INTRODUCTION.
vinces, with their commercial interests, it was resolved that
each division should be equally represented in the Senate by
24 members. On the formation of the province of Manitoba
and the admission of British Columbia three members were
assigned to each of these two provinces, and subsequently
provision was made for the representation of the North West
Territories by two senators, so that the normal number of the
Senate is now 80.
In the formation of the House of Commons it was deemed House of
desirable to make provision for the adjustment of representa- Cains.
tion to population, and for this purpose a simple and ingenious
plan was adopted. The Province of Quebec or Lower Canada,
which enjoyed a population of a permanent character, was
taken as the starting point, and the fixed number of 65
members was assigned to it. To the remaining provinces
were assigned as many representatives in proportion to their
population as 65 bore to the population of Quebec. Adjust-
ments of the representation took place after the census of
1871 and the census of 1881, and in 1886 representation was
conceded to the North West Territories. The total number
of members of the House of Commons is now 215. Taking
the total population of Canada as 4,324,810 we have one
representative for every 20,115 people as compared with one
representative for every 155,465 in the United States.
No attempt was made in 1867 to introduce a uniform Franchise
franchise throughout the Dominion, but the precedent of the
Canada Union Act of 1841 was followed, and a vote for the
Dominion House of Commons was given to every man who in
his own province was qualified to vote for his own provincial
assembly. It was not until 1885 that the Dominion Parlia-
ment exercised its power of providing a general franchise for
the whole Dominion. The franchise is now based on either
ownership, or occupation, or income. The ownership or occu-
pation of premises of the value of $300 in cities, $200 in
towns, and $150 in other places confers the right to vote,
