Canadian Senate divisions

Under the Constitution, only Quebec has official Senate divisions for each of the senatorial designations within the province.

Provisions under section 26 of the Constitution Act exist to add up to two extra seats per region, with no more than 113 members allowed to sit in the Senate.

Quebec is unique in that its 24 senatorial designations are set out in the Constitution Act of 1867 and defined in the Consolidated Statutes of Canada 1859.

The stated purpose of retaining the Senate divisions within Quebec is to protect the interests of religious and linguistic minorities inside the province.

An exception to the requirement for Quebec senators to represent a specific division occurs when the Prime Minister directly advises the Sovereign to temporarily expand the Senate under the Regional Expansion Clause in Section 26 of the British North America Act.

Quebec's Senate divisions have not changed since Confederation and remain based on the province's 1867 boundaries.

At the time, this was a relatively uncontroversial anomaly because the additional territory was primarily populated by First Nations peoples, who did not gain the right to vote until the 1960s.

Note: See List of Quebec senators The Ontario regional division was created at the time of Confederation in 1867.

It was expected that Prince Edward Island would also join; however, it held out until 1873 as it sought equal representation by province rather than by region.

At the Quebec Conference of 1864 the Prince Edward Island representatives believed the only safeguard for a small province would be an equal representation in the Senate.

Prince Edward Island held out joining Canada until 1873 and ended up accepting the four senate seats.

Among his proposal was a plan to divide New Brunswick into five regions or divisions and have each represented by two senators.

After Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in 1905 the Northwest Territories lost representation in the Senate until 1975 when it regained one seat under the Constitution Act 1975 (No 2).

The Yukon was created out of the Northwest Territories in 1898 but did not get representation in the Senate until it was granted one seat under the Constitution Act 1975 (No 2).