Toronto as an electoral division was represented in various legislatures that existed in the nineteenth century and twentieth century. It was first created 1834 as an electoral division of the House of Assembly in the 12th Parliament of Upper Canada. Upon the establishment of the Province of Canada in 1841 by the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, it continued as a constituency in the Legislative Assembly from the 1st Parliament until the dissolution of the 6th Parliament of the Province of Canada in 1861.
In 1861, it was divided into two separate electoral districts, West Toronto and East Toronto, along Yonge Street. Those two electoral districts continued to function in the first Canadian federal election and the first Ontario provincial election, held concurrently in 1867.
After confederation, Toronto re-emerged briefly as an Ontario provincial electoral district in the 6th and 7th Parliament of Ontario between 1886 and 1894, returning three members.
Boundaries Following the City of Toronto's incorporation in 1834, the electoral district of Toronto was established and succeeded the electoral district of the Town of York. Its boundaries follows the municipal boundaries of Old Toronto, as they existed at the time.
The Union Act, 1840 had merged the two provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada, with a single Parliament. 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 city of Toronto would constitute one electoral district in the Legislative Assembly of the new Parliament, and increase its representation to two members.Union Act, 1840, s. 17. The Act gave the Governor General of the Province of Canada the power to draw the boundaries for the electoral district.Union Act, 1840, s. 21. The first Governor General, Lord Sydenham, issued a proclamation shortly after the formation of the Province of Canada in early 1841, establishing the boundaries for the electoral district. The boundaries were based largely on the municipal boundaries of Toronto as it existed in 1841.Proclamation of Governor General Lord Sydenham, February 27, 1841. Reproduced in the Journal of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada, First Parliament of the Province of Canada, First Session, 1841, pp. ix–xi.
Members of the Legislative Assembly
Toronto was initially established as the Town of York in Upper Canada in 1793. In its early years, it was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada as part of York County, and its members represented multiple counties. In 1821, York and Kingston became the first two towns in Upper Canada to gain representation in the 8th Parliament of Upper Canada. John Beverley Robinson, later the de facto leader of the oligarchic Family Compact, was York's first elected member, holding the seat in the 8th, 9th, and the first year of the 10th Parliament of Upper Canada, until he was appointed Chief Justice of the colony. Robinson held the role of Attorney General during that time and was effective the government's leader in the assembly. His son, also named John Beverley Robinson, born in the first month after the senior Robinson took his seat, would later held a portion of the seat as the member for Toronto West in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada.
Robinson was succeeded as York's representative in 1829 by Robert Baldwin, later the leader of the Reform Party and led the first responsible government ministry in the Province of Canada in 1929. Baldwin was however defeated by Samuel Peters Jarvis, an administration supporter, in the general election the following year and was out of politics for a number of years.
York was incorporated as Toronto in 1834, and the was renamed accordingly. Upon Upper Canada's union with Lower Canada, Toronto was represented by two members in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada.
Parliament YearsMembersJ.O. Côté, Political Appointments and Elections in the Province of Canada, 1841 to 1860, (Quebec: St. Michel and Darveau, 1860), pp. 43-58.AffiliationFor party affiliations, see Paul G. Cornell, Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841-67 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93-111. Members AffiliationLegislative Assembly of Upper Canada Parliamentary termYork (town)8th1821–1824John Beverley RobinsonFamily Compact 9th1825–182810th1828–18291829–1830 Robert BaldwinReformer 11th1831–1834 Samuel Peters Jarvis Family Compact Toronto 12th 1835-1836 James Edward Small Reformer 13th 1836-1840 William Henry Draper ToryLegislative Assembly of the Province of Canada Parliamentary termToronto (duo-member seat) 1st 1841–1843 John Henry Dunn ReformerIsaac BuchananReformer 1843–1844Henry SherwoodConservative2nd 1844-1847 William Henry BoultonConservative3rd 1848-18514th 1852-1853George Percival Ridout1853-1854 Henry Sherwood5th1854-1857 John Hillyard Cameron John George Bowes6th1858-1861John Beverley RobinsonGeorge BrownReformer(divided along Yonge Street)Toronto WestToronto East7th1861-1863John Beverley RobinsonConservativeJohn Willoughby CrawfordConservative8th1863-1866John MacdonaldReformerAlexander Mortimer SmithReformer Notes
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