Editing Senate of Canada (section)

==History==
The Senate came into existence in 1867, when the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] passed the ''British North America Act 1867'' (now entitled the ''[[Constitution Act, 1867]]''), uniting the [[Province of Canada]] (as two separate provinces, [[Quebec]] and [[Ontario]]), [[Nova Scotia]] and [[New Brunswick]] into a single federal [[Dominion]]. The Canadian parliament was based on the [[Westminster system]] (that is, the model of the Parliament of the United Kingdom). Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, described the Senate as a body of "sober second thought" that would curb the "democratic excesses" of the elected House of Commons and provide regional representation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/senate/legisfocus/focus-e.htm |title=The Canadian Senate in Focus |publisher=Parl.gc.ca |access-date=July 1, 2010}}</ref> He believed that if the House of Commons properly represented the population, the upper chamber should represent the regions.<ref>{{Cite news|title = How to legitimize Canada's Senate|url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/how-to-legitimize-canadas-senate/article8979559/|access-date = August 19, 2015}}</ref> It was not meant to be more than a revising body or a brake on the House of Commons. Therefore, it was deliberately made an appointed house, since an elected Senate might prove too popular and too powerful and be able to block the will of the House of Commons.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

In 2008 the [[Canadian Heraldic Authority]] granted the Senate, as an institution, a [[coat of arms]] composed of a depiction of the chamber's mace (representing the monarch's authority in the upper chamber) behind the [[Escutcheon (heraldry)|escutcheon]] of the [[Arms of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://archive.gg.ca/heraldry/pub-reg/project-pic.asp?lang=e&ProjectID=1283&ProjectElementID=4485| last=Canadian Heraldic Authority| author-link=Canadian Heraldic Authority| title=Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada > Senate of Canada| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| access-date=August 8, 2010}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;"
|+ Change in number of senators over time
|-
!rowspan="2"|Modifying act!!rowspan="2"|Date enacted!!rowspan="2"|Normal total!!rowspan="2"|s.&nbsp;26 total!!rowspan="2"|Ont.!!rowspan="2"|Que.!!colspan="3"|Maritime Provinces!!colspan="4"|Western Provinces!!rowspan="2"|N.L.!!rowspan="2"|N.W.T.!!rowspan="2"|Y.T.!!rowspan="2"|Nu.
|-
!N.S.!!N.B.!!P.E.I.!!Man.!!B.C.!!Sask.!!Alta.
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|''[[Constitution Act, 1867]]''||{{Start date|1867|07|01}}||72||78||24||24||12||12
|style="background: #ececec" rowspan=3| ||style="background: #ececec"| ||style="background: #ececec" rowspan=2| ||style="background: #ececec" rowspan=8| ||style="background: #ececec" rowspan=8| ||style="background: #ececec" rowspan=10| ||style="background: #ececec" rowspan=5| ||style="background: #ececec" rowspan=11| ||style="background: #ececec" rowspan=12|
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|''[[Manitoba Act, 1870]]''||{{Start date|1870|07|15}}||74||80||24||24||12||12||2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|[[British Columbia Terms of Union]]||{{Start date|1871|07|20}}||77||83||24||24||12||12||2||3
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|Prince Edward Island Terms of Union (as set out in section 147 of the ''Constitution Act, 1867)''||{{Start date|1873|07|01}}||77||83||24||24||10||10||4||2||3
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|''[[Manitoba Act, 1870]]''||{{Start date|1882}}||78||84||24||24||10||10||4||3||3
|-
|style="text-align:left;"| ||{{Start date|1888}}||80||86||24||24||10||10||4||3||3||2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|''[[Manitoba Act, 1870]]''||{{Start date|1892}}||81||87||24||24||10||10||4||4||3||2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"| ||{{Start date|1903}}||83||89||24||24||10||10||4||4||3||4
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|''[[Alberta Act]]'' and ''[[Saskatchewan Act]]''||{{Start date|1905|09|01}}||87||93||24||24||10||10||4||4||3||4||4||style="background: #ececec" rowspan=3|
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|''[[Constitution Act, 1915]]''||{{Start date|1915|05|19}}||96||104||24||24||10||10||4||6||6||6||6
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|''[[Newfoundland Act]]'' as set out in s. 1(1)(vii) of the ''Constitution Act, 1915''||{{Start date|1949|03|31}}||102||110||24||24||10||10||4||6||6||6||6||6
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|[[Constitution Act (No. 2), 1975|''Constitution Act'' (No. 2), 1975]]||{{Start date|1975|06|19}}||104||112||24||24||10||10||4||6||6||6||6||6||1||1
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|[[Constitution Act, 1999 (Nunavut)|''Constitution Act, 1999'' (Nunavut)]]||{{Start date|1999|04|01}}||105||113||24||24||10||10||4||6||6||6||6||6||1||1||1
|}