Terrebonne was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

of the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British North America, British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham ...

, in

Canada East Canada East (french: links=no, Canada-Est) was the northeastern portion of the United Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new ...

. It was centred on the town of

Terrebonne Terrebonne, meaning ''good earth'' in French, is a name of several places in North America: ;Canada *Terrebonne, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal **Terrebonne station, a commuter railway station in Terrebonne, Quebec **Terrebonne City Council, the gov ...

, immediately north-west of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. It was created in 1841, based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. Terrebonne was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. It was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

province of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

Boundaries

Terrebonne electoral district was located to the north-west of

(now included in the city of

). The '' Union Act, 1840'' merged the two provinces of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

and

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

into the

, with a single

. The separate parliaments of Lower Canada and Upper Canada were abolished.''Union Act, 1840''
3 & 4 Vict., 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.
s. 18. The Lower Canada electoral district of Terrebonne was not altered by the Act, and therefore continued with the same boundaries in the new Parliament. Those boundaries had been set by a statute of Lower Canada in 1829:

Members of the Legislative Assembly (1841–1867)

Terrebonne was a single-member constituency. The following were the members of the Legislative Assembly for Terrebonne. 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.

Notes

The 1841 election in Terrebonne

The first general election in 1841 was marked by considerable threats of violence and intimidation by supporters of one of the candidates, Michael McCulloch. McCulloch was a supporter of the Governor General,

Lord Sydenham Charles Poulett Thomson, 1st Baron Sydenham, (13 September 1799 – 19 September 1841) was a British businessman, politician, diplomat and the first Governor General of the united Province of Canada.

, who was trying to ensure that as many English-speaking members were elected from Canada East, part of the British government's policy of assimilation of French-Canadians. The reform candidate was Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, who was campaigning on a policy of a reform alliance between Canada East and Canada West, to achieve popular control of the government by means of

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...

. LaFontaine's "Address to the Electors of Terrebonne" set out his platform of constitutional changes and other reforms. Terrebonne had a French-Canadian majority, but the riding was targeted by Sydenham and McCulloch's supporters as a constituency that could return an English-speaking supporter of the union. One of the English-language newspapers made this point expressly in the run-up to the election: At this time, it was not unknown for the supporters of a candidate to try to take control of the poll and prevent the supporters of the other candidates from voting. The single poll was intentionally located in New Glasgow, one of the few towns in the constituency that had an English-speaking majority. Lafontaine led his supporters in a march to New Glasgow, which was distant from the centre of the constituency. Many of his group were armed with clubs and pitchforks, which was not uncommon in the elections. As they approached the poll, they encountered a group of six or seven hundred supporters of McCulloch, most armed with clubs, some with firearms. Many of them had been brought in from other parts of the province. Sporadic fighting began to break out, with blood-stains appearing on the snow. The danger of violence and risks to personal safety of his supporters was so great that LaFontaine was forced to withdraw his candidacy to avoid major bloodshed. As the sole candidate with voters at the poll, McCulloch was elected. Robert Baldwin, one of the leaders of the reform movement in Canada West, proposed that Lafontaine then stand for election in a by-election in an electoral district in Canada West, York 1st. Lafontaine did so and was elected as a member from Canada West. Baldwin's proposal was one of the starting points for the alliance between Baldwin and Lafontaine, which ultimately led to the establishment of

in the Province of Canada in 1849.

Abolition

The district was abolished on July 1, 1867, when the '' British North America Act, 1867'' came into force, creating

and splitting the Province of Canada into Quebec and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. It was succeeded by electoral districts of the same name in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

and the

Legislative Assembly of Quebec The Legislative Assembly of Quebec (French: ''Assemblée législative du Québec'') was the name of the lower house of Quebec's legislature from 1867 to December 31, 1968, when it was renamed the National Assembly of Quebec. At the same time, t ...

.''Constitution Act, 1867''
s. 80.

References