DOMINION OF CANADA. 



Canadian Farm Year Book 



1916 



THE DOMEVION. 



The Parliament of the Dominion of Canada consists of the Senate, with 

 87 members, and of the House of Commons, with 221 members, senators 

 being appointed for life by the Governor-General, and members of the House 

 of Commons being elected by the people. The limit of duration for each 

 Parliament is five years. A Redistribution Act passed after each census 

 readjusts the number of representatives in the House of Commons in accord- 

 ance with rules laid down in Section 51 of the British North America Act, 

 1867, of the Imperial Parliament (30-31 Vict., c. 3). These rules provide 

 that the Province of Quebec shall always have the fixed number of 65 mem- 

 bers and that there shall be assigned to each of the other provinces such a 

 number of members as will bear the same proportion to the number of its 

 population (ascertained by the census) as the number 65 bears to the popu- 

 lation of Quebec. , 



The four original provinces of the Dominion were Ontario, Quebec, 

 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, which were given parliamentary represen- 

 tation according to Section 37 of the British North America Act, 1867. By 

 Imperial Orders in Council the provinces of British Columbia and Prince 

 Edward Island were admitted into the Dominion — the former on July 1, 

 1873, by Order dated May 16, 1871, and the latter on July 1, 1873, by Order 

 dated June 26, 1873. An Act of the Dominion Parliament of May 12, 1870 

 (33 Vict., c. 3), provided for the formation of the province of Manitoba out 

 of Rupert's Land and the Northwest Territory, so soon as these should be 

 admitted into the Dominion of Canada, which admission was effected by 

 Imperial Order in Council, dated June 23, 1870, and taking effect on July 

 15, 1870. In consequence of doubts as to the legal validity of the Dominion 

 Act of 1870 (33 Vict., c. 3) the Imperial Parliament passed an Act in 1871 

 (34-35 Vict., c. 28) making the Canadian Act valid and effectual. 



Area and Population. 



The Dominion of Canada, extending westward from the Atlantic Ocean 

 to the Pacific Ocean, and northward from the United States boundary into 

 the Arctic Circle, embraces a total area computed at 3,729,665 square miles. 

 This area is divided into nine provinces and the Yukon and Northwest Terri- 

 tories. By the Boundary Extension Acts, passed by the Dominion Parliament 

 in 1912 (2 Geo. V. cc. 32, 40 and 45) the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and 

 Quebec were enlarged by the addition of areas that were previously part of 

 the Northwest Territories. The boundaries of Manitoba were thus extended 

 northwards to the 60th parallel of ^orth latitude between the eastern boun- 

 dary of Saskatchewan and the western shore of Hudson Bay; and from the 

 point where the northern boundaries of Manitoba and Ontario formerly coin- 

 cided the boundary of Manitoba was extende'd due north to a point defined 

 and thence north-easterly to the point where the 89th meridian of west 

 longitude intersects the southern shore of Hudson Bay. The northern boun- 

 daries of Ontario were extended to the southern shores of Hudson Bay, the 

 new western boundary of Ontario coinciding with the new eastern boundary 

 of Manitoba. To the province of Quebec were added the whole of the terri- 

 tory of Ungava and that part of Labrador which is within the Dominion of 

 Canada. 



Additional Territory. 



By the re"^ision of the boundaries Manitoba received about 178,100, 

 Ontario 146,400 and Quebec 354,961 square miles of additional territory. 



