Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Civil Government of Canada

The Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Civil Government of Canada (also the Canada Committee of 1828) was established on May 2, 1828 "to enquire into the state of the civil government of Canada, as established by the Act 31 Geo. III., chap. 31, and to report their observations and opinions thereupon to the house."[1]

Composition

The 21 members of the committee were: William Huskisson, C. Wynn, T. F. Lewis, S. Bourne, N. Tindal, James Mackintosh, Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton, 3rd Baronet, William Vesey-FitzGerald, 2nd Baron FitzGerald and Vesey, Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, J. S. Wortley, F. L. Gower, W. B. Baring, J. E. Denison, Thomas Hyde Villiers, M. Fitzgerald, T. Loch, Archibald Campbell, J. A. Fazakerley, T. Wallace, Dudley Ryder, 2nd Earl of Harrowby and Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton.[2]

Enquiry

The committee enquired upon four questions:

Report

The committee reported on July 22, 1828.[3]

On the subject of the tenures of land, the committee recommended that:

On the subject of the representative system, the committee recommended that it be reformed to be modelled on that of Upper Canada, which according to them was "founded on the compound basis of territory and population." as opposed to population only.

On the subject of the constitution of Lower Canada, specifically the questions of the public revenue, and the maladministration, it recommended that:

On the specific question of the composition of the Legislative Councils of both Provinces, it recommended:

It recommended to follow the principle of limiting "as far as possible" the involvement of the British Parliament in any alteration in the constitution of the Canadas.

It recommended against the Union of the two Canadas.

Feeling a lack of information on the question of the estates formerly belonging to the Jesuits, it abstained from recommending anything. However, it expressed the opinion that it would seem desirable "that the proceeds should be applied to the purposes of general education."

On the subject of the clergy reserves in Upper Canada, it recommended:

See also

Notes

  1. Motion of William Huskisson, May 2nd, in Christie, Robert (1866). A History of the Late Province of Lower Canada, Volume III, page 170 (online)
  2. Christie, Robert (1866). A History of the Late Province of Lower Canada, Volume III, page 170 (online)
  3. Report from the Select Committee on the Civil Government of Canada, House of Commons, July 22, 1828 (online)

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.