | 1867 | Y | | Y | |
| James Crooks | Canada West | 1841 | 1860 | Y | | | |
| William Morris | Canada West | 1841 | 1858† | Y | | | |
| John Macaulay | Canada West | 1841 | 1857† | Y | | | |
| Adam Fergusson | Canada West | 1841 | 1862 | Y | | | |
| Peter Boyle de Blaquière | Canada West | 1841 | 1860† | Y | | | |
| Alexander Fraser | Canada West | 1841 | 1853† | Y | | | |
| Thomas McKay | Canada West | 1841 | 1855† | Y | | | |
| Robert Sympson Jameson | Canada West | 1841 | 1853 | Y | | | |
| John McDonald | Canada West | 1841 | 1843 | Y | | | |
| Robert Baldwin Sullivan | Canada West | 1841 | 1851 | Y | | | |
| René-Édouard Caron | Canada East | 1841 | 1857 | Y | | | |
| François-Pierre Bruneau | Canada East | 1841 | 1851† | Y | | | |
| Antoine-Olivier Berthelet | Canada East | 1841 | 1841# | Y | | | |
| Philip Henry Moore | Canada East | 1841 | 1867 | Y | | | |
| Jules-Maurice Quesnel | Canada East | 1841 | 1842† | Y | | | |
| Gabriel Roy | Canada East | 1841 | 1848† | Y | | | |
| Barthélemy Joliette | Canada East | 1841 | 1850† | Y | | | |
| Peter McGill | Canada East | 1841 | 1860† | Y | | | |
| Adam Ferrie | Canada East | 1841 | 1863 | Y | | | |
| Paul Holland Knowlton | Canada East | 1841 | 1863† | Y | | | |
| George Pemberton | Canada East | 1841 | 1849 | Y | | | |
| Étienne Mayrand | Canada East | 1841 | 1841# | Y | | | |
| John Fraser | Canada East | 1841 | 1843# | Y | | | |
| Jean-Baptiste Taché | Canada East | 1841 | 1849† | Y | | | |
| Joseph Dionne | Canada East | 1842 | 1859 | Y | | | |
| William Walker | Canada East | 1842 | 1863† | Y | | | |
| Amable Dionne | Canada East | 1842 | 1852† | Y | | | |
| George Jervis Goodhue | Canada West | 1842 | 1867 | Y | | | |
| Levius Peters Sherwood | Canada West | 1842 | 1850† | Y | | | |
| Louis Massue | Canada East | 1843 | 1851 | Y | | | |
| Pierre-Amable Boucher de Boucherville | Canada East | 1843 | 1857† | Y | | | |
| René-Joseph Kimber | Canada East | 1843 | 1843† | Y | | | |
| Christopher Widmer | Canada West | 1843 | 1858† | Y | | | |
| Jacob Æmilius Irving | Canada West | 1843 | 1856† | Y | | | |
| William Henry Draper | Canada West | 1843 | 1844 | Y | | | |
| John Neilson | Canada East | 1844 | 1848† | Y | | | |
| James Morris | Canada West | 1844 | 1865† | Y | | | |
| James Gordon | Canada West | 1845 | 1865† | Y | | | |
| James Ferrier | Canada East | 1847 | 1867 | Y | | Y | Y |
| Hamnett Kirkes Pinhey | Canada West | 1847 | 1857 | Y | | | |
| Roderick Matheson | Canada West | 1847 | 1867 | Y | | Y | |
| George Strange Boulton | Canada West | 1847 | 1867 | Y | | | |
| Denis-Benjamin Viger | Canada East | 1848 | 1858 | Y | | | |
| James Leslie | Canada East | 1848 | 1867 | Y | | Y | |
| Étienne-Paschal Taché | Canada East | 1848 | 1865† | Y | | | |
| Frédéric-Auguste Quesnel | Canada East | 1848 | 1866† | Y | | | |
| Joseph Bourret | Canada East | 1848 | 1859† | Y | | | |
| Georges-René Saveuse de Beaujeu | Canada East | 1848 | 1865† | Y | | | |
| Louis Méthot | Canada East | 1848 | 1857 | Y | | | |
| Joseph-Ovide Turgeon | Canada East | 1848 | 1857† | Y | | | |
| John Ross | Canada West | 1848 | 1867 | Y | | Y | |
| Samuel Crane | Canada West | 1849 | 1858 | Y | | | |
| Samuel Sylvester Mills | Canada West | 1849 | 1867 | Y | | Y | |
| Robert Jones | Canada East | 1849 | 1850# | Y | | | |
| Louis Panet | Canada East | 1852 | 1867 | Y | | | Y |
| Charles Wilson | Canada East | 1852 | 1867 | Y | | Y | |
| Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau | Canada East | 1852 | 1867 | Y | | | |
| Benjamin Seymour | Canada West | 1854 | 1867 | Y | | Y | |
| David Morrison Armstrong | Canada East | 1855 | 1867 | Y | | | |
| Eusèbe Cartier | Canada East | 1855 | 1862† | Y | | | |
| Joseph Légaré | Canada East | 1855 | 1855† | Y | | | |
| Walter Hamilton Dickson | Canada West | 1855 | 1867 | Y | | Y | |
| Ebenezer Perry | Canada West | 1855 | 1867 | Y | | Y | |
| Marc-Pascal de Sales Laterrière | Laurentides | 1856 | 1864 | | Y | | |
| Elzéar-Henri Juchereau Duchesnay | Lauzon | 1856 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| John Simpson | Queen's | 1856 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| James Patton | Saugeen | 1856 | 1862 | | Y | | |
| Hollis Smith | Wellington | 1856 | 1863† | | Y | | |
| Isidore-Édouard-Candide Masson | Thousand Islands | 1856 | 1864 | | Y | | |
| Louis Renaud | Salaberry | 1856 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Louis-Antoine Dessaulles | Rougemont | 1856 | 1863 | | Y | Y | |
| Philip Michael Matthew Scott VanKoughnet | Rideau | 1856 | 1862 | | Y | | |
| Harmannus Smith | Burlington | 1856 | 1864 | | Y | | |
| Edmund Murney | Trent | 1856 | 1861† | | Y | | |
| John Prince | Western | 1857 | 1860 | | Y | | |
| Joseph-François Armand | Alma | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| George Crawford | St. Lawrence | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Alexander Campbell | Cataraqui | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| David Christie | Erie | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Ulric-Joseph Tessier | Gulf | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Alexandre-Édouard Kierzkowski | Montarville | 1858 | 1861↓ | | Y | | |
| Jean-Baptiste Guévremont | Sorel | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Pierre-Urgel Archambault | Repentigny | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | | |
| Édouard-Louis-Antoine-Charles Juchereau Duchesnay | La Salle | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| George Alexander | Gore | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| George William Allan | York | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Donald McDonald | Tecumseth | 1858 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| James Shaw | Bathurst | 1860 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Robert Unwin Harwood | Rigaud | 1860 | 1863 | | Y | | |
| David Reesor | King's | 1860 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Asa Belknap Foster | Bedford | 1860 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| William Hamilton Merritt | Niagara | 1860 | 1862† | | Y | | |
| Adam Johnston Fergusson Blair | Brock | 1860 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Pierre-Gabriel Huot | Stadacona | 1860 | 1861↓ | | Y | Y | |
| Luc Letellier de S$^t$-Just | Grandville | 1860 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| John Hamilton | Inkerman | 1860 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Jean-Baptiste-Georges Proulx | La Vallière | 1860 | 1867 | | Y | | Y |
| Malcolm Cameron | St. Clair | 1860 | 1863 | | Y | | |
| Allan Napier MacNab | Western | 1860 | 1862† | | Y | | |
| Andrew Jeffrey | Newcastle | 1860 | 1863 | | Y | | |
| Louis Lacoste | Montarville | 1861‡ | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Sidney Smith | Trent | 1861 | 1863# | | Y | | |
| Charles-François-Xavier Baby | Stadacona | 1861‡ | 1864† | | Y | | |
| James Cox Aikins | Home | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Thomas H. Bennett | Eastern | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | | |
| William McMaster | Midland | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Jacques-Olivier Bureau | Lorimier | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Elijah Leonard | Malahide | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Charles-Christophe Malhiot | Shawinigan | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| François-Xavier Lemieux | La Durantaye | 1862 | 1864† | | Y | | |
| Alexandre Bareil, dit Lajoie | Lanaudière | 1862 | 1862† | | Y | | |
| Luther Hamilton Holton | Victoria | 1862 | 1863 | | Y | Y | |
| Robert Read | Quinte | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | | |
| John McMurrich | Saugeen | 1862‡ | 1864 | | Y | Y | |
| Charles Cormier | Kennebec | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| James Currie | Niagara | 1862 | 1866# | | Y | | |
| Walter McCrea | Western | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| James Skead | Rideau | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Oliver Blake | Thames | 1862 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Louis Auguste Olivier | Lanaudière | 1863‡ | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Alexander Vidal | St. Clair | 1863 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| John Sewell Sanborn | Wellington | 1863<↑ | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Thomas Ryan | Victoria | 1863‡ | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Billa Flint | Trent | 1863‡ | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Eustache Prud'homme | Rigaud | 1863‡ | 1867 | | Y | | Y |
| Asa Burnham | Newcastle | 1863 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| William Henry Chaffers | Rougemont | 1864 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| David Edward Price | Laurentides | 1864 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Joseph-Noël Bossé | La Durantaye | 1864‡ | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Jean-Élie Gingras | Stadacona | 1864‡ | 1867 | | Y | | Y |
| Léandre Dumouchel | Thousand Islands | 1864‡ | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| David Lewis Macpherson | Saugeen | 1864 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |
| Harcourt Burland Bull | Burlington | 1864 | 1867 | | Y | Y | |

## Speakers of the Legislative Council

The Speaker was the presiding officer of the Legislative Council, and was appointed by the Queen-in-Council. He was styled "The Honourable, the Vice-Chancellor, Speaker."
The office was preceded by the Speaker of Legislative Council of Upper Canada and Speaker of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada. The following table displays the names and political parties of the Speakers between 1841 and 1866.
| Name | Party | Term | Notes |
| Robert Sympson Jameson | | 1841-1843 | First Speaker of the Legislative Council |
| Peter McGill | | 1843-1847, 1848-1853 | Mayor of Montreal from 1840 to 1842 |
| René-Édouard Caron | | 1843-1847; 1848-1853 | |
| James Morris | | 1853-1854; 1858 | |
| John Ross | | 1854-1856 | |
| Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché | Blue | 1856-1857 | |
| Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau | Blue | 1857-1858; 1858-1862 | |
| Sir Allan MacNab | Conservative | 1862 | |
| Sir Alexander Campbell | Conservative | 1863 | |
| Ulric-Joseph Tessier | Liberal | 1863-1866 | |

## Parliament Buildings

The Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada sat a various buildings in Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa:
* 1841-1843 three sessions were held at the 3 storey Kingston General Hospital
* 1843 Parliament moves to Montreal and sites at renovated St. Anne's Market; burned down in 1849; rebuilt as market only and burned down again in 1902; site later as parking lot and now public square called Place d'Youville.
* 1849 temporary sites for Parliament at Bonsecours Market and the Freemason's Hall, Montreal for single session. The Legislative Council sat once at the old Trinity Anglican Church across from Market on rue Saint Paul. Built in 1840, it was sold after the church moved to rue Gosford and sold and replaced by a building for merchant A. W. Hood in 1861 and currently used as a hotel.
* 1849-1850 Parliament returns to Toronto to the site of the Third Parliament Buildings at Front and Simcoe Street.
* 1851 Parliament relocates to Quebec City in 1851 to the Quebec Parliament Building until fire in destroys the building in 1854.
* 1854-1859 Parliament remains in Quebec and relocates to Quebec Music Hall and Quebec City Courthouse.
* 1859 Parliament return to Toronto to the site of the last parliament held there in 1849-1851 sessions.
* 1860-1865 Parliament returns to Quebec and new Parliament Buildings, Quebec at Parc Montmercy; re-used as Parliament of Quebec 1867-1883
* 1866-1867 Parliament locates in Ottawa on Parliament Hill to the completed and original Centre Block, as well as the East and West Block; Centre Block was later destroyed by fire