Russell (Province of Canada electoral district)

Russell 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. Russell was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. It was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Ontario.

This article is about the pre-Confederation electoral district. For the successor federal electoral district, see Russell (Ontario federal electoral district). For the successor provincial electoral district, see Russell (Ontario provincial electoral district).

Russell
Canada West

Province of Canada electoral district
Defunct pre-Confederation electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
District created	1841
District abolished	1867
First contested	1841
Last contested	1863

Boundaries

Russell electoral district was based on Russell County (now part of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell). It was located east of Bytown (now Ottawa, Ontario), on the Ottawa River, which formed the border with Canada East (now the province of Quebec).

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.^[1] 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.^[2]

Russell County had been an electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, even after its merger with Prescott County,^[3] and its boundaries were not altered by the Union Act. Those boundaries had originally been set by a statute of Upper Canada in 1798:

That the townships of Clarence, Cumberland, Gloucester, Osgoode, Russell and Cambridge, with such of the Islands in the river Ottawa as are wholly or in greater part opposite thereto, shall constitute and form the County of Russell.^[4]

Since Russell was not changed by the Union Act, those boundaries continued to be used for the new electoral district. Russell was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.^[2]

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Russell was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.^[2] The following were the members for Russell.

Parliament	Years	Members[5]		Party[6]
1st Parliament 1841–1844	1841–1843	William Henry Draper[lower-alpha 1]		Unionist; Moderate Tory
	1843–1844 (by-election)	William Stewart[lower-alpha 2]		Moderate Tory

Notes

1. Vacated seat on appointment to the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada, April 10, 1843.^[7]
2. Elected in by-election September 14, 1843.^[8]

Abolition

Russell 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.^[9] It was succeeded by two electoral districts named Russell, one in the House of Commons of Canada^[10] and one in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.^[11]

References

1. Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), c. 35, s. 2.
2. Union Act, 1840, s. 16.
3. 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).
4. An act for the better division of this province, SUC 1798 (38 Geo. III), c. 5, s. 5. Reprinted in The Statutes of Upper Canada to the Time of Union, Revised and Published by Authority, Vol. I - Public Acts (Toronto: Robert Stanton, Queen's Printer, 1843).
5. J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860, (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43-58.
6. For 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.
7. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections, p. 59, note (41).
8. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections, p. 59, note (42).
9. British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), s. 6.
10. Constitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2
11. Constitution Act, 1867, s. 70.

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Proclamation, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, July 16, 1792.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: An act for the better division of this province, SUC 1798, c. 5, s. 5.