History
The Senate came into existence in 1867, when the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the British North America Act, uniting the Province of Canada (which was separated into Quebec and Ontario) with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into a single federation, a Dominion called Canada. The Canadian Parliament was based on the Westminster model (that is, the model of the Parliament of the United Kingdom). Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, described it as a body of "sober second thought" that would curb the "democratic excesses" of the elected House of Commons and provide regional representation. As an upper house on the British parliamentary model, it was not meant to be more than a revising body, or a brake on the House of Commons. Therefore, it was deliberately made an appointed house, since an elected Senate might prove too popular and too powerful, and be able to block the will of the House of Commons.
From 1867 to 1916, the Senate sat in the old Senate Chambers. Lost to the fire that consumed the parliament buildings in 1916, it sat in the mineral room of the what is today the Canadian Museum of Nature until 1922. It relocated back to Parliament Hill after 1922.
| Modifying act | Date enacted | Normal total | §26 total | Ont. | Que. | N.S. | N.B. | Man. | B.C. | P.E.I. | Sask. | Alta. | N.L. | N.W.T. | Y.T. | Nu. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constitution Act, 1867 | July 1, 1867 (1867-07-01) | 72 | 78 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 12 | |||||||||
| Manitoba Act, 1870 | July 15, 1870 (1870-07-15) | 74 | 80 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 12 | 2 | ||||||||
| British Columbia Terms of Union | July 20, 1871 (1871-07-20) | 77 | 83 | 24 | 24 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| Prince Edward Island Terms of Union as per §147 of the Constitution Act, 1867 | July 1, 1873 (1873-07-01) | 77 | 83 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
| Alberta Act and Saskatchewan Act | September 1, 1905 (1905-09-01) | 85 | 91 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Constitution Act, 1915 | May 19, 1915 (1915-05-19) | 96 | 104 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | ||||
| Newfoundland Act as per ¶1(1)(vii) of the Constitution Act, 1915 | March 31, 1949 (1949-03-31) | 102 | 110 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | |||
| Constitution Act (No. 2), 1975 | June 19, 1975 (1975-06-19) | 104 | 112 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |
| Constitution Act, 1999 (Nunavut) | April 1, 1999 (1999-04-01) | 105 | 113 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Modifying act | Date | Normal total | §26 total | Ont. | Que. | N.S. | N.B. | Man. | B.C. | P.E.I. | Sask. | Alta. | N.L. | N.W.T. | Y.T. | Nu. |
Read more about this topic: Senate Of Canada
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“It may be well to remember that the highest level of moral aspiration recorded in history was reached by a few ancient Jews—Micah, Isaiah, and the rest—who took no count whatever of what might not happen to them after death. It is not obvious to me why the same point should not by and by be reached by the Gentiles.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)