The Province of Canada is created by…
July 1840 CE
It abolishes the legislatures of Lower Canada and Upper Canada and establishes a new political entity, the Province of Canada, to replace them.
This act effects the political union of the Province of Canada, and is similar in nature and in goals to the other Acts of Union enacted by the British Parliament.
The inspiration for the act is typically attributed to Lord Durham's Report on Canada.
Lord Durham had ben sent to the colonies to examine the causes of the Rebellions of 1837–1838 in both Upper and Lower Canada.
Lord Durham, wanting to reinstate peace throughout the colonies, had recommended a political union, believing that peace could best be achieved by ensuring a loyal English majority in British North America, as well as by anglicizing French Canadians, and by granting responsible government.
The union had also been proposed to solve pressing financial issues in Upper Canada, which had become increasingly indebted under the previous regime dominated by the Family Compact.
These debts stemmed mostly from poor investments in canals connecting Upper Canada to the port of Montreal in Lower Canada via the Great Lakes and St-Lawrence river.
Due to Upper Canada's considerable debt and chronic budget shortfalls, it is hoped that its finances can be salvaged by merging it with the solvent Lower Canada.
Upper Canada, with its British and Protestant majority, is growing more rapidly than Lower Canada, with the French-Canadian and Catholic majority.
It is hoped that by merging the two colonies, the French-Canadian cultural presence in North America will gradually disappear through assimilation.
As such, the act also contains measures banning the French language from official use in the Legislative Assembly.
However, despite the amalgamation, the distinct legal systems of the two colonies will be retained with Upper Canada becoming referred to as Canada West (with English common law) and Lower Canada as Canada East (with French civil law).
In Upper Canada, there is opposition to unionization from the Family Compact, while in Lower Canada political and religious leaders react against Upper Canada's anti-French measures.
