Briefly, the act provided that the Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova
Scotia should be one dominion, under the name of Canada. This dominion was to be
divided into four Provinces-Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia; th
e boundaries of the former two to be the same as those of the old Provinces of U
pper and Lower Canada; the boundaries of the two Maritime Provinces remaining un
changed. The executive authority, and the command of the naval and military forc
es, were vested in the Imperial Sovereign, represented by a governor general or
other executive officer for the time being. The city of Ottawa was declared the
seat of government during the sovereign's pleasure. The legislative machinery was to consist of a viceroy or his deputy, and a ministerial council, to be styled the Queen's Privy Council of Canada, the members of which body were to be chosen by the Governor-General and to hold office during his pleasure. The legislative power was vested in a parliament to consist of the Queen, the Senate, and the House of Commons. It was provided that a parliament should be held at least once in each year, so that not more than a twelvemonth might elapse between session and session. The system of election to the political dead-house [the Senate] was abolished - though the thing itself was maintained - and it was provided instead that the Senate should consist of seventy-two life members, twenty-four for Ontario, twenty-four for Quebec an apportionment which, in view of the disparity of population and the outlook of increased inequality, would have been a rank injustice, but that the members so distributed are but the shadows in an institution which in practice is a myth - and twelve for each of the Maritime Provinces; the members to possess certain property qualifications, to be appointed by the Crown, and to retain their seats for life unless guilty of gross misbehavior. Provision was made for increasing the membership of the body, but the number (as finally arranged) was not to exceed eighty-two, or to reach that limit unless upon the entry of Newfoundland into the Confederation. The principle of representation by population was established for the House of Commons, the basis adopted for the original adjustment being the census of 1861. It was declared, however, that an adjustment should take place every ten years, upon a census of population being obtained. The representation of Quebec was permanently fixed at sixty-five members, while that of each of the other Provinces was to bear the same relation to the population thereof that sixty-five should from time to time bear to the population of Quebec.
The duration of the House of Commons was not to exceed five years. Constitutions were likewise given to the four Provinces embraced in the union. Each comprised a lieutenant-governor who was to be appointed by the Governor-General, paid out of the general treasury, and to hold office for five years; an executive council which was to be appointed by the lieutenant-governor, who had the power of dismissal; a legislative council to be nominated by the Lieutenant-Governor and to hold their seats for life; and the House of Assembly. Such Legislature was to have control over local affairs, all questions of a character affecting the Dominion at large falling within the jurisdiction of the General Government. Provision was made, likewise, in the British North America Act, for the admission into the Confederation of any colony that had so far refused to be a party to the compact. The royal proclamation announced the names of seventy-two senators, thirty-six of whom were conservatives and thirty-six reformers; so that when the date that was to witness the birth of the Dominion came round, the machinery was in readiness to set in motion.
“In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
– Proverbs 3:6