492 PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINIONS [PART 1Tt
§ 2. THE MEMBERS
The qualifications for members of the Lower Houses in
the Dominions follow generaliy the qualifications for the
electorate, but certain persons qualified to vote are excluded
on public grounds from the right of membership.
The disqualifications of members of the Houses of Parlia-
ment, and the conditions on which they shall vacate their
seats, are much the same for the Lower Houses as for the
Upper Houses.
(a) North America.
In the Dominion of Canada, members of the provincial
legislatures ! cannot be members of the House of Commons,
hor can members of the Senate be members of the House
of Commons. Officers under the Crown, with certain
exceptions specified in chapter 10 of the Revised Statutes,
cannot be members, but ministers are qualified for election.
Government contractors, except shareholders in companies
(other than companies which contract for public works)
and persons on whom contracts devolve by operation of law
for a year after the devolution, lenders of money to Govern-
ment, and militiamen, are also excluded from membership.
In the Provinces of Canada the rules are in the main
similar. Office-holders, whether Dominion or provincial,
are ineligible to sit, and persons interested in contracts under
the Crown are excluded, with the exception of shareholders
in companies other than companies which undertake public
works. In Prince Edward Island clergymen are not eligible.
No member of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative
Council of other provinces or of the House of Commons or
Senate of Canada is eligible, and seats are vacated on the
occurrence of similar conditions. Moreover, in every case
a member of Parliament may resign his seat, usually being
given the option of declaring his wish in his place in
the Assembly or by writing under his hand addressed to the
Speaker, or if the House is not in session and there is
no Speaker, or the member be the Speaker himself, by
* There is no prohibition for a Senator to be a Legislative Councillor of
Quebec, and cases have occurred (Pope, Sir John Macdonald, ii. 7). Bub
otherwise in Nova Scotia.
