British North America Act, 1867 - 1930, continues
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51. On the completion of the census in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy one, and of each subsequent decennial census, the representation of the four Provinces shall be readjusted by such authority, in such manner and from such time as the Parliament of Canada, from time to time provides, subject and according to the following rules:—
1. Quebec shall have the fixed number of sixty five members.
2. There shall be assigned to each of the other Provinces such a number of members as will bear the same proportion to the number of its population (ascertained at such census) as the number of sixty five bears to the number of the population of Quebec (so ascertained).
3. In the computation of the number of members for a Province a fractional part not exceeding one half of the whole number requisite for entitling the Province to a member shall be disregarded; but a fractional part exceeding one half of that number shall be equivalent to the whole number.
4. On any such readjustment the number of members for a Province shall not be reduced unless the proportion which the number of the population of the Province bore to the number of the aggregate population of Canada at the then last preceding readjustment of the number of members for the Province is ascertained at the then latest census to be diminished by one twentieth part or upwards.
5. Such readjustment shall not take effect until the termination of the then existing Parliament.


52. The number of members of the House of Commons may be from time to time increased by the Parliament of Canada, provided the proportionate representation of the Provinces prescribed by this Act is not thereby disturbed.

Money Votes; Royal Assent
53. Bills for appropriating any part of the public revenue, or for imposing any tax or impose, shall originate in the House of Commons.

54. It shall not be lawful for the House of Commons to adopt or pass any vote, resolution, address, or bill for the appropriation of any part of the public revenue, or of any tax or impost, to any purpose that has not been first recommended to that House by message of the Governor General in the Session in which such vote, resolution, address, or bill is proposed.

55. Where a bill passed by the Houses of the Parliament is presented to the Governor General for the Queen's assent, he shall declare according to his discretion, but subject to the provisions of this Act and to her Majesty's instructions, either that he assents thereto in the Queen's name or that he withholds the Queen's assent or that he reserves the bill for the signification of the Queen's pleasure.

56. Where the Governor General assents to a bill in the Queen's name, he shall by the first convenient opportunity send an authentic copy of the Act to one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; and if the Queen in Council within two years after the receipt thereof by the Secretary of State thinks fit to disallow the Act, such disallowance (with a certificate of the Secretary of State of the day on which the Act was received by him) being signified by the Governor General by speech or message to each of the Houses of the Parliament, or by proclamation, shall annul the Act from. and after the day of such signification.

57. A bill reserved for the signification of the Queen's pleasure shall not have any force unless and until within two years from the day on which it was presented to the Governor General for the Queen's assent, the Governor General signifies, by speech or message to each of the Houses of the Parliament or by proclamation, that it has received the assent of the Queen in Council.(Britain was in control; there was.no.independent nation of Canada; absolutely no confederation had taken place; Canada could not act on her own, and was allowed by Britain only to act through Britain's Governor General's explicit approval and in and by what he set up). An entry of every such speech, message, or proclamation shall be made in the Journal of each House, and a duplicate thereof duly attested shall be delivered to the proper officer to be kept among the Records of Canada.


V. PROVINCIAL CONSTITUTIONS

Executive Power


58. For each Province there shall be an officer, styled the Lieutenant Governor, appointed by the Governor General in Council by instrument under the Great Seal of Canada.

59. A Lieutenant Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor General; but any Lieutenant Governor appointed after the commencement of the first Session of the Parliament of Canada shall not be removable within five years from his appointment, except for cause assigned, which shall be communicated to him in writing within one month after the order for his removal is made, and shall be communicated by message to the Senate and to the House of Commons within one week thereafter if the Parliament is then sitting and if not then within one week after the commencement of the next Session of the Parliament.

60. The salaries of the Lieutenant Governors shall be fixed and provided by the Parliament of Canada.

61. Every Lieutenant Governor shall, before assuming the duties of his office, make and subscribe before the Governor General or some person authorized by him, oaths of allegiance and office similar to those taken by the Governor General.

62. The provisions of this Act referring to the Lieutenant Governor extend and apply to the Lieutenant Governor for the time being of each Province or other the chief executive officer or administrator for the time being carrying on the government of the Province, by what ever title he is designated.

63. The Executive Council of Ontario and of Quebec shall be composed of such persons as the Lieutenant Governor from time to time thinks fit, and in the first instance of the following officers, namely:—the Attorney General, the Secretary and Registrar of the Province, the Treasurer of the Province, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, and the Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works with, in Quebec, the Speaker of the Legislative Council and the Solicitor General.

64. The Constitution of the Executive Authority in each of the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, continue as it exists at the Union, until altered under the authority of this Act.

65 All powers, authorities, and functions which under any Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or of the Legislature of Upper Canada Lower Canada, or Canada, were or are before or at the Union vested in or exercisable by the respective Governors or Lieutenant Governors of those Provinces, with the advice, or with the advice and consent, of the respective Executive Councils thereof, or in conjunction with those Councils or with any number of members thereof, or by those Governors or Lieutenant Governors individually, shall, as far as the same are capable of being exercised after the Union in relation to the Government of Ontario and Quebec respectively, be vested and shall or may be exercised by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and Quebec respectively, with the advice or with the advice and consent of, or in conjunction with the respective Executive Councils, or any members thereof, or by the Lieutenant Governor individually, as the case requires, subject nevertheless (except with respect to such as exist under Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) to be abolished 01 altered by the respective Legislatures of Ontario and Quebec

66 The provisions of this Act referring to the Lieutenant Governor in Council shall he construed as referring to the Lieutenant Governor of the Province acting by and with the advice of the Executive Council thereof.

67. The Governor General in Council may from rime to time appoint an administrator to execute the office and functions of Lieutenant Governor during his absence, illness, or other inability.

68. Unless and until the Executive Government of any Province otherwise directs with respect to that Province, the seats of Government of the Provinces shall be as follows, namely,—of Ontario the City of Toronto; of Quebec, the City of Quebec; of Nova Scotia, the City of Halifax; and of New Brunswick, the City of Fredericton.

Legislative Power

1. ONTARIO

69. There shall be a Legislature for Ontario consisting of the Lieutenant Governor and of one House, styled the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

70. The Legislative Assembly of Ontario shall be composed of eighty two members to be elected to represent the eighty two Electoral Districts set forth in the first Schedule to this Act.

2. QUEBEC

71. There shall be a Legislature for Quebec consisting of the Lieutenant Governor and of two Houses, styled the Legislative Council of Quebec and the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.

72. The Legislative Council of Quebec shall be composed of twenty four members, to be appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in the Queens name by Instrument under the Great Seal of Quebec, one being appointed to represent each of the twenty four electoral divisions of Lower Canada in this Act referred to, and each holding office for the term of his life, unless the Legislature of Quebec otherwise provides under the provisions of this Act.

73. The qualifications of the Legislative Councillors of Quebec shall be the same as those of the Senators for Quebec...

74. The place of a Legislative Councillor of Quebec shall become vacant in the cases mutatis mutandis, in which the place of Senator becomes vacant.

75. When a vacancy happens in the Legislative Council of Quebec, by resignation, death, or otherwise, the Lieutenant Governor, in the Queen's name by Instrument under the Great Seal of Quebec, shall appoint a fit and qualified person to fill the vacancy.

76 If any question arises respecting the qualification of a Legislative Councillor of Quebec, or a vacancy in the Legislative Council of Quebec, the same shall be heard and determined by the Legislative Council.

77. The Lieutenant Governor may from time to time, by Instrument under the Great Seal of Quebec, appoint a member of the Legislative Council of Quebec to be Speaker thereof, and may remove him and appoint another in his stead.

78. Until the Legislature of Quebec otherwise provides, the presence of at least ten members of the Legislative Council, including the speaker, shall be necessary to constitute a meeting for the exercise of its powers.

79. Questions arising in the Legislative Council of Quebec shall be decided by a majority of voices, and the Speaker shall in all cases have a vote, and when the voices are equal the decision shall be deemed to be in the negative,

80. The Legislative Assembly of Quebec shall be composed of sixty five members, to be elected to represent the sixty five electoral divisions or districts of Lower Canada in this Act referred to, subject to alteration thereof by the Legislature of Quebec; Provided that it shall not be lawful to present to the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec for assent any bill for altering the limits of any of the Electoral Divisions or Districts mentioned in the second Schedule to this Act, unless the second and third readings of such bill have been passed in the Legislative Assembly with the concurrence of the majority of the members representing all those Electoral Divisions or Districts, and the assent shall not be given to such bill unless an address has been presented by the Legislative Assembly to the Lieutenant Governor stating that it has been so passed.

3. ONTARIO AND QUEBEC

81. The Legislatures of Ontario and Quebec respectively shall be called together not later than six months after the Union.

82. The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and of Quebec shall, from time to time, in the Queen's name, by Instrument under the Great Seal of the Province, summon and call together the Legislative Assembly of the Province.

83. Until the Legislature of Ontario or of Quebec otherwise provides, a person accepting or holding in Ontario or in Quebec any once, commission, or employment, permanent or temporary, at the nomination of the Lieutenant Governor, to which an annual salary or any fee allowance, emolument, or profit of any kind or amount whatever from the Province is attached, shall not be eligible as a member of the Legislative Assembly of the respective Province, nor shall he sit or vote as such; but nothing in this Section shall make ineligible any person being a member of the Executive Council of the respective Province, or holding any of the following offices that is to say, the offices of Attorney General, Secretary and Registrar of the Province, Treasurer of the Province, Commissioner of Crown Lands, and Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works, and, in Quebec, Solicitor General, or shall disqualify him to sit or vote in the House for which he is elected, provided he is elected while holding such office.

84. Until the Legislatures of Ontario and Quebec respectively otherwise provide, all laws which at the Union are in force in those Provinces respectively, relative to the following matters, or any of them, namely,—the qualifications and disqualification of persons to be elected or to sit or vote as members of the Assembly of Canada, the qualifications or disqualification of voters, the oaths to be taken by voters, the Returning Officers, their powers and duties, the proceedings at elections, the periods during which such elections may be continued, and the trial of controverted elections and the proceedings incident thereto, the vacating of the seats of members and the issuing and execution of new writs in case of seats vacated otherwise than by dissolution, shall respectively apply to elections of members to serve in the respective Legislative Assemblies of Ontario and Quebec.
    Provided that until the Legislature of Ontario otherwise provides, at any election for a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the District of Algoma, in addition to persons qualified by the law of the Province of Canada to vote, every male British Subject, aged twenty one years or upwards, being a householder, shall have a vote.

85. Every Legislative Assembly of Ontario and every Legislative Assembly or. Quebec shall continue for four years from the day of the return of the writs for choosing the same (subject nevertheless to either the Legislative Assembly of Ontario or the Legislative Assembly of Quebec being sooner dissolved by the Lieutenant Governor of the Province), and no longer.

86. There shall be a Session of the Legislature of Ontario and of that of Quebec once at least in every year, so that twelve months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the Legislature in each Province in one Session and its first sitting in the next Session.

87. The following provisions of this Act respecting the House of Commons of Canada shall extend and apply to the Legislative Assemblies of Ontario and Quebec, that is to say,—the provisions relating to the election of a Speaker originally and on vacancies, the duties of the Speaker, the absence of the Speaker, the quorum, and the mode of voting, as if those provisions were here re enacted and made applicable in terms to each such Legislative Assembly.

4. NOVA SCOTIA AND NEW BRUNSWICK


88. The constitution of the Legislature of each of the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, continue as it exists at the Union.(no confederation mentioned here; it was a union of colonies all under Britain's control by means of her appointed people (Governor General and those he appointed); that's what the BNA Act was; nothing from the people in the Provinces was requested by Britain in the forming of her BNA Act, even though Canadians tried to put in their 'two cents worth').until altered under the authority of this Act; and the House of Assembly of New Brunswick existing at the passing of this Act shall, unless sooner dissolved, continue for the period for which it was elected..(section 88 here shows that the Provinces had no say without Britain's ok)

5. ONTARIO, QUEBEC, AND NOVA SCOTIA

89. Each of the Lieutenant Governors of Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia shall cause writs to be issued for the first election of members of the Legislative Assembly thereof in such form and by such person as he thinks fit, and at such time and addressed to such Returning Officer as the Governor General directs, and so that the first election of members of Assembly fur any Electoral District or any subdivision thereof shall be held at the same time and at the same places as the election for a member to serve in the House of Commons of Canada for that Electoral District.

6. THE FOUR PROVINCES

90. The following provisions of this Act respecting the Parliament of Canada, namely,—the provisions relating to appropriation and tax bills, the recommendation of money votes, the assent to hills, the disallowance of Acts, and the signification of pleasure on bills reserved, —shall extend and apply to the Legislatures of the several Provinces as if those provisions were here reenacted and made applicable in terms to the respective Provinces and the Legislatures thereof, with the substitution of the Lieutenant Governor of the Province for the Governor General, of the Governor General for the Queen and for a Secretary of State, of one year for two years, and of the Province for Canada.

VI.  DISTRIBUTION OF LEGISLATIVE POWERS

Powers of the Parliament


91. It shall be lawful for.the Queen.(and here's the con), by and with.the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons.(as the Queen was a limited monarch at this time, could do very little without approval of British Parliament; the story of how she was duped out of her absolute authority by making it seem right and good that it be so), to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Canada, in relation to all matters not coming within the classes of subjects by this Act assigned exclusively to the.Legislatures of the Provinces; and for greater certainty, but not so as co restrict the generality of the foregoing terms of this section, it is hereby declared that (notwithstanding anything in this Act) the exclusive Legislative Authority of the.Parliament of Canada.extends to all matters coming within the classes of subjects next hereinafter enumerated, that is to say:—
1. The Public Debt and Property.
2. The regulation of Trade and Commerce.
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Index of Canadian political history

Eternal Keys site

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