Saguenay was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

of the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

, in

Canada East Canada East () was the northeastern portion of the Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new colony, known as the Province of ...

(now

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

). It was to the north-east of

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. Saguenay was created in 1841 and was based on the previous electoral district of the same name for the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of e ...

. It was represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. In 1853, the provincial Parliament redrew the electoral map. As part of the redistribution, the 1841 district of Saguenay was divided into three new districts, initially called Saguenay,

Chicoutimi Chicoutimi ( , ) is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and ...

, and Tadousac electoral districts. Those districts were used in the general elections of 1854. In 1855, the provincial Parliament passed further amendments to the electoral map, and re-named the new Saguenay electoral district to be the Charlevoix electoral district. There was no change to the boundaries, only to the name. At the same time, the name of the Tadousac electoral district was changed to the Saguenay electoral district, again with no change to the boundaries.

Boundaries

The 1841 electoral district of Saguenay was located on the north shore of the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

, north-east of

(now in the

Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (, ) is a region in Quebec, Canada on the Labrador Peninsula. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region. It is also known as Sagamie in French, from the fi ...

region). It extended north and east to the provincial boundary . The '' Union Act, 1840'', passed by the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

, merged the two provinces of

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

and

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

into the

, with a single

. 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.
s. 18. The Saguenay electoral district of Lower Canada was not altered by the Act, and therefore initially continued with the same boundaries which had been set by a statute of Lower Canada in 1829:

Members of the Legislative Assembly (1841–1854)

Saguenay was a single-member constituency, represented by one member in the Legislative Assembly. The following were the members of the Legislative Assembly for Saguenay. The party affiliations are based on the biographies of individual members given by the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

, as well as votes in the Legislative Assembly. "Party" was a fluid concept, especially during the early years of the Province of Canada.Paul G. Cornell
''Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841–67''
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93–111.

Notes

Abolition

The district was abolished in 1854, when the 1853 redistribution statute came into effect. The 1841 Saguenay electoral district was split into three new electoral districts: Charlevoix, Chicoutimi, and the new Saguenay electoral district.

References

{{coord missing, Quebec Electoral districts of Canada East 1841 establishments in Canada East 1854 disestablishments in Canada East

Boundaries

Members of the Legislative Assembly (1841–1854)

Notes

Abolition

See also

References