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The Unicameral Legislature of Ontario
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
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- Type
- Legislative Notes and Reviews
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- Copyright
- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1938
References
1 British North America Act, 1867, Sections 91–95.
2 The Book of the States, 1935, p. 62Google Scholar.
3 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1936, p. 501Google Scholar. The Ontario members receive an indemnity of $2,000 for the session, plus mileage to and from Toronto once. Ibid. This salary is a little better than the average for the states, but the mileage is less, since many states pay it weekly.
4 That of Ontario is strictly single-member. An occasional exception occurs in other provinces: Manitoba provides for election of 10 members from the city of Winnipeg by proportional representation (Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1936, p. 432Google Scholar; Election Instructions and the Manitoba Election Act, S.M. 1931, c. 10.); in Alberta, all members are elected by a system of preferential voting in single-member districts except for Calgary and Edmonton with six members each (Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1936, pp. 371, 375–376Google Scholar; The Alberta Election Act, 1924, with Amendments of 1925); Prince Edward Island elects two members from each district, but with limited suffrage for one of the members in each (Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1936, pp. 549, 551)Google Scholar.
5 The Ontario election of 1934 gave the Liberals, with only 50 per cent of the popular votes, 70 per cent of the seats, and the Conservatives, with 40 per cent of the votes, 19 per cent of the seats. The largest of several “third” parties held the balance of power in a good many districts, or ridings. It polled 7 per cent of the votes but gained only 1 per cent of the seats, or one seat; the United Farmers, with less than 1 per cent of the votes, also gained a seat. The preceding (Conservative) legislature was no more representative. Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1936, p. 543Google Scholar.
6 Only a few leaders are well enough known to be elected in any other than their own riding, but the principle of non-residence aids in the maintenance of party leadership within the legislative body.
7 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1936, pp. 500–501Google Scholar.
8 British North America Act, 1867, Sections 85 and 92–1; Keith, A. B., Responsible Government in the Dominions, Vol. I, p. 440Google Scholar.
9 Book of the States, 1935, p. 62Google Scholar.
10 “Twelve months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the legislature in each province in one session and its first sitting in the next session”. British North America Act, 1867Google Scholar, Section 86.
11 The Assembly is summoned usually early in February and prorogued ordinarily after about eight weeks, or whenever the program is completed; most of the American legislatures sit for from 40 days to four or five months. Book of the States 1935, p. 63Google Scholar.
12 Book of the States, 1935, p. 62Google Scholar.
13 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1934, pp. 464–494Google Scholar.
14 Ibid., 1936, pp. 507–536.
15 Mail and Empire (Toronto), May 18, 1934Google Scholar. In the preceding provincial legislature, Mr. Hepburn was Liberal leader of Ontario, but as a member of the Dominion House of Commons he had to depend upon a deputy to lead the opposition to the Conservative government.
16 In order to make way for this addition, one of the newly elected Liberals was asked to resign his seat, for which he was later rewarded with membership on the Workmen's Compensation Board, and the new minister was elected from this member's riding by acclamation. Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1934, p. 181Google Scholar; the Globe (Toronto), February 27, 1935Google Scholar.
17 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1934, pp. 495–499Google Scholar.
18 Ibid., 1936, pp. 537–540.
19 For example, the general election ballot in Cleveland and Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in 1934 had 13 administrative and 10 judicial offices aside from the legislative, which were 28 in number: one for United States senatorship, two for congressmanat-large, one for district congressman, six for state senatorial seats, and 18 for the Ohio house of representatives. In addition, six issues were to be voted upon, one of which involved the election of a special county charter-drafting commission of 15 members for which there were 41 candidates.
20 Globe, May 11, 14, 15, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31; June 1, 9, 16, 19, 1934; Mail and Empire, June 1, 8, 11, 12, 16, 1934. Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1934, pp. 175, 177, 191–192Google Scholar.
21 In the 1934 general election campaign in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, where the newspapers had concentrated their efforts in behalf of a write-in candidacy for sheriff, one of the Cleveland papers shortly before the election half-way apologized for having almost forgotten that that election would place a new legislature in office. Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 29, 1934.
22 The Globe, May 10, 1934, carried this notice of such a convention nomination a week before dissolution: “Porquis Junction, May 9.—A. F. Kenning of Timmins, present member of the legislature, again will carry the Conservative banner in South Cockrane at the coming Ontario general elections. He was nominated as candidate at the convention held here today. About 400 delegates attended the convention from Kirkland, Lake, Swastika, Iroquois Falls, Ansonville, Timmins, South Porcupine, and other towns. Three others were nominated besides Mr. Kenning, but they withdrew with the exception of Mr. Bastien, storekeeper of Ramore. Mr. Kenning captured the nomination when a vote was taken …”
23 Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1934, p. 174Google Scholar.
24 The leader is not necessarily president of his party's organization. In 1936, a convention of the Conservative Association reëlected its president, but replaced Mr. Henry with Mr. Rowe as leader. Since the latter was not a member of the Assembly and it was suggested that Mr. Rowe would lead from the outside and rely on Mr. Henry to continue the party's opposition leadership in the Assembly, Mr. Hepburn, Liberal prime minister, indicated that he would arrange Mr. Rowe's election to the house by acclamation should he seek a seat. Globe, May 28, 29, 30, 1936.
25 For fairly specific announcements of policy, see Mr. Hepburn's Liberal statement in the Globe for May 28,1934, and Mr. Henry's for the Conservatives, May 23.
26 Mail and Empire, May 29, and June 16, 1934. Tomatoes constituted part of the “heckling” on the latter occasion.
27 Good examples are reported in the Globe, Feb. 28, 1935, and the Globe and Mail, Nov. 25, 1936.
28 Mail and Empire, March 9, 1935; see also issues of Feb. 16, 22, 28, 1935; also the Evening Telegram, March 27, 1934, and the Globe, March 28, 1934.
29 For information and pronouncements on legislative plans, see Globe, Feb. 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, March 1, 9, 11, 12, 22, 30, April 18; Mail and Empire, Feb. 16, 18, 19, 25, April 15, 1935.
30 Interesting instances occurred in 1935. See the Globe, March 14, 1935, on which occasion the question period was used for filibustering, and April 9, 10, 11, 1935.
31 The session of 1935 witnessed the unusual occurrence of the speaker's decision, on complaint of the Opposition leader, going contrary to the prime minister and the latter's appeal to and support by a vote of the house. The Globe and the Mail and Empire, March 29, 1935.
32 Rules, Section 61.
33 Information furnished through the courtesy of Major A. C. Lewis, clerk of the house.
34 Globe, March 16, 1935. See also same, February 14, 19, 21, 23; March, 7, 13, 22; April 4, 1935.
34a Mail and Empire, March 23, 1935.
35 In 1935, Mr. Hepburn, as Ontario prime minister, held up action on a school tax bill desired by the Catholics, it was charged, to induce Catholics to support the Liberal party in the coming Dominion election as they had done in Ontario. Mail and Empire, March 22, 1935.
36 Globe, March 9 and 18, 1935. The second session of this legislature, 1936, was much more subdued.
37 The ceremony of prorogation often takes place several days later, with few more than the Toronto members participating. Globe, April 18, 1935.
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