1.
Order of Canada
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The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is the second highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada. It comes second only to membership in the Order of Merit, membership is accorded to those who exemplify the orders Latin motto, desiderantes meliorem patriam, meaning they desire a better country, a phrase taken from Hebrews 11,16. Appointees to the order are recommended by a board and formally inducted by the governor general or the sovereign. As of October 2016,6,699 people have been appointed to the Order of Canada, including scientists, musicians, politicians, artists, athletes, business people, and film stars, benefactors, and others. Some have resigned or have been removed from the order, while other appointments have been controversial, appointees are presented with insignia and receive the right to armorial bearings. Pearson, who was assisted with the establishment of the order by John Matheson. Laurent, Hugh MacLennan, David Bauer, Gabrielle Roy, Donald Creighton, Thérèse Casgrain, Wilder Penfield, Arthur Lismer, M. J. Coldwell, Edwin Baker, Alex Colville, and Maurice Richard. From the Order of Canada grew a Canadian honours system, thereby reducing the use of British honours, by the 1980s, Canadas provinces began to develop their own distinct honours and decorations. The Canadian monarch, seen as the fount of honour, is at the apex of the Order of Canada as its Sovereign, followed by the governor general, who serves as the fellowships Chancellor. Thereafter follow three grades, which are, in order of precedence, Companion, Officer, and Member, each incumbent governor general is also installed as the Principal Companion for the duration of his or her time in the viceregal post and continues as an extraordinary Companion thereafter. As of March 2016, there have twenty one honorary appointments. There were originally, in effect, only two ranks to the Order of Canada, Companion and the Medal of Service, there was, however, also a third award, the Medal of Courage, meant to recognize acts of gallantry. This latter decoration fell in rank between the two levels, but was anomalous within the Order of Canada, being a separate award of a different nature rather than a middle grade of the order. Lester Pearsons vision of a structure to the order was thus fulfilled. Companions of the Order of Canada have demonstrated the highest degree of merit to Canada and humanity, up to 15 Companions are appointed annually, with an imposed limit of 165 living Companions at any given time, not including those appointed as extraordinary Companions or in an honorary capacity. As of October 2015, there are 143 living Companions, none being honorary, since 1994, substantive members are the only regular citizens who are empowered to administer the Canadian Oath of Citizenship. As of October 2015, there were 1,123 living Officers, Members of the Order of Canada have made an exceptional contribution to Canada or Canadians at a local or regional level, group, field or activity. As many as 136 Members may be appointed annually, not including extraordinary Members and those inducted on an honorary basis, as of October 2015, there were 2,225 living Members, none being honorary
2.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
3.
University of Toronto
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The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on the grounds that surround Queens Park. It was founded by charter in 1827 as Kings College. Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution, as a collegiate university, it comprises twelve colleges, which differ in character and history, each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs. It has two campuses in Scarborough and Mississauga. Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for influential movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, by a significant margin, it receives the most annual scientific research funding of any Canadian university. It is one of two members of the Association of American Universities outside the United States, the other being McGill University, the Varsity Blues are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate league matches, with long and storied ties to gridiron football and ice hockey. The universitys Hart House is an example of the North American student centre. The founding of a college had long been the desire of John Graves Simcoe. As an Oxford-educated military commander who had fought in the American Revolutionary War, the Upper Canada Executive Committee recommended in 1798 a college be established in York, the colonial capital. On March 15,1827, a charter was formally issued by King George IV, proclaiming from this time one College, with the style. For the education of youth in the principles of the Christian Religion, the granting of the charter was largely the result of intense lobbying by John Strachan, the influential Anglican Bishop of Toronto who took office as the colleges first president. The original three-storey Greek Revival school building was built on the present site of Queens Park, under Strachans stewardship, Kings College was a religious institution closely aligned with the Church of England and the British colonial elite, known as the Family Compact. Reformist politicians opposed the control over colonial institutions and fought to have the college secularized. Having anticipated this decision, the enraged Strachan had resigned a year earlier to open Trinity College as a private Anglican seminary, University College was created as the nondenominational teaching branch of the University of Toronto. Established in 1878, the School of Practical Science was precursor to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, while the Faculty of Medicine opened in 1843, medical teaching was conducted by proprietary schools from 1853 until 1887, when the faculty absorbed the Toronto School of Medicine. Meanwhile, the university continued to set examinations and confer medical degrees, the university opened the Faculty of Law in 1887, followed by the Faculty of Dentistry in 1888, when the Royal College of Dental Surgeons became an affiliate. Women were first admitted to the university in 1884, over the next two decades, a collegiate system took shape as the university arranged federation with several ecclesiastical colleges, including Strachans Trinity College in 1904. The university operated the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1896 to 1991, the University of Toronto Press was founded in 1901 as Canadas first academic publishing house
4.
Toronto
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Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. With a population of 2,731,571, it is the fourth most populous city in North America after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited the area now known as Toronto for thousands of years, the city itself is situated on the southern terminus of an ancient Aboriginal trail leading north to Lake Simcoe, used by the Wyandot, Iroquois, and the Mississauga. Permanent European settlement began in the 1790s, after the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase of 1787, the British established the town of York, and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York, York was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834, and became the capital of the province of Ontario during the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities at various times in its history to its current area of 630.2 km2. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canadas major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Toronto is known for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto and this refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, in the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagonon the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississauga had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, French traders founded Fort Rouillé on the current Exhibition grounds in 1750, but abandoned it in 1759. During the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario, the new province of Upper Canada was in the process of creation and needed a capital. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto, in 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, instead naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark to York, the York garrison was constructed at the entrance of the towns natural harbour, sheltered by a long sandbar peninsula. The towns settlement formed at the end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the towns capture, the surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. US soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation, the sacking of York was a primary motivation for the Burning of Washington by British troops later in the war
5.
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
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The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a federal political party in Canada with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues. The party changed its name to the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in December 1942, in 2003, the party membership voted to dissolve the party and merge with the Canadian Alliance to form the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada. One member of the Senate of Canada, Elaine McCoy, sat as an Independent Progressive Conservative until 2016, the conservative parties in most Canadian provinces still use the Progressive Conservative name. Some PC Party members formed the Progressive Canadian Party, which has attracted only marginal support, Canadas first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, belonged to the Liberal-Conservative Party. But in advance of confederation in 1867, the Conservative Party took in a number of defectors from the Liberals who supported the establishment of a Canadian Confederation. Thereafter, the Conservative Party became the Liberal-Conservative Party until the turn of the twentieth century, the federal Tories governed Canada for over forty of the countrys first 70 years of existence. However, the party spent the majority of its history in opposition as the nations number-two federal party, behind the Liberal Party of Canada. From 1896 to 1993 the Tories formed a government only five times—from 1911 to 1921, from 1930 to 1935, from 1957 to 1963, from 1979 to 1980 and from 1984 to 1993. It stands as the only Canadian party to have won more than 200 seats in a feat it accomplished twice. The last meeting of the Progressive Conservative federal caucus was held in early 2004, the Conservative Party of Canada took power in 2006 and was governed under the leadership of Stephen Harper until 2015, being defeated by the Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau. Between the partys founding in 1867, and its adoption of the Progressive Conservative name in 1942 and it was most commonly known as the Conservative Party. Several loosely associated provincial Progressive Conservative parties continue to exist in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. As well, a rump of Senators opposed the merger. The Yukon association of the party renamed itself as the Yukon Party in 1990, the British Columbia Progressive Conservative Party changed its name to the British Columbia Conservative Party in 1991. Many Canadians simply continued to refer to the party as the Conservatives, a major weakness of the party since 1885 was its inability to win support in Quebec, estranged significantly by that years execution of Louis Riel. The Conscription Crisis of 1917 exacerbated the issue, the party never fully recovered from the fragmentation of Mulroneys broad coalition in the late 1980s resulting from Anglophone Canadas failure to ratify the Meech Lake Accord. Immediately prior to its merger with the Canadian Alliance, it held only 15 of 301 seats in the Canadian House of Commons, the party did not hold more than 20 seats in Parliament between 1993 and 2003. The Progressive Conservative Party was generally on the centre-right on the political spectrum, from 1867 on, the party was identified with Protestant and, in Quebec, Roman Catholic social values, British imperialism, Canadian nationalism, and constitutional centralism
6.
London School of Economics
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The London School of Economics is a public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LSE is located in Westminster, central London, near the boundary between Covent Garden and Holborn, the area is historically known as Clare Market. The LSE has more than 10,000 students and 3,300 staff and it had a total income of £340.7 million in 2015/16, of which £30.3 million was from research grants. 155 nationalities are represented amongst LSEs student body and the school has the highest percentage of students of all British universities. Despite its name, the school is organised into 25 academic departments and institutes which conduct teaching and research across a range of legal studies, in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, the School had the highest proportion of world-leading research among research submitted of any British non-specialist university. The LSE is usually considered part of the triangle of highly research-intensive universities in southeast England. It is a member of organisations such as the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association. LSE has produced notable alumni in the fields of law, history, economics, philosophy, business, literature, media. Alumni and staff include 52 past or present heads of state or government and 20 members of the current British House of Commons. To 2016, 27% of all the Nobel Prizes in Economics have been awarded or jointly awarded to LSE alumni, current staff or former staff, LSE alumni and staff have also won 3 Nobel Peace Prizes, and 2 Nobel Prizes in Literature. Out of all European universities, LSE has educated the most billionaires according to a 2014 global census of U. S dollar billionaires, LSE graduates earn higher incomes on average than those of any other British university. The London School of Economics was founded in 1895 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Hutchinson, a lawyer and member of the Fabian Society, left the money in trust, to be put towards advancing its objects in any way they deem advisable. The five trustees were Sidney Webb, Edward Pease, Constance Hutchinson, William de Mattos, LSE records that the proposal to establish the school was conceived during a breakfast meeting on 4 August 1894, between the Webbs, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw. The proposal was accepted by the trustees in February 1895 and LSE held its first classes in October of that year, in rooms at 9 John Street, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster. The School joined the federal University of London in 1900, and was recognised as a Faculty of Economics of the university, the University of London degrees of BSc and DSc were established in 1901, the first university degrees dedicated to the social sciences. Expanding rapidly over the years, the school moved initially to the nearby 10 Adelphi Terrace, then to Clare Market. The foundation stone of the Old Building, on Houghton Street, was laid by King George V in 1920, the 1930s economic debate between LSE and Cambridge is well known in academic circles. The dispute also concerned the question of the role
7.
Upper Canada College
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Upper Canada College, located in Toronto, Ontario, is a private school for boys between Senior Kindergarten and Grade Twelve, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The secondary school segment is divided into ten houses, eight are for day students, aside from the main structure, with its dominant clock tower, the Toronto campus has a number of sports facilities, staff and faculty residences, and buildings for other purposes. UCC also owns and operates a campus in Norval, Ontario, UCC was founded in 1829 by Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada Sir John Colborne, based upon Elizabeth College, Guernsey. After facing closure by the government on more than one occasion, UCC became fully independent in 1900, nine years after moving to its present location. A major crisis befell UCC when, in 1959, the structure at Deer Park was condemned. Through the 1960s and 70s, campus culture changed, the corps was disbanded, the curriculum shifted from classical to liberal arts. A number of sports, arts, and community service programs are run at UCC, some by students. The operation of the school is overseen by a board of governors and the college engages in fundraising for construction projects, to augment its endowment, a link to the Canadian Royal Family is maintained through Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as the official Visitor. To there Colborne brought from the United Kingdom Cambridge and Oxford educated men, the school survived its denigrators, it merged with Kings College for a period after 1831 and moved 60 years later to its present location in Deer Park, which was then a rural area. The government of Ontario then stopped funding UCC in 1900, thus making it an independent school. Plans were halted by the outbreak of the First World War and it eventually thrived there, both physically and culturally, as the buildings were expanded and bright instructors attracted. A war memorial display case and plaque in the Upper Schools main entrance hall is dedicated to the UCC Old Boys who distinguished themselves during Canadian military service periods. UCC faced a crisis when, in 1958, it was discovered that the main building was, due to poor construction. At the time, despite its benefactors, UCC had no endowment, construction of the present main building began in early 1959 and it was opened by former governor general Vincent Massey near the end of 1960. The crisis forced the government to rethink their stance on foresight and planning, leading to a years-long program of new construction, salary improvements. At this time, the curriculum began to shift from an education into a liberal arts one. Individual freedoms trumped institutional discipline and moral authority had lost its clout, patrick T. Johnson, principal from 1965 to 1974, managed the cultural transition during these years, successfully integrating societal trends, traditional values, and individual self-expression. One of the casualties, though, was the cadet corps, under principals educated at Oxford and Cambridge, the college refused to adopt the new provincial educational standards issued in 1967, which it considered lower than the old standards
8.
Trinity College, Toronto
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Trinity College is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Trinity was intended by Strachan as a college of strong Anglican alignment, in 1904, Trinity joined the university as a member of its collegiate federation. Trinity College presently consists of a secular undergraduate section and a divinity school that is part of the Toronto School of Theology. Reflecting its English heritage, the college emulates Oxbridge traditions as the wearing of gowns at dinner, a choir that includes choral scholars. Bishop John Strachan, an Anglican priest and Archdeacon of York, the colonial college was effectively controlled by the Church of England and members of the elite Family Compact. In 1849, over opposition from Strachan, Reformists took control of the college. Incensed by this decision, Strachan immediately began raising funds for the creation of Trinity College, working with Kivas Tully, Charles Barry Cleveland superintended many of their important architectural works in eastern Canada including the Trinity College campus at the University of Toronto. The building featured Gothic Revival design, the cornerstone was laid on April 30,1851. Trinity was incorporated as an independent university on 2 August 1851, the Cameron property on Queen Street in western Toronto was purchased for £2,000, and the college opened to students at the site on January 15,1852. On January 10,1842 the first lecture was given at the Diocesan Theological Institute in Cobourg, in 1852, teaching was transferred to Toronto in the new Faculty of Divinity at Trinity College. Trinity College absorbed the Diocesan Theological Institute in Cobourg in 1852, Trinity College gradually expanded its teaching beyond arts and divinity, and by the end of the 19th century its scope had included medicine, law, music, pharmacy and dentistry. The college admitted its first female students in 1884, and St. Hildas College was created in 1888 as the college of Trinity. With Strachans death in 1867, efforts could begin to unite Trinity College with the University of Toronto, after taking office in 1900, provost Thomas C. S. Macklem supported joining the college with the University of Toronto. The matter became hotly contested when Trinitys medical faculty merged with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1903, after what Macklem described as a long-drawn and bitter series of debates, the college voted 121 to 73 in favour of federation with the University of Toronto. The university made a concession to allow Trinity to administer its own examination in religious subjects, on October 1,1904, Trinity became part of the University of Toronto and relinquished to the university its authority to grant degrees in subjects other than theology. It became clear that the relocation of Trinity closer to the university was necessary, the former site of the college became Trinity Bellwoods Park. Towards the end of the 20th century, the place of longstanding institutions and traditions within the community underwent changes initiated by internal and external parties. Episkopon, a society based in the college since 1858, was officially dissociated from Trinity in 1992, on 30 April 2002 Canada Post issued University of Trinity College, 1852-2002 as part of the Canadian Universities series
9.
Bay Street
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Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Torontos Financial District and is used by metonymy to refer to Canadas financial services industry since succeeding Montreals St. James Street in that role in the 1970s. Bay Street begins at Queens Quay in the south and ends at Davenport Road in the north, the original section of Bay Street ran only as far north as Queen Street West. Sections north of Queen Street were renamed Bay Street as several streets were consolidated. The largest of these streets, Terauley Street, ran from Queen Street West to Grenville Street, at these two points, there is a curve in Bay Street. Bay Street is frequently used as a metonym to refer to Torontos Financial District, Bay Street banker, as in the phrase cold as a Bay Street bankers heart, was a term of opprobrium especially among Prairie farmers who feared that Toronto-based financial interests were hurting them. Within the legal profession, the term Bay Street is also used colloquially to refer to the large, the street was originally known as Bear Street because of frequent bear sightings in the early history of Toronto. It was renamed Bay Street in 1797 from the fact that it connected Lot Street to a bay at the Toronto Harbour, until 1922, the section of Bay running north from Queen Street and ending at College Street was known as Terauley Street. Several discontinuous streets existed north of College Street to Davenport Road, By-Law 9316 joined these streets together as far north as Scollard Street in 1922. Finally, By-Law 9884, enacted on January 28,1924, changed the name of Ketchum Avenue to Bay Street, there is a short street called Terauley Lane running west of Bay from Grenville Street to Grosvenor Street. The intersection of Bay and King Street is often seen as the centre of Canadian banking, the core cluster of towers has crept north with the addition of the 50-storey Bay Adelaide Centre and the Trump Tower Toronto. Significant condominium development on Bay, north of the district, boomed during the 1990s and construction continues on large, 40-plus storey condominiums. The area is defined by Dundas Street to the south and Bloor/Yorkville to the north and crosses through Torontos Discovery District, the area attracts many who work in the financial district and those who work in the Discovery District, nearby hospitals and schools. More than 67% of residents in this area are in the ages of 25-64. The intersection of Bay and Bloor is the location of the Toronto Transit Commissions Bay subway station, Bay Street is served by the route 6 Bay bus, which is one of the few downtown bus routes. The street used to be served by lines, which were gradually phased out after the north-south Yonge. The remaining streetcar tracks between Dundas and College Streets are now used for turns and diversions. City of London Financial district Wall Street Bay Street at Google Maps Bay Street Corridor neighbourhood profile
10.
House of Commons of Canada
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The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons chamber is located in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the House of Commons is a democratically elected body whose members are known as Members of Parliament. There were 308 members in the last Parliament, but that number has risen to 338 following the election on Monday October 19,2015, Members are elected by simple plurality in each of the countrys electoral districts, which are colloquially known as ridings. MPs may hold office until Parliament is dissolved and serve for constitutionally limited terms of up to five years after an election, historically however, terms have ended before their expiry and the sitting government has typically dissolved parliament within four years of an election according to a long-standing convention. In any case, an Act of Parliament now limits each term to four years, seats in the House of Commons are distributed roughly in proportion to the population of each province and territory. However, some ridings are more populous than others, and the Canadian constitution contains some provisions regarding provincial representation. As a result, there is some interprovincial and regional malapportionment relative to population, the lower of the two houses making up the parliament, the House of Commons in practice holds far more power than the upper house, the Senate. Although the approval of both Houses is necessary for legislation, the Senate very rarely rejects bills passed by the Commons, moreover, the Government of Canada is responsible solely to the House of Commons. The Prime Minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support, or confidence, the term derives from the Anglo-Norman word communes, referring to the geographic and collective communities of their parliamentary representatives and not the third estate, the commonality. This distinction is clear in the official French name of the body. Canada and the United Kingdom remain the only countries to use the name House of Commons for a house of parliament. The new Parliament of Canada consisted of the Queen, the Senate, the Parliament of Canada was based on the Westminster model. Unlike the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the powers of the Parliament of Canada were limited in that other powers were assigned exclusively to the provincial legislatures, the Parliament of Canada also remained subordinate to the British Parliament, the supreme legislative authority for the entire British Empire. Greater autonomy was granted by the Statute of Westminster 1931, after which new Acts of the British Parliament did not apply to Canada and these exceptions were removed by the Canada Act 1982. From 1867, the Commons met in the chamber until that was destroyed by fire in 1916. It relocated to the amphitheatre of the Victoria Memorial Museum—what is today the Canadian Museum of Nature, since then, the Commons has sat in its current chamber. The House of Commons comprises 338 members, each of whom represents a electoral district. The constitution specifies a minimum of 295 electoral districts
