 This fact fueled demands in Canada West for the end of sectional equality and the move toward allocating seats in the legislation on the basis of population, nicknamed "rep by pop".This was a hotly contested issues at the constitutional conferences leading up to confederation, and the colonies reached a comprise in which the seats in the federal lower house(House of commons) would be allocated by population, and the seats in the federal upper house(Senate) would be allocated on the basis of Regions —Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes— that would each have 24 seats.Throughout Canada's history, Ontario and Quebec were always Canada's two biggest provinces.