PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



639 



THE HOOTS OF COMMONS. 



87. 1 of commons shall, subject to tho 



, consist of one hundred and 



I' whom eighty-two shall by 



r< for Quebec, nineteen 



.m<l iiitren l\.r New Brunswick. 



ir-gcnefal shall from time to timo 



Tumcnt under t lie great 



..union aud call together the house 



89. A senator shall not bo capable of being elected 

 : or voting us a member of the house of 



the Parliament of Canada otherwise pro- 



Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New 



-hall, for tho purposes of the election of 



servo in tho house of commons, be di- 



!. -floral districts as follows: 



.Ontario shall bo divided into the 



lings of counties, cities, parts of cities, 



niiiHTated in the first schedule to this 



h whereof shall be an Iectoral district, each 



such district as numbered in that schedule being en- 



<> return one member. 



,'uebec. Quebec shall be*divided into sixty-five 

 pal districts, composed of the sixty-five elec- 

 iivisions into which Lower Canada is at the 

 4 of this act divided under chapter 2 of the 

 Consolidated Statutes of Canada, chapter 75 of the 

 Consolidated Statutes for Lower Canada, and the 

 act of the Province of Canada of the 23d year of the 

 Queen, chapter 1, or any other act amending the 

 sunn- in force at the union, so that each such electo- 

 ral division shall be for the purposes of this act an 

 electoral district entitled to return one member. 



3. Aopa Scotia. Each of the eighteen counties of 



. shall be an electoral district. The 

 county of Halifax shall be entitled to return two mem- 

 bers, and each of the other counties one member. 



4. .V. to Bntnnoick, Each of the fourteen counties 

 into which New Brunswick is divided, including the 

 city and county of St. John, shall be an electoral dis- 

 trict. The city of St. John shall also be a separate 

 electoral district. Each ol those fifteen electoral dis- 

 tricts shall be entitled to return one member. 



41. Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise pro- 



ull laws in force in the several Provinces at the 

 relative to the following matters or any of 

 them, namely the qualifications and disqualifica- 

 tions of persons to be elected or to sit or vote as 

 members of the house of assembly or legislative as- 

 sembly in the several Provinces, the voters at elec- 

 tions of such members, the oaths to be taken by 

 voters, the returning officers, their powers and duties, 

 the proceedings at elections, the periods during elec- 

 tions may be continued, the trial of controverted 

 elections, and proceedings incident thereto, the 

 v. ie.it ing of scats of members, and the execution of 

 its iu case of seats vacated otherwise than by 

 dissolution shall respectively applv to elections of 

 members to serve in the House 01 Commons for tho 

 same several Provinces. 



Provided that, until the Parliament of Canada 

 otherwise provides, at any election for a member of 

 the House of Commons for the District of Algoma, in 

 addition to persons qualified by the law of the Prov- 

 ince of Canada to vote, every male British subject, 

 aged twentv-one years or upward, being a house- 

 hoMiT. shall have a vote. 



42. For the first election of members to serve in tlie 

 house of commons the governor-general shall cause 

 writs to be issued by such person, in such form, and 

 addressed to such returning officers as he thinks lit. 



The person issuing writs under this section shall 

 li.ivr the like powers as are possessed at the union 

 by the officers changed with the issuing of writs for 

 the election of members to serve iu the respective 

 of assembly or legislative assembly of the 

 Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick ; 

 aud the returning officer to whom write are directed 



under this section shall have the like powers as are 

 possessed at the union by the officers charged with 

 tin- returning of write for the election of members to 

 serve '11 tho same respective house of assembly or 

 legislative assembly. 



43. In case a vacancy in the representation in the 

 House of Commons of any electoral district happens 

 before the meeting of the Parliament, or aftur the 

 meeting of the Parliament before provision is made 

 by the Parliament in this behalf, the provisions of 

 the lust foregoing section of this act shall extend and 

 apply to tho issuing and returning of a writ in respect 

 of such vacant district. 



44. The House of Commons, on its first assembling 

 after a general election shall proceed with all prac- 

 tical speed to elect one of its members to be speaker. 



4.">. Iu casts of a vacancy happening in the office of 

 speaker by death, resignation, or otherwise, the 

 House of Commons shall with all practicable speed 

 proceed to elect another of its members to be 

 speaker. 



46. The speaker shall preside at all meetings of the 

 bouse of commons. 



47. Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise 

 provides, in case of the absence for any reason of 

 the speaker from the chair of the house of commons 

 for a period of forty-eight consecutive hours, the 

 house may elect another of its members to act as 

 speaker and the member so elected shall, during the 

 continuance of such absence of the speaker have and 

 execute all the powers, privileges, and duties of 

 speaker. 



48. The presence of at least twenty members of the 

 House of Commons shall be necessary to constitute a 

 meeting of the house for the exercise of its powers ; 

 and for that purpose the speaker shall be reckoned 

 as a member. 



49. Questions arising in the house of commons 

 shall be decided by a majority of voices other than 

 that of the speaker ; and when the voices are equal, 

 the speaker shall have a vote. 



50. Every house of commons shall continue for 

 five years from the day of the return of the writs for 

 choosing the house (subject to be sooner dissolved 

 by the governor-general), and no longer. 



51. On the completion of the census in the year 

 one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, and 

 of each subsequent decennial census, the representa* 

 tion of the Provinces shall be readjusted by such au- 

 thority, in such manner, and from such time, as the 

 Parliament of Canada from time to time provides, 

 subject and according to the following rules : 



(1.) Quebec shall have the fixed number of sixty- 

 five members : 



(2.) There shall be assigned to each of the other 

 Provinces such a number of members as shall 

 bear the same proportion to the number of its 

 population (ascertained at such census) as tho 

 number of sixty-five bears to the number of 

 the population of Quebec (so ascertained). 



(3.) In tue computation of the number of members 

 for a Province a fractional part not exceeding 

 oiie-hulf of the whole number requisite for en- 

 titling the Province to a member shall be dis- 

 '! (! ; 'nit a fractional part exceeding one- 

 half of i hat number shall be equivalent to the 

 whole number. 



(4.) Ou any such readjustment the number of 

 members for a Province shall not be reduced 

 unless the proportion which the number of the 

 population of the Province bore to the number 

 f the aggregate population of Canada at the 

 then last preceding readjustment of the num- 

 ber of members for the Province is ascertained 

 at the then latest census to be diminished by 

 one twentieth part or upward : 



(C). Such readjustment shall not take effect until 

 after the termination of the theu existing Par- 

 liament. 



52. The number of members of the house of com 



