=Source.=--_Documents Illustrative of the Canadian Constitution_,
edited by William Houston. Toronto, 1891.
Whereas it is necessary that provision be made for the good
government of the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, in such
manner as may secure the rights and liberties and promote the
interests of all classes of her Majesty's subjects within the same:
And whereas to this end it is expedient that the said provinces
be reunited to form one province for the purposes of executive
government and legislation....
III. ... from and after the reunion of the said two provinces there
shall be within the Province of Canada one Legislative Council and
one Assembly....
IV. ... for the purpose of composing the Legislative Council ... it
shall be lawful for her Majesty ... to authorise the Governor in
her Majesty's name, by an instrument under the Great Seal of the
said Province, to summon to the said Legislative Council ... such
persons, being not fewer than twenty, as her Majesty shall think
fit....
V. ... every member of the Legislative Council ... shall hold his
seat therein for the term of his life....
XII. ... in the Legislative Assembly ... the parts of the said
Province which now constitute the provinces of Upper and Lower
Canada respectively, shall ... be represented by an equal number
of representatives to be elected for the places and in the manner
hereinafter mentioned....
XXXI. ... there shall be a session of the Legislative Council and
Assembly ... once at least in every year ... every Legislative
Assembly ... shall continue for four years from the day of the
return of the writs for choosing the same, and no longer, subject
nevertheless to be sooner prorogued or dissolved by the Governor of
the said Province.
(_Compare with IV. the Amendment Act of 1854._)
It shall be lawful for the Legislature of Canada ... to alter the
manner of composing the Legislative Council ... and to make it
consist of such number of members appointed or to be appointed
or elected by such persons and in such manner as to the said
Legislature may seem fit....
(In accordance with this enabling Act of Parliament, a Canadian Act
for making the Council elective was passed in 1856.)