Document Information

Date: 1857-03-09
By: Province of Canada (Parliament)
Citation: Bill 265, An Act to explain and amend the Act intitled, “An Act to change the Constitution of the Legislative Council by rendering the same Elective,” and for other purposes, 3rd Sess, 5th Parl, Prov C, 1857.
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No. 265.

H.

BILL.

An Act to explain and amend the Act in- tituled, “An Act to change the Constitu- “tion of the Legislative Council by ren- “dering the same Elective,” and for other purposes.

Received and read first time, Monday, 9th March, 1857. Second reading Monday, 16th March, 1857.

HON. MR. PRINCE.

(500 Copies.)

TORONTO: Leader Steam Press.

BILL.

An Act to explain and amend the Act intituled “An Act “to change the Constitution of the Legislative Coun- “cil by rendering the same Elective,” and for other purposes.

WHEREAS doubts have arisen as to whether it is lawful for any person being a member of the Legislative Assembly to become a Candidate for election as a member of the Legislative Council under the provisions of the Act in that behalf passed in the Session held in the nine- teenth and twentieth years of Her Majesty’s reign, chapter one hundred and forty, or for any person being a member of the Legislative Council to become a Candidate for election as a member of the Legislative As- sembly, and it is expedient to remove such doubts; and whereas it is also expedient to amend the said Act in other respects; therefore Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of Canada declares and enacts as follows:–

I. It is contrary to the true intent and meaning of the sixth section of the Act cited in the preamble of this Act for any person being at the date of any write for the election of a member of the Legislative Council a member of the Legislative Assembly, or being at the date of any writ for the election of a member of the Legislative Assembly a member of the Legislatice Council to be, or to be deemed, a Candidate for election or to be elected under such writ, unless he shall have lawfully resigned and vacated his seat in the said Legislative Council or Legislative Assem- bly, or otherwise ceased to be a member thereof, before the nomination day or day fixed by the Returning Officer for opening the Election under such Writ.

II. Any member of the Legislative Council wishing to resign and vacate his seat as such for the purpose of being elected a member of the Legislative Assembly may do so (but not until after the expiration of the first fifteen days of the Session of Parliament next after his election, or the termination of the said Session if of less than fifteen days’ duration, if he be an Elective Member) by addressing to the Speaker of the Legisla- tive Council, or if there be then no Speaker, or if the Speaker be then absent from the Province, or if the member so wishing to resign his seat be himself the Speaker, to any two members of the Legislatice Council a declaration to that effect, made under his hand and seal before two witnesses, and delivering the same to the Returning Officer in possession of the writ under which he wishes to be so elected.

III. Any member of the Legislative Assembly wishing to resign and vacate his seat as such for the purpose of being elected a member of the Legislative Council may do so, after the expiration of the first fifteen days of the Session of Parliament next after his election, or the termina- tion of the said Session if of less than fifteen days’ duration, by address- ing to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, or if there be then no Speaker, or if the Speaker be then absent from this Province, or if the member so wishing to resign his seat be himself the Speaker, to any two members of the Legislative Assembly, a declaration to that effect, made under his hand and seal before two witnesses, and delivering the same to the Returning Officer in possession of the writ under which he wishes to be so elected.

IV. It shall be the duty of the Retruning Officer to whom any such declaration as aforesaid is delivered fortwith to endorse thereon the day and hour of the receipt thereof by him, and to cause the same to be de- livered to the Speaker or to the two Members to whom it is addressed, and to make special mention of his receipt and transmission of such declaration in his return to the Writ of Election, and to annex a copy thereof certified by him to such return, whatever may be the result of the Election.

V. The seat of any Member of the Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly so making, addressing and delivering any such declaration as aforesaid, under the provisions of this Act, shall become and be void upon from and after the day on which the same shall be so delivered to such Returning Officer as aforesaid.

VI. It shall not be lawful for any person being a Member of the Legis- lative Council, in or by any written or printed Address, or by any Verbal Address to a Meeting of more than three persons, to offer or announce himself as a Candidate for Election as a Member of the Legislative As- sembly, nor for any person being a member of the Legislative As- sembly, in or by any written or printed Address, or by any Verbal Address to a Meeting of more than three persons, to offer to announce himself as a Candidate for election as a Member of the Legislative Coun- cil; and any Member of either House found guilty by the House to which he belongs of having contravened for provisions of this section, shall be expelled thereform, and shall be forever thereafter incapable of being elected a Member of either House.

VII. Any Sheriff, Deputy Sheriff, Registrar, Clerk of the Crown, Crown Land Agent, or other paid officer of the Government of this Province who shall directly or indirectly canvass for or against, or in any manner or way, other than by his own vote if by law entitled and allowed to vote, assist or oppose the election of any Candidate for the representa- tion of any electoral Division in the Legislative Council or of any County, Riding of a County, City or Town in the Legislative Assembly, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, in addition to the usual punishment for a misdemeanor forfeit and lose his office and be for ever incapable of holding any office of emolument in this Province.

VIII. The Members of the Legislative Council shall upon their first Assembling after the next General Election of emmbers to serve in the Legislative Assembly of this province, or after the occurrence of a vacancy in the office of Speaker of the said Legislative Council, whichever may first happen, and thereafter upon their first assembling after the occur- rence of any vacancy in the said office, forthwith proceed to elect one of their number to be Speaker; and the Speaker so from time to time elected shall preside at all meetings of the said Legislative Council until his death or resignation or removal by a vote of the said Legislative Council, or his ceasing to be a member of the same, or until the expiration of four years from his election as such Speaker, whichever may first happen; and such Speaker shall in no case vote unless while presiding there shall be an equality of voices of the other members present.

IX. The twenty-second, twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh sections of the Act cited in the Preamble of this Act are hereby repealed.