Parliament was rotten, representation was unequal, and elections were corrupt. The 1800s saw three Reform Acts (1832, 1867, 1884) extend voting rights, but there was a way to go before universal ...

In June 1832, two events stirred up political conflict in Lower Canada: the Place d'Armes by-election ... the invasion of our uncultivated land by British immigrants who threaten to drive us ...