Appointed Governor General of Canada, John George Lambton, the First Earl of Durham, is directed to report on the political state of the Canadian colonies for the British Parliament. Presented to Parliament in early 1839, the Durham Report, resulted in the Act of Union of 1840 which united the provinces of Upper Canada (now Ontario) and Lower Canada (now Quebec), with joint representation from both regions overseen by one Legislature and referred to as the Province of Canada.