Province of Canada

The Province of Canada, also called the United Province of Canada, was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. It was created by the Act of Union of 1840, which followed Lord Durham's report on the rebellions of 1837-1838 and merged Upper and Lower Canada into a single colony with one parliament of two houses. The union was intended to solve Upper Canada's bankruptcy and to assimilate the French Canadians by giving each former province equal representation, though Lower Canada had the larger population. Kingston was the first capital; the seat moved to Montreal, Quebec, Toronto and finally Ottawa, chosen as a compromise and made permanent in 1859. The Baldwin-LaFontaine ministry won responsible government in 1849, after which the cabinet answered to the assembly rather than the governor. Railways, timber and wheat exports tied the colony to Britain and the United States, and the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 opened free trade in natural products. Political deadlock between Canada East and Canada West in the 1860s led to the Great Coalition, the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences, and the British North America Act. On 1 July 1867 the Province of Canada was divided into Ontario and Quebec within the new Dominion of Canada.