Canada 150: 5 things you didn't know shaped Confederation...

1. THE NAME GAME: In 1791, Quebec was split into Upper and Lower Canada, to make room for the 10,000 English-speaking Americans who had arrived in the area after the American Revolution. After rebellions against British rule in 1837, the area was recombined (to promote unity) into the United Province of Canada, with an English-speaking Canada West area and French-speaking Canada East, each holding equal seats in the legislature. This, predictably, led to political deadlock. Between 1841 and 1867, five different coalitions tried to govern Canada, with no single group in power long enough to pass laws or commit to projects like building railways. When confederation efforts ramped up in 1867, in part to break the parliamentary deadlock, the Province of Canada was split again, with Canada West renamed Ontario and Canada East reclaiming the name Quebec. When New Brunswick and Nova Scotia came on board for Confederation, the four became known collectively as Canada.

2. THE CONFEDERATION CARROT: One big incentive to join forces was to expand the rail lines. Each province already had local railways, but they weren’t linked. Confederation allowed the provinces to pool the funds needed to build a coast-to-coast railroad, allowing for year-round travel, trade, mail delivery and troop movement (especially valuable in case the fresh-from-civil-war US started trouble along the border). Despite, or maybe because of, the importance of the railway to Confederation, John A. Macdonald, Premier of Canada at the time, and others in his ruling Conservative government were later convicted (in an event dubbed Pacific Scandal 1873) of accepting bribes from businesses in exchange for contracts related to the building of the railway.

3. NO VACANCY: In September 1864, the Maritime provinces loosely organized talks in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to discuss joining forces. The Province of Canada received permission to join the talks, but when their delegates arrived, there was no one to meet them: the popular Slaymaker and Nichols' Olympic circus was in town, and everyone was preoccupied with that. Circus patrons had also filled all the local hotel rooms, leaving Canada's eight self-invited delegates to sleep on their iron steamship, the SS Queen Victoria (stocked with $13,000 of champagne).




4. FIRST AID FOR FIRST PM: Macdonald wrote 50 of the 72 resolutions used as a template for Confederation, but he nearly didn’t get to see his efforts pay off. During the London Conference to formalize the union in British parliament, Macdonald, a known alcoholic, accidentally dropped a candle onto his hotel room chair after falling asleep while reading the newspaper. Despite quick rescue efforts by frequent political rival George-Etienne Cartier (his co-premier), Macdonald suffered serious burns, but continued to attend all the meetings. On the country's first Canada Day, Macdonald was appointed Canada’s first prime minister, and knighted by Queen Victoria. Rescuer Cartier became his Minister of Defence; their partnership is commemorated by the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway aka Hwy. 401. P.S. Macdonald wanted to call the new country the Kingdom of Canada, but Britain was worried it would antagonize the US, which had various ongoing beefs with England and her royals, and pushed for the less aggressive sounding Dominion of Canada.

5. GO WEST: When gold was found in British Columbia in 1858, the province’s 11,000 residents were overrun by more than 20,000 Americans eager to cash in. Then, in March 1867, America purchased Alaska from the Russians. Suddenly, America owned the entire western coast of North America from Mexico to the Arctic Ocean – except British Columbia, which now faced three offers: stay a British colony, join the new Canada, or be annexed by the US. However, after the gold rush waned in the mid-1860s, the miners and their ready cash left town, leaving BC holding massive debt from infrastructure built for the boom times. Worried about losing valuable shipping access in the west, the newly formed Canada boldly offered to cover BC’s debt, and link it to the east-west railway within 10 years. Sensing a good deal, BC signed on with the Dominion in 1871, nixing America’s Pacific coast monopoly.

Canada is celebrating 150th Anniversary this year.....

Nice read .. especially 3. NO VACANCY

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