2nd Manitoba Legislature

The members of the 2nd Manitoba Legislature were elected in the Manitoba general election held in December 1874. The legislature sat from March 31, 1875, to November 11, 1878.[1]

Premier Robert Atkinson Davis with the support of Joseph Royal was able to form a minority government. Davis offered a cabinet seat to John Norquay, which won him the support of moderate English-speaking members.[2]

The Legislative Council of Manitoba was abolished. In 1874, representatives of the provincial government requested additional funding from the federal government in Ottawa. The federal cabinet agreed on the condition that the legislative council be abolished. The council itself rejected two bills calling for its abolition. Finally, in 1876, a sufficient number of members of the council were persuaded by the lieutenant-governor to support the bill.[3]

Joseph Dubuc served as speaker for the assembly.[1]

There were four sessions of the 2nd Legislature:[1]

Session	Start	End
1st	March 31, 1875	May 14, 1875
2nd	January 18, 1876	February 4, 1875
3rd	January 30, 1877	February 28, 1877
4th	January 10, 1878	February 2, 1878

Alexander Morris was Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba until October 8, 1877, when Joseph Édouard Cauchon became lieutenant governor.[4]

Members of the Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1874:[1]

Member	Electoral district	Affiliation[5]
Felix Chenier	Baie St. Paul	Independent
John Taylor	Headingly	Independent
James Cowan	High Bluff	Opposition
John Sutherland	Kildonan	Opposition
Angus McKay	Lake Manitoba	Independent
Francis Evans Cornish	Poplar Point	Opposition
Kenneth McKenzie	Portage la Prairie	Opposition
William Fisher Luxton	Rockwood	Opposition
John Gunn	St. Andrews North	Independent
John Norquay	St. Andrews South	Government
Marc-Amable Girard	St. Boniface	Government
Alexander Murray	St. Charles	Independent
Thomas Howard	St. Clements	Independent
Maxime Lépine	St. Francois Xavier East	Government
Joseph Royal	St. Francois Xavier West	Government
Edwin Bourke	St. James	Government
Joseph Dubuc	St. Norbert	Government
Curtis Bird	St. Pauls	Independent
Joseph Lemay	St. Vital	Government
Alphonse-Fortunat Martin	Ste. Agathe	Opposition
Charles Nolin	Ste. Anne	Government
William Dick	Springfield	Independent
Corydon Partlow Brown	Westbourne	Independent
Robert Atkinson Davis	Winnipeg	Government

Notes:

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons:

Electoral district	Member elected	Affiliation	Election date	Reason
Kildonan	John Sutherland	Opposition	April 1875	New Writ issued due to a tie.[6]
St. Pauls	Alexander Black[7]	Government	November 25, 1876	CJ Bird died on June 13, 1876[8]
Lake Manitoba	James McKay[9]	Opposition	January 17, 1877	A McKay resigned in December 1876[10]

Notes:

References

1. "Second Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (1875–1878)". Memorable Manitobans. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
2. Swan, Ruth (1994). "Davis, Robert Atkinson". In Cook, Ramsay; Hamelin, Jean (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. XIII (1901–1910) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
3. Donnelly, Murray S (April 1959). "Manitoba's Legislative Council". Manitoba Pageant. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
4. "Past lieutenant governors". Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 2014-01-05. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
5. "Historical Summaries" (PDF). Elections Manitoba. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
6. "MLA Biographies - Deceased". Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 2014-03-30.
7. Mackintosh, CH (1877). The Canadian parliamentary companion and annual register. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
8. "Curtis James Bird (1838–1876)". Memorable Manitobans. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
9. "James McKay (1828–1879)". Memorable Manitobans. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-09-23.
10. "Angus McKay (1836-?)". Memorable Manitobans. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-09-23.