1st Manitoba Legislature

The members of the 1st Manitoba Legislature were elected in the Manitoba general election held in December 1870, the first general election for the new province. The legislature sat from March 15, 1871, to December 16, 1874.^[1]

1st Manitoba Legislature
15 March 1871 – 16 December 1874
Parliament leaders
Premier	Alfred Boyd September 1870 - December 1871
	Marc-Amable Girard December 1871 - March 1872
	Henry Joseph Clarke March 1872 - July 1874
Leader of the Opposition	Edward Hay 1871-1874
Party caucuses
Government	Non-partisan
Legislative Assembly
Speaker of the Assembly	Joseph Royal 1871 - 1872
	Curtis James Bird 1873
Members	24 MLA seats
Sessions
1st session March 15, 1871 (March 15, 1871) – May 3, 1871 (May 3, 1871)
2nd session January 16, 1872 (January 16, 1872) – February 21, 1872 (February 21, 1872)
3rd session February 3, 1873 (February 3, 1873) – July 22, 1873 (July 22, 1873)
4th session November 4, 1873 (November 4, 1873) – July 22, 1874 (July 22, 1874)
→ 2nd

Lieutenant Governor Adams George Archibald's "Government party" held the balance of power in the assembly with 17 seats. The Canadian Party, also known as the "Loyal party", led by John Christian Schultz, won 5 seats; they demanded swift punishment for the leaders of the Red River Rebellion. Henry Joseph Clarke served as government house leader in the assembly but Lieutenant Governor Archibald performed the functions of Premier.^[2] In December 1872, Alexander Morris replaced Archibald as Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba.^[3]

In July 1874, a government led by Henry Joseph Clarke^[1] was defeated by a motion of non-confidence. Marc-Amable Girard was asked to form a government and was allowed to select the members of his cabinet, thus introducing responsible government to the province. On December 1, 1874, all but one member of the Girard cabinet resigned due to ethnic tensions. Robert Atkinson Davis was asked to form a new government which went to the polls later that month.^[4]

Joseph Royal served as speaker for the assembly from 1871 to 1872. Curtis James Bird was speaker from 1873 to 1874.^[1]

There were four sessions of the 1st Legislature:^[1]

Session	Start	End
1st	March 15, 1871	May 3, 1871
2nd	January 16, 1872	February 21, 1872
3rd	February 3, 1873	July 22, 1873
4th	November 4, 1873	July 22, 1874

Members of the Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1870:^[1][5]

Member	Electoral district	Affiliation[6]	Notes
Joseph Dubuc	Baie St. Paul	Government
John Taylor[nb 1][7]	Headingly	Opposition
John Norquay	High Bluff	Government
John Sutherland	Kildonan	Opposition
Angus McKay	Lake Manitoba	Government
David Spence	Poplar Point	Government
Frederick Bird	Portage la Prairie	Opposition
Alfred Boyd	St. Andrews North	Government
Edward Hay	St. Andrews South	Opposition
Marc-Amable Girard	St. Boniface East	Government
Louis Schmidt	St. Boniface West	Government
Henry Joseph Clarke	St. Charles	Government
Thomas Bunn	St. Clements	Independent
Pascal Breland	St. Francois Xavier East	Government
Joseph Royal	St. Francois Xavier West	Government
Edwin Bourke	St. James	Opposition
Joseph Lemay	St. Norbert North	Government
Pierre Delorme	St. Norbert South	Government
Curtis Bird	St. Pauls	Government
Thomas Howard	St Peters	Government
André Beauchemin	St. Vital	Government
George Klyne	Ste. Agathe	Independent
John McTavish	Ste. Anne	Government
Donald Alexander Smith[nb 2][8]	Winnipeg and St. John	Government

Notes:

1. Taylor's election was later overturned and Government supporter James Cunningham was declared elected
2. Smith was forced to resign when serving in both provincial and federal legislatures became illegal in May 1873

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons:

Electoral district	Member elected	Affiliation	Election date	Reason
Winnipeg and St. John	Robert Atkinson Davis[9]	Opposition	April 1874	DA Smith resigned after dual representation abolished[8]

Notes:

References

1. "First Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (1871–1874)". Memorable Manitobans. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
2. "The Establishment of Manitoba's First Provincial Government". Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
3. Alexander Morris – Parliament of Canada biography
4. Swan, Ruth (1994). "Davis, Robert Atkinson". In Cook, Ramsay; Hamelin, Jean (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XIII (1901–1910) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
5. "First Legislative Assembly of Manitoba" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
6. "Historical Summaries" (PDF). Elections Manitoba. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
7. Russenholt, Edgar Stanford (1968). The heart of the continent : being the history of Assiniboia--the truly typical Canadian community. p. 150. Archived from the original on 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
8. "Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
9. "Robert Atkinson Davis (1841–1903)". Memorable Manitobans. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-09-18.