Nicolet was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the Province of Canada, in Canada East, centred on the town of Nicolet. It was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly.

In 1853, the provincial Parliament redrew the electoral map. The boundaries for Nicolet were altered to some extent in the new map, which came into force for the 1854 general elections.

The electoral district was abolished in 1867, upon the creation of Canada and the province of Quebec.

Boundaries

The electoral district of Nicolet was on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River, centred on the town of Nicolet (now in the Nicolet-Yamaska Regional County Municipality, Centre-du-Québec region).

1841 to 1854 The Union Act, 1840, passed by the British Parliament, merged the two provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada into the Province of Canada, with a single Parliament. The separate parliaments of Lower Canada and Upper Canada were abolished.Union Act, 1840, 3 & 4 Vict. (UK), 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.Union Act, 1840, ss. 16, 18.

The Nicolet electoral district of Lower Canada was not altered by the Act, and therefore continued with the same boundaries which had been set by a statute of Lower Canada in 1829:

1854 to 1867 In 1853, the Parliament of the Province of Canada passed a new electoral map. The boundaries of Nicolet were altered to some extent by the new map, which came into force in the general elections of 1854:

Members of the Legislative Assembly (1841–1867)

Nicolet was a single-member constituency in the Legislative Assembly.Union Act, 1840, s. 18.An Act to enlarge the Representation of the People of this Province in Parliament, s. 3.

The following were the members of the Legislative Assembly from Nicolet. 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.J.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860 (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43–58.Québec Dictionary of Parliamentary Biography, from 1764 to the present.Paul G. Cornell, Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841–67, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015) pp. 93–111.

Parliament Members Years in OfficeParty 1st Parliament1841–1844 Augustin-Norbert Morin 1841–1842 Anti-unionist; French-Canadian Group Louis-Michel Viger 1842–1844 French-Canadian Group 2nd Parliament 1844–1847 Antoine-Prosper Méthot 1844–1847 French-Canadian Group 3rd Parliament 1848–1851 Thomas Fortier 1848–1857 French-Canadian Group 4th Parliament1851–1854 Ministerialist 5th Parliament 1854–1857 Bleu 6th Parliament 1858–1861 Joseph Gaudet 1858–1867 Bleu 7th Parliament 1861–1863 8th Parliament 1863–1867 Confederation; Bleu

See also List of elections in the Province of Canada

Notes

Abolition

The 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.British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867) s. 6. It was succeeded by electoral districts of the same name and boundaries in the House of Commons of CanadaConstitution Act, 1867, s. 40, para. 2. and the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.Constitution Act, 1867, s. 80.

References