In Lower Canada the Legislative Assembly was to have not less than fifty members, and the Legislative Council fifteen. In Upper Canada the former was to have not less than sixteen members, and the latter seven. The Executive Council was chosen to advise the Governor, and the Legislative Council corresponded in a measure to our Dominion Senate, or the British House of Lords. Both Councils were independent of the people, and could not be removed, if they did wrong, by the people’s representatives, the members of the Legislative Assembly. The British parliament kept the right to impose taxes or duties for the regulation of commerce; but the Canadian parliaments had the right to collect them. They could also impose taxes for public purposes, such as building roads, bridges, public buildings, and providing education for the people, Unfortunately, the money arising from the sale of wild lands, from timber and mining dues, and from taxes on goods coming in the country was under the control of the Governor and his Executive Council, and this left the people of Canada with very little power to get rid of a bad Government. The Quebec Act was to remain law until repealed by the Provinces; but in Upper Canada all land was to be held by “freehold tenure,” and English criminal law was to be the law for both Upper-and Lower Canada, Provision was made for founding a Canadian nobility and an Established Church. One-seventh of the Crown lands were set aside for the support of a “Protestant clergy” in both Provinces; but the Roman Catholic clergy in Lower Canada were left with the power given them by the Quebec Act, to collect tithes “and their accustomed dues” from their own people in support of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Bill did not become law without strong objections being made by leading men of British birth in Lower Canada. It was also strongly opposed by Charles James Fox, Pitt’s great political rival, who foresaw very clearly the result of attempting to govern Canada by Councils not responsible to the peeple. He also objected to the clauses relating to titles of nobility and granting Crown lands for the support of a Protestant clergy; and he pointed out what would be the effect of dividing Canada into separate Provinces, one French and the other British. Nevertheless, in spite of these and other objections, the Bill was passed by large
