Base → People → Persons elected to date → Concurrent (double) mandates

Paucity, efficiency, or vanity?

by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)

Dominick Edward Blake (1833–1912)
© Photo — Public domain

From the beginning of Confederation in 1867 until about 1874, a politician could sit simultaneously in his provincial legislature and the federal parliament in what was known as the “double mandate.” The man portrayed on this page, Ontario Liberal Edward Blake, took this to an extreme: for a few months in 1871–72, he was the premier of Ontario as well as the member of Parliament for Durham West. So did Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, who was premier of Québec and the MP for Québec County from the beginning of Confederation until his resignation from both seats in early 1873, as well as Amor De Cosmos, who sat federally for Victoria while being the premier of British Columbia in 1873. But by the time that Wilfrid Laurier wanted to make the jump to federal politics, he first had to resign from his seat of Drummond-Arthabaska in the Québec legislative assembly, as the double mandate had been abolished.

That being said, a politician who was uncertain of his chances of winning a seat in a general election could run in more than one riding, in case he might lose in his usual riding. The ultimate case of someone doing that was in 1878, when John A. Macdonald ran in Kingston, Marquette, and Victoria (British Columbia). His premonition was right because he lost his usual seat of Kingston, but won both Marquette and Victoria. He kept the latter and resigned from the former which he had won by acclamation, which is what people did when that happened... except Laurier who, from 1911 to 1917, kept the two seats he had won: Quebec East (won by acclamation) and Soulanges. It is unclear why he was allowed to do that, although being the incumbent prime minister may have given him some privilege, or no other Liberal was willing or able to represent the riding.

Meanwhile, nothing prevented someone (particularly in Québec) from sitting in the provincial assembly while being a municipal councillor or mayor. We can think of Simon-Napoléon Parent, who was Québec’s premier while being mayor of Québec City at the turn of the last century; Conservative MLA Camillien Houde in Montréal—Sainte-Marie while mayor of Montreal, or even Maurice Tessier who was both Liberal MNA and mayor of Rimouski in the late 1960s. These are just a few examples out of hundreds, but since municipal politics is not covered by PoliCan and the practice has ceased everywhere by the early 1980s, I’m afraid it’s up to you to find all the others.

So here is the list of the men who exercised a double mandate in the sense understood in the 19th century. Double mandates were never allowed in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island; they were abolished in Ontario in 1872; in Manitoba and British Columbia in 1873, and in Québec in 1874. There were 35 in all before they were abolished, most of them in Québec:

• British Columbia: 1
• Manitoba: 4*
• Ontario: 8
• Québec: 23

Recommended reading: Excellent article (French only) on the website of the National Assembly of Quebec which defines the dual mandate very well and presents the arguments for and against this practice.

Double mandates, 1867–1874
Who		Jurisdiction	Riding
	Louis Beaubien 1837–1915	Québec	Hochelaga
	Joseph-Hyacinthe Bellerose 1820–1899	Québec	Laval
	Edward Blake 1833–1912	Ontario	Durham West / Bruce South
	Joseph-Godric Blanchet 1829–1890	Québec	Lévis
	Louis-Charles Boucher 1825–1869	Québec	Three Rivers
	John Carling 1828–1911	Ontario	London
	Sir George-Étienne Cartier 1814–1873	Québec	Montreal East / Beauharnois
	Sir George-Étienne Cartier 1814–1873	Manitoba	Provencher
	Joseph-Édouard Cauchon 1816–1885	Québec	Montmorency / Quebec Centre
	Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau 1820–1890	Québec	Quebec County
	Frederick Cumberland 1820–1881	Ontario	Algoma
	Amor De Cosmos 1825–1897	British Columbia	Victoria
	Pierre Delorme 1832–1912	Manitoba	St. Norbert South / Provencher
	Firmin Dugas 1830–1889	Québec	Montcalm
	Christopher Dunkin 1812–1881	Québec	Brome
	Thomas Ferguson 1818–1879	Ontario	Cardwell / Simcoe South
	Pierre-Étienne Fortin 1823–1888	Québec	Gaspé
	Joseph Gaudet (Godet) 1818–1882	Québec	Nicolet
	Pierre-Samuel Gendron 1828–1889	Québec	Bagot
	Luther Holton 1817–1880	Québec	Châteauguay / Montreal Centre
	George Irvine 1826–1897	Québec	Megantic
	Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière 1829–1908	Québec	Lotbinière
	Hector-Louis Langevin 1826–1906	Québec	Dorchester / Quebec Centre
	Sandfield Macdonald 1812–1872	Ontario	Cornwall
	Alexander Mackenzie 1822–1892	Ontario	Lambton / Middlesex West
	Élie Mailloux 1830–1893	Québec	Témiscouata
	John McDougall 1838–1909	Ontario	Renfrew South
	Angus McKay 1836–1910	Manitoba	Lake Manitoba / Marquette
	Charles-Pantaléon Pelletier 1837–1911	Québec	Kamouraska / Quebec East
	Christian Pozer 1835–1884	Québec	Beauce
	Théodore Robitaille 1834–1897	Québec	Bonaventure
	Louis-Adélard Sénécal 1829–1887	Québec	Drummond—Arthabaska / Yamaska
	Georges-Honoré Simard 1817–1873	Québec	Quebec Centre
	Donald Smith 1820–1914	Manitoba	Selkirk / Winnipeg and St. John
	Pierre-Alexis Tremblay 1827–1879	Québec	Chicoutimi-Saguenay / Charlevoix
	Edmund Wood 1820–1882	Ontario	Brant South