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107-797: In 1837, the bank opened and issued its first banknotes. In 1850, it was constituted under the Free Banking Act passed by the parliament of the Province of Canada . To increase its powers and its revenue, the bank was incorporated in 1855. It was granted a charter on May 19, 1855 in Montreal allowing it to operate its bank in the same way as other banks. With its head office at the corner of St. James & St. Peter streets (today known as Saint-Jacques and Saint-Pierre streets) in Montreal, it continued in operation until 1925 when it merged with

214-890: A "Reform Association" in February 1844, to unite the Reform movement in Canada West and to explain their understanding of responsible government. Twenty-two branches were established. A grand meeting of all branches of the Reform Association was held in the Second Meeting House of the Children of Peace in Sharon . Over three thousand people attended this rally for Baldwin. the Association was not, however,

321-417: A "liberal order" in northern North America. Many Canadian historians have adopted McKay's liberal order framework as a paradigm for understanding Canadian history. In 2008, historian Andrew Smith advanced a very different view of Confederation's ideological origins. He argues that in the four original Canadian provinces, the politics of taxation were a central issue in the debate about Confederation. Taxation

428-606: A Father of Confederation. As well, Joey Smallwood referred to himself as "the Last Father of Confederation" because he helped lead Newfoundland into the union in 1949. All the former colonies and territories that became involved in the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, were initially part of New France , and were once ruled by France . Nova Scotia was granted in 1621 to Sir William Alexander under charter by James I . This claim overlapped

535-406: A battle between a staunch individualist economic philosophy and a comparatively collectivist view of the state's proper role in the economy. According to Smith, the victory of the statist supporters of Confederation over their anti-statist opponents prepared the way for John A. Macdonald 's government to enact the protectionist National Policy and to subsidize major infrastructure projects such as

642-492: A bill was passed to replace the process of appointing members by a process of electing members. Members were to be elected from 24 divisions in each of Canada East and Canada West. Twelve members were elected every two years from 1856 to 1862. Members previously appointed were not required to relinquish their seats. Canada West, with its 450,000 inhabitants, was represented by 42 seats in the Legislative Assembly,

749-659: A champagne lunch on board the Victoria where Mr. McGee's wit sparkled brightly as the wine), they carried the Lower Province delegates a little off their feet." The delegates from the Quebec conference considered if the resolutions would be better suited for acceptance if a popular vote were held on them. However, due to the divide amongst religious groups and general mistrust between areas in Canada, they believed that such

856-502: A constitutional crisis that would last a year. Metcalfe refused to recall the legislature to demonstrate its irrelevance; he could rule without it. This year-long crisis, in which the legislature was prorogued, "was the final signpost on Upper Canada's conceptual road to democracy. Lacking the scale of the American Revolution, it nonetheless forced a comparable articulation and rethinking of the basics of political dialogue in

963-456: A historically specific project of rule, rather than either an essence we must defend or an empty homogeneous space we must possess. Canada-as-project can be analyzed as the implantation and expansion over a heterogeneous terrain of a certain politico-economic logic—to wit, liberalism." The liberalism of which McKay writes is not that of a specific political party, but of certain practices of state building which prioritise property, first of all, and

1070-666: A right to make Executive Council and other appointments without the input of the legislative assembly. However, in 1848 the Earl of Elgin , then Governor General, appointed a Cabinet nominated by the majority party of the Legislative Assembly, the Baldwin–Lafontaine coalition that had won elections in January. Lord Elgin upheld the principles of responsible government by not repealing the Rebellion Losses Bill, which

1177-623: A true political party and individual members voted independently. The Parti rouge (alternatively known as the Parti démocratique) was formed in Canada East around 1848 by radical French Canadians inspired by the ideas of Louis-Joseph Papineau , the Institut canadien de Montréal , and the reformist movement led by the Parti patriote of the 1830s. The reformist rouges did not believe that

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1284-626: A vote would be defeated. Thus, they went ahead with the resolutions on their own volition. After returning home from the Charlottetown Conference, Macdonald asked Viscount Monck , the Governor-General of the Province of Canada to invite delegates from the three Maritime provinces and Newfoundland to a conference with United Canada delegates. At the opening of the conference, a total of 33 delegates were included from

1391-601: Is a federation , rather than a confederate association of sovereign states, which is what confederation means in contemporary political theory. The country, though, is often considered to be among the world's more decentralized federations. Use of the term confederation arose in the Province of Canada to refer to proposals beginning in the 1850s to federate all of the British North American colonies, as opposed to only Canada West (now Ontario) and Canada East (now Quebec). To contemporaries of Confederation,

1498-718: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Quebec history article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This bank and insurance -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas ) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham , in

1605-401: Is known Cartier and Macdonald presented arguments in favour of a union of the three colonies, Alexander Tilloch Galt presented the Province of Canada's proposals on the financial arrangements of such a union, and George Brown presented a proposal for what form a united government might take. The Canadian delegation's proposal for the governmental system involved: Other proposals attractive to

1712-510: Is of the utmost importance to have that principle recognized so that we shall have a sovereign who is placed above the region of party—to whom all parties look up; who is not elevated by the action of one party nor depressed by the action of another; who is the common head and sovereign of all. Following the Quebec Conference, the Province of Canada's legislature passed a bill approving the union. The union proved more controversial in

1819-700: Is the remnants of the Hudson's Bay Company 's Columbia District and New Caledonia District following the Oregon Treaty . Before joining Canada in 1871, British Columbia consisted of the separate Colony of British Columbia (formed in 1858, in an area where the Crown had granted a monopoly to the Hudson's Bay Company), and the Colony of Vancouver Island (formed in 1849) constituting a separate crown colony until it

1926-851: The 49th parallel as the border with the United States from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains in Western Canada. Following the Rebellions of 1837 , Lord Durham in his Durham Report , recommended Upper and Lower Canada be joined as the Province of Canada and the new province should have a responsible government . As a result of Durham's report, the British Parliament passed the Act of Union 1840 , and

2033-545: The Alaska Purchase of March 30, 1867, which had been supported in the U.S. Senate (by Charles Sumner, among others) precisely in terms of taking the remainder of North America from the British. The American Civil War had also horrified Canadians and turned many from the thought of republicanism. In Britain, political pressure came from financiers who had lost money by investing in the failed Grand Trunk Railway and

2140-677: The Bank of Montreal . The bank operated 125 branches primarily in Quebec and Ontario . It also had branches in western Canada and agents in the US and UK. The Bank of Montreal at 3 King Street South, Waterloo, Ontario , is a former branch of the Molson Bank that was built in 1914 and is on the Registry of Historical Places of Canada. This article about a Canadian corporation or company

2247-517: The Confederation). The term is also used to divide Canadian history into pre-Confederation and post-Confederation periods. The original Fathers of Confederation are those delegates who attended any of the conferences held at Charlottetown and Quebec in 1864 or in London, United Kingdom, in 1866, leading to Confederation. There were 36 original Fathers of Confederation; Hewitt Bernard , who

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2354-592: The Courrier du Canada . Two years later, Alexander Tilloch Galt , George-Étienne Cartier , and John Ross travelled to the United Kingdom to present the British Parliament with a project for confederation of the British colonies. The proposal was received by the London authorities with polite indifference. The royal tour of British North America undertaken by Queen Victoria's son, Prince Albert Edward (later King Edward VII ) in 1860, however, helped lead to

2461-525: The Intercolonial and Pacific Railways. In 2007, political scientist Janet Ajzenstat connected Canadian Confederation to the individualist ideology of John Locke . She argued that the union of the British North American colonies was motivated by a desire to protect individual rights, especially the rights to life, liberty, and property. She contends the Fathers of Confederation were motivated by

2568-617: The London Resolutions , the conference's decisions were forwarded to the Colonial Office . After breaking for Christmas, the delegates reconvened in January 1867 and began drafting the British North America Act . The 4th Earl of Carnarvon continued to have a central role in drafting the act at Highclere Castle alongside the first prime minister of Canada Macdonald, Cartier and Galt, who signed

2675-574: The Orange Order . His efforts to prevent the election of Louis LaFontaine , the leader of the French reformers, were foiled by David Willson , the leader of the Children of Peace , who convinced the electors of the 4th Riding of York to transcend linguistic prejudice and elect LaFontaine in an English-speaking riding in Canada West. Bagot was appointed after the unexpected death of Thomson, with

2782-545: The Rebellion Losses Bill and burned down Montreal's parliament buildings . It then moved to Toronto (1849–1851). It moved to Quebec City from 1851 to 1855, then returned to Toronto from 1855 to 1859 before returning to Quebec City from 1859 to 1865. In 1857, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the permanent capital of the Province of Canada, initiating construction of Canada's first parliament buildings, on Parliament Hill . The first stage of this construction

2889-607: The Rebellions of 1837 . Lord Elgin granted royal assent to the bill despite heated Tory opposition and his own personal misgivings, sparking riots in Montreal, during which Elgin himself was assaulted by an English-speaking Orange Order mob and the Parliament buildings were burned down. It was under Head, that true political party government was introduced with the Liberal-Conservative Party of John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier in 1856. It

2996-686: The Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of 1837–1838 . The Act of Union 1840 , passed on 23 July 1840 by the British Parliament and proclaimed by the Crown on 10 February 1841, merged the Colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada by abolishing their separate parliaments and replacing them with a single one with two houses, a Legislative Council as

3103-603: The con- prefix indicated a strengthening of the centrist principle compared to the American federation. In this Canadian context, confederation describes the political process that united the colonies in 1867, events related to that process, and the subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories. The word is now often used to describe Canada in an abstract way, such as in "the Fathers of Confederation"; provinces that became part of Canada after 1867 are also said to have joined, or entered into, Confederation (but not

3210-408: The little Englander philosophy fed a desire to withdraw troops from Britain's colonies. There is extensive scholarly debate on the role of political ideas in Canadian Confederation. Traditionally, historians regarded Canadian Confederation an exercise in political pragmatism that was essentially non-ideological. In the 1960s, historian Peter Waite derided the references to political philosophers in

3317-508: The 1830s. Their support was concentrated among southwestern Canada West farmers, who were frustrated and disillusioned by the 1849 Reform government of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine's lack of democratic enthusiasm. The Clear Grits advocated universal male suffrage , representation by population , democratic institutions, reductions in government expenditure, abolition of the Clergy reserves , voluntarism , and free trade with

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3424-563: The 1840 Act of Union had truly granted a responsible government to former Upper and Lower Canada. They advocated important democratic reforms, republicanism, separation of the state and the church . In 1858, the elected rouges allied with the Clear Grits . This resulted in the shortest-lived government in Canadian history, falling in less than a day. The Clear Grits were the inheritors of William Lyon Mackenzie's Reform movement of

3531-522: The Anglophones opposed. The granting of responsible government to the colony is typically attributed to reforms in 1848 (principally the effective transfer of control over patronage from the Governor to the elected ministry). These reforms resulted in the appointment of the second Baldwin–Lafontaine government that quickly removed many of the disabilities on French-Canadian political participation in

3638-623: The British North American Colonies, including Newfoundland, which had not participated in prior meetings. Monck obliged and the Conference went ahead at Quebec City in October 1864. The Conference began on October 10, 1864, on the site of present-day Montmorency Park. The Conference elected Étienne-Paschal Taché as its chairman, but it was dominated by Macdonald. Despite differences in the positions of some of

3745-464: The British government in London, where Brown received "a most gracious answer to our constitutional scheme". He also met with William Gladstone—who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer and, later, Prime Minister—"who agreed in almost everything". In April 1865, Brown, Macdonald, Cartier and Galt met with the government and found "the project of a federal union of the colonies was highly approved of by

3852-469: The Charlottetown Conference varied among the different newspapers. In the Maritimes, there was concern that the smooth Canadians with their sparkling champagne and charming speeches were outsmarting the delegates of the smaller provinces. "From all accounts it looks as if these [Canadian] gentlemen had it all their own way; ... and that, what with their arguments and what with their blandishments, (they gave

3959-629: The Colonies ; the Prince's comments and critiques were later cited by both the Earl of Durham and participants of the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences . Lord Durham presented his idea of unification in 1839 Report on the Affairs of British North America , which resulted in the Act of Union 1840. Beginning in 1857, Joseph-Charles Taché proposed a federation in a series of 33 articles published in

4066-463: The Crown. It delegated authority to municipal governments so they could raise taxes and enact by-laws . It also established a hierarchy of types of municipal governments, starting at the top with cities and continued down past towns, villages and finally townships. This system was to prevail for the next 150 years. During the year-long constitutional crisis in 1843–44, when Metcalfe prorogued Parliament to demonstrate its irrelevance, Baldwin established

4173-696: The District Council. The aim of both exercises in state-building was to strengthen the power of the Governor General, to minimise the effect of the numerically superior French vote, and to build a "middle party" that answered to him, rather than the Family Compact or the Reformers. Sydenham was a Whig who believed in rational government, not "responsible government". To implement his plan, he used widespread electoral violence through

4280-668: The French claims to Acadia , and although the Scottish colony of Nova Scotia was short-lived, for political reasons, the conflicting imperial interests of France and the 18th century Great Britain led to a long and bitter struggle for control. The British acquired present-day mainland Nova Scotia by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 and the Acadian population was expelled by the British in 1755. They renamed Acadia "Nova Scotia", which included present-day New Brunswick . The rest of New France

4387-506: The French vote by giving each of the former provinces the same number of parliamentary seats, despite the larger population of Lower Canada. Although Durham's report had called for the Union of the Canadas and for responsible government (a government accountable to an independent local legislature), only the first of the two recommendations was implemented in 1841. For the first seven years,

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4494-400: The Legislative Assembly would now become responsible for local administration and legislation. It also deprived the Governor of patronage appointments to the civil service, which had been the basis of Metcalfe's policy. The test of responsible government came in 1849, when the Baldwin–Lafontaine government passed the Rebellion Losses Bill, compensating French Canadians for losses suffered during

4601-541: The Legislative Council reviewed legislation produced by the elected Legislative Assembly. Sydenham came from a wealthy family of timber merchants, and was an expert in finance, having served on the English Board of Trade which regulated banking (including the colony). He was promised a barony if he could successfully implement the union of the Canadas, and introduce a new form of municipal government,

4708-405: The Legislature introduced the Gradual Civilization Act , putting into law the principle that Indigenous persons should become British subjects and discard their Indian status, in exchange for a grant of land. 45°30′N 75°30′W  /  45.5°N 75.5°W  / 45.5; -75.5 Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (French: Confédération canadienne )

4815-465: The Maritime provinces, however, and it was not until 1866 that New Brunswick and Nova Scotia passed union resolutions, while Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland continued to opt against joining. In December 1866, sixteen delegates from the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia travelled to London, where the Earl of Carnarvon presented each to Queen Victoria in private audience , as well as holding court for their wives and daughters. To

4922-418: The Maritimes, when he had gone down earlier that summer with a trade mission of Canadian businessmen, journalists and politicians. George Brown remarked in a letter to his wife Anne that at a party given by the premier of PEI, Colonel John Hamilton Gray, he met a woman who had never been off the island in her entire life. Nevertheless, he found Prince Edward Islanders to be "amazingly civilized". Reaction to

5029-423: The Nova Scotian delegates, the Queen said, "I take the deepest interest in [Confederation], for I believe it will make [the provinces] great and prosperous." At meetings held at the Westminster Palace Hotel, the delegates reviewed and approved the 72 resolutions; although Charles Tupper had promised anti-union forces in Nova Scotia he would push for amendments, he was unsuccessful in getting any passed. Now known as

5136-494: The Province of Canada was formed in 1841. The new province was divided into two parts: Canada West (the former Upper Canada) and Canada East (the former Lower Canada). Governor General Lord Elgin granted ministerial responsibility in 1848, first to Nova Scotia and then to Canada. In the following years, the British would extend responsible government to Prince Edward Island (1851), New Brunswick (1854), and Newfoundland (1855). The area constituting modern-day British Columbia

5243-429: The Province of Canada, and the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The province of Prince Edward Island , which had hosted the first meeting to consider Confederation, the Charlottetown Conference , did not join Confederation until 1873. Over the years since Confederation, Canada has seen numerous territorial changes and expansions, resulting in the current number of ten provinces and three territories . Canada

5350-418: The Province of Canada. The Charlottetown Conference began on September 1, 1864. Since the agenda for the meeting had already been set, the delegation from the Province of Canada was initially not an official part of the Conference. The issue of Maritime Union was deferred and the Canadians were formally allowed to join and address the Conference. No minutes from the Charlottetown Conference survive, but it

5457-419: The Rebellion. The Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, also known as the Elgin– Marcy Treaty, was a trade treaty between the United Province of Canada and the United States. It covered raw materials and was in effect from 1854 to 1865. It represented a move toward free trade. Education in Canada West was regulated by the province through the General Board of Education from 1846 until 1850, when it

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5564-407: The Reform Party won a decisive victory at the polls. Elgin invited LaFontaine to form the new government, the first time a Governor General requested cabinet formation on the basis of party. The party character of the ministry meant that the elected premier – and no longer the governor – would be the head of the government. The Governor General would become a more symbolic figure. The elected Premier in

5671-492: The United States without taxes or tariffs, which was then considered to be beneficial for Canada) was cancelled by the United States in 1865, partly as revenge against Britain for unofficial support of the south in the American Civil War. Additionally, the U.S. doctrine of " manifest destiny " raised fears of another American invasion (Canadians had fended off American incursions during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Fenian raids , and St. Albans Raid ), only further inflamed by

5778-517: The United States. Their platform was similar to that of the British Chartists . The Clear Grits and the Parti rouge evolved into the Liberal Party of Canada . The Parti bleu was a moderate political group in Canada East that emerged in 1854. It was based on the moderate reformist views of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine. The Liberal-Conservative Party emerged from a coalition government in 1854 in which moderate Reformers and Conservatives from Canada West joined with bleus from Canada East under

5885-454: The University of Toronto and the school's ties with the Church of England were severed. The Grand Trunk Railway was incorporated by the Legislature in the 1850s. Exploration of Western Canada and Rupert's Land with a view to annexation and settlement was a priority of Canada West politicians in the 1850s leading to the Palliser Expedition and the Red River Expedition of Henry Youle Hind , George Gladman and Simon James Dawson . In 1857,

5992-412: The acceptable compromise of giving Newfoundland four senators of its own when it joined. The delegates from the Maritimes also raised an issue with respect to the level of government—federal or provincial—that would be given the powers not otherwise specifically defined. Macdonald, who was aiming for the strongest central government possible, insisted this was to be the central government, and in this, he

6099-471: The colony. Once the English population, rapidly growing through immigration, exceeded the French, the English demanded representation-by-population. In the end, the legislative deadlock between English and French led to a movement for a federal union which resulted in the broader Canadian Confederation in 1867. In "The Liberal Order Framework: A Prospectus for a Reconnaissance of Canadian History" McKay argues that "the category 'Canada' should henceforth denote

6206-500: The contemporary governmental structure in the Province of Canada and distrust between English Protestants and French Catholics. Further, demographic pressure from an expanding population and economic nationalism wanting economic development butted against a lack of an inter-colonial railroad, which hampered trade, military movement, and transportation in general. Externally, the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty (a free trade policy, starting in 1854, whereby products were allowed into

6313-475: The continent that would become modern Canada had been in Newfoundland which would not join Confederation until 1949. The Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol began to settle Newfoundland and Labrador at Cuper's Cove as far back as 1610, and Newfoundland had also been the subject of a French colonial enterprise . In the wake of the American Revolution , an estimated 50,000 United Empire Loyalists fled to British North America . The British created

6420-462: The council and chair of the various committees. The first was Robert Baldwin Sullivan . Thomson also systematically organised the civil service into departments, the heads of which sat on the Executive Council. A further innovation was to demand that every Head of department seek election in the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada was the upper house . The 24 legislative councillors were originally appointed. In 1856,

6527-475: The day-to-day government of the conservative ministry of William Draper, thereby indirectly emphasising the need for responsible government. His primary focus was on redrafting the Militia Act of 1846. The signing of the Oregon Boundary Treaty in 1846 made him dispensable. Elgin's second wife, Lady Mary Louisa Lambton, was the daughter of Lord Durham and niece of Lord Grey , making him an ideal compromise figure to introduce responsible government. On his arrival,

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6634-423: The delegates decided to hold a second Conference. One of the most important purposes of the Charlottetown Conference was the introduction of Canadians to the leaders from the Maritime Provinces and vice versa. At this point, there was no railway link from Quebec City to Halifax, and the people of each region had little to do with one another. Thomas D'Arcy McGee was one of the few Canadian delegates who had been to

6741-512: The delegates on some issues, the Quebec Conference, following so swiftly on the success of the Charlottetown Conference, was infused with a determinative sense of purpose and nationalism . For the Reformers of Canada West, led by George Brown, the end of what they perceived as French-Canadian interference in local affairs was in sight. For Maritimers such as Tupper of Nova Scotia or Tilley of New Brunswick, horizons were suddenly broadened to take in much larger possibilities for trade and growth. On

6848-442: The dual prime-ministership of Allan MacNab and A.-N. Morin . The new ministry were committed to secularise the Clergy reserves in Canada West and to abolish seigneurial tenure in Canada East. Over time, the Liberal-Conservatives evolved into the Conservative party. No provision for responsible government was included in the Act of Union 1840. Early Governors of the province were closely involved in political affairs, maintaining

6955-467: The explicit instructions to resist calls for responsible government. He arrived in the capital, Kingston, to find that Thomson's "middle party" had become polarised and he therefore could not form an executive. Even the Tories informed Bagot he could not form a cabinet without including LaFontaine and the French Party. LaFontaine demanded four cabinet seats, including one for Robert Baldwin. Bagot became severely ill thereafter, and Baldwin and Lafontaine became

7062-400: The first real premiers of the Province of Canada. However, to take office as ministers, the two had to run for re-election. While LaFontaine was easily re-elected in 4th York, Baldwin lost his seat in Hastings as a result of Orange Order violence. It was now that the pact between the two men was completely solidified, as LaFontaine arranged for Baldwin to run in Rimouski , Canada East. This was

7169-400: The government was led by an appointed governor general accountable only to the British government . Responsible government was not achieved until the second LaFontaine–Baldwin ministry in 1849, when Governor General James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin , agreed that the cabinet would be formed by the largest party in the Legislative Assembly, making the premier the head of the government and reducing

7276-434: The governor general to a more symbolic role. The Province of Canada ceased to exist at Canadian Confederation on 1 July 1867, when it was divided into the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec . Ontario included the area occupied by the pre-1841 British colony of Upper Canada, while Quebec included the area occupied by the pre-1841 British colony of Lower Canada (which had included Labrador until 1809, when Labrador

7383-408: The holdings of absentee landlords . "Never was there such an opportunity as now for the birth of a nation" proclaimed a pamphlet written by S. E. Dawson and reprinted in a Quebec City newspaper during the Conference. Again, reaction to the Quebec Conference varied depending on the political views of the critic. George Brown was the first, in December 1864, to carry the constitutional proposals to

7490-425: The idea of a Maritime Union which would join their three colonies together. The government of the Province of Canada surprised the Maritime governments by asking if the Province of Canada could be included in the negotiations. The request was channelled through the Governor-General, Monck, to London and accepted by the Colonial Office. After several years of legislative paralysis in the Province of Canada caused by

7597-412: The imperial authorities". On the form of the proposed system of governance for Canada, the Fathers of Confederation were influenced by the American republic. Macdonald said in 1865: By adhering to the monarchical principle, we avoid one defect inherent in the constitution of the United States . By the election of the president by a majority and for a short period, he never is the sovereign and chief of

7704-480: The individual. The Baldwin Act 1849 , also known as the Municipal Corporations Act, replaced the local government system based on district councils in Canada West by government at the county level. It also granted more autonomy to townships, villages, towns and cities. Despite the controversy, the government compensated landowners in the Rebellion Losses Bill of 1849 for the actions during

7811-603: The issue of the Senate, the Maritime Provinces pressed for as much equality as possible. With the addition of Newfoundland to the Conference, the three Maritime colonies did not wish to see the strength of their provinces in the upper chamber diluted by simply adding Newfoundland to the Atlantic category. It was the matter of the Senate that threatened to derail the entire proceedings. It was Macdonald who came up with

7918-418: The legislative debates on Confederation as "hot air". In Waite's view, Confederation was driven by pragmatic brokerage politics and competing interest groups. In 1987, political scientist Peter J. Smith challenged the view Canadian Confederation was non-ideological. Smith argued Confederation was motivated by new political ideologies as much as the American and French Revolutions and Canadian Confederation

8025-472: The nation. He is never looked up to by the whole people as the head and front of the nation. He is, at best, but the successful leader of a party. This defect is all the greater on account of the practice of reelection. During his first term of office, he is employed in taking steps to secure his own reelection and, for his party, a continuance of power. We avoid this by adhering to the monarchical principle—the sovereign, whom you respect and love. I believe that it

8132-488: The need to maintain a double legislative majority (a majority of both the Canada East and Canada West delegates in the Province of Canada's legislature), Macdonald had led his Liberal-Conservative Party into the Great Coalition with Cartier's Parti bleu and George Brown 's Clear Grits . Macdonald, Cartier, and Brown felt union with the other British colonies might be a way to solve the political problems of

8239-408: The political system. Queen Victoria remarked on "the impossibility of our being able to hold Canada; but, we must struggle for it; and by far the best solution would be to let it go as an independent kingdom under an English prince." Several factors influenced Confederation, caused both by internal sources and pressures from external sources. Internally, there was political deadlock resulting from

8346-625: The politicians from the Maritime colonies were: By September 7, 1864, the delegates from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island gave a positive answer to the Canadian delegation, expressing the view the federation of all of the provinces was considered desirable if the terms of union could be made satisfactory and the question of Maritime Union was waived. After the Conference adjourned on September 9, there were further meetings between delegates held at Halifax , Saint John , and Fredericton . These meetings evinced enough interest that

8453-565: The province." In the ensuing election, however, the Reformers did not win a majority and thus were not called to form another ministry. Responsible government would be delayed until after 1848. Cathcart had been a staff officer with Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars, and rose in rank to become commander of British forces in North America from June 1845 to May 1847. He was also appointed as Administrator then Governor General for

8560-544: The requirement of a "double majority" to pass laws in the Legislative Assembly (i.e., a majority in both the Canada East and Canada West sections of the assembly). The removal of the deadlock resulted in three conferences that led to confederation. Thomson reformed the Executive Councils of Upper and Lower Canada by introducing a "President of the Committees of Council" to act as a chief executive officer for

8667-417: The same number as the more populated Canada East, with 650,000 inhabitants. The Legislature's effectiveness was further hampered by the requirement of a "double majority" where a majority of votes for the passage of a bill had to be obtained from the members of both Canada East and West. Each administration was led by two men, one from each half of the province. Officially, one of them at any given time had

8774-466: The same period, uniting for the first time the highest Civil and military offices. The appointment of this military officer as Governor General was due to heightened tensions with the United States over the Oregon boundary dispute . Cathcart was deeply interested in the natural sciences, but ignorant of constitutional practice, and hence an unusual choice for Governor General. He refused to become involved in

8881-578: The separate province of New Brunswick in 1784 for the Loyalists who settled in the western part of Nova Scotia. While Nova Scotia (including New Brunswick) received slightly more than half of this influx, many Loyalists also settled in the Province of Quebec, which by the Constitutional Act 1791 was separated into a predominantly English Upper Canada and a predominantly French Lower Canada . The War of 1812 and Treaty of 1818 established

8988-727: The title of Premier , while the other had the title of Deputy . Municipal government in Upper Canada was under the control of appointed magistrates who sat in Courts of Quarter Sessions to administer the law within a District. A few cities, such as Toronto, were incorporated by special acts of the legislature. Governor Thomson , 1st Baron Sydenham, spearheaded the passage of the District Councils Act which transferred municipal government to District Councils. His bill allowed for two elected councillors from each township, but

9095-501: The unification of the colonies by confirming a common bond between their inhabitants; indeed, the monarchy played a "pivotal legal and symbolic role [...] in cementing the new Canadian union". Further, by 1864, it was clear that continued governance of the Province of Canada under the terms of the 1840 Act of Union had become impracticable. Therefore, a grand coalition of parties, the Great Coalition , formed in order to reform

9202-914: The union of the Canadas they sought, where LaFontaine overcame linguistic prejudice to gain a seat in English Canada, and Baldwin obtained his seat in French Canada. The Baldwin–LaFontaine ministry barely lasted six months before Governor Bagot also died in March 1843. He was replaced by Charles Metcalfe, whose instructions were to check the "radical" reform government. Metcalfe reverted to the Thomson system of strong central autocratic rule. Metcalfe began appointing his own supporters to patronage positions without Baldwin and LaFontaine's approval, as joint premiers. They resigned in November 1843, beginning

9309-543: The upper chamber and the Legislative Assembly as the lower chamber. In the aftermath of the Rebellions of 1837–1838, unification of the two Canadas was driven by two factors. Firstly, Upper Canada was near bankruptcy because it lacked stable tax revenues, and needed the resources of the more populous Lower Canada to fund its internal transportation improvements. Secondly, unification was an attempt to swamp

9416-558: The values of the Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. She argues their intellectual debts to Locke are most evident when one looks at the 1865 debates in the Province of Canada's legislature on whether or not union with the other British North American colonies would be desirable. In the spring of 1864, New Brunswick premier Samuel Leonard Tilley , Nova Scotia premier Charles Tupper , and Prince Edward Island premier John Hamilton Gray were contemplating

9523-530: The visitor book in 1866. After suggestions of 'Franklin' and 'Guelfenland', they agreed the new country should be called Canada , Canada East should be renamed Quebec and Canada West should be renamed Ontario . There was, however, heated debate about how the new country should be designated. Ultimately, the delegates elected to call the new country the Dominion of Canada, after "kingdom" and "confederation", among other options, were rejected. The term dominion

9630-502: The warden, clerk and treasurer were to be appointed by the government. This thus allowed for strong administrative control and continued government patronage appointments. Sydenham's bill reflected his larger concerns to limit popular participation under the tutelage of a strong executive. The Councils were reformed by the Baldwin Act in 1849 which made municipal government truly democratic rather than an extension of central control of

9737-490: The whole thing is, or more perfectly", going on to suggest a unified Canada consisting of two provinces—one formed from Upper and Lower Canada and the other from the Maritime colonies—each with a lieutenant governor and executive council, one located in Montreal and the other in either Annapolis Royal or Windsor . Edward said he would pass the report on to the Earl Bathurst , the then- Secretary of State for War and

9844-597: Was acquired by the British as the result of its defeat of New France in the Seven Years' War , which ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. From 1763 to 1791, most of New France became the Province of Quebec . However, in 1769 the present-day Prince Edward Island , which had been part of Acadia, was renamed "St John's Island" and organized as a separate colony. It was renamed "Prince Edward Island" in 1798 in honour of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn . The first English attempt at settlement on that part of

9951-667: Was allegedly suggested by Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley. The delegates had completed their draft of the British North America Act by February 1867. The act was presented to Queen Victoria on February 11, 1867. The bill was introduced in the House of Lords the next day. The bill was quickly approved by the House of Lords, and then also quickly approved by the British House of Commons . (The Conservative Lord Derby

10058-558: Was also central to the debate in Newfoundland, the tax-averse colony that rejected it. Smith argued Confederation was supported by many colonists who were sympathetic to a relatively interventionist, or statist, approach to capitalist development. Most classical liberals, who believed in free trade and low taxes, opposed Confederation because they feared it would result in Big Government. The struggle over Confederation involved

10165-462: Was being floated as early as 1814. That year, Chief Justice of Lower Canada Jonathan Sewell sent a copy of his report, A Plan for the federal Union of British Provinces in North America , to Prince Edward (both a son of King George III and the father of Queen Victoria ), whom Sewell had befriended when they both resided in Quebec City . Edward replied, "nothing can be better arranged than

10272-505: Was completed in 1865, just in time to host the final session of the last parliament of the Province of Canada before Confederation in 1867. The Governor General remained the head of the civil administration of the colony, appointed by the British government, and responsible to it, not to the local legislature. He was aided by the Executive Council and the Legislative Council. The Executive Council aided in administration, and

10379-544: Was driven by a Court Party ideology. Smith traces the origins of this ideology to eighteenth and nineteenth-century Britain, where political life was polarized between defenders of classical republican values of the Country Party and proponents of a new pro-capitalist ideology of the Court Party, which believed in centralizing political power. In British North America in the late 1860s, the Court Party tradition

10486-417: Was during their ministry that the first organised moves toward Canadian Confederation took place. It was under Monck's governorship that the Great Coalition of all of the political parties of the two Canadas occurred in 1864. The Great Coalition was formed to end the political deadlock between predominantly French-speaking Canada East and predominantly English-speaking Canada West. The deadlock resulted from

10593-404: Was highly unpopular with some English-speaking Loyalists who favoured imperial over majority rule. As Canada East and Canada West each held 42 seats in the Legislative Assembly , there was a legislative deadlock between English (mainly from Canada West) and French (mainly from Canada East). The majority of the province was French, which demanded "rep-by-pop" (representation by population), which

10700-527: Was replaced by the Department of Public Instruction, which lasted until 1876. The province improved the educational system in Canada West under Egerton Ryerson . French was reinstated as an official language of the legislature and the courts. The Legislature also codified the Civil Code of Lower Canada in 1866, and abolished the seigneurial system in Canada East. In 1849, King's College was renamed

10807-486: Was represented by the supporters of Confederation, whereas the anti-capitalist and agrarian Country Party tradition was embodied by the Anti-Confederates. In a 2000 journal article, historian Ian McKay argued Canadian Confederation was motivated by the ideology of liberalism and the belief in the supremacy of individual rights. McKay described Confederation as part of the classical liberal project of creating

10914-491: Was supported by, among others, Tupper. At the end of the Conference, it adopted the " seventy-two resolutions " which would form the basis of a scheduled future conference. The Conference adjourned on October 27. Prince Edward Island emerged disappointed from the Quebec Conference. It did not receive support for a guarantee of six members in the proposed House of Commons, and was denied an appropriation of $ 200,000 it felt had been offered at Charlottetown to assist in buying out

11021-533: Was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada , Nova Scotia , and New Brunswick —were united into one federation , called the Dominion of Canada , on July 1, 1867. This process occurred in accordance with the rising tide of Canadian nationalism that was then beginning to swell within these provinces and others. Upon Confederation, Canada consisted of four provinces: Ontario and Quebec , which had been split out from

11128-479: Was the recording secretary at the Charlottetown Conference , is considered by some to be among them. The individuals who brought the other provinces into Confederation after 1867 are also referred to as Fathers of Confederation . In this way, Amor De Cosmos , who was instrumental both in bringing democracy to British Columbia and in bringing the province into Confederation, is considered to be

11235-434: Was transferred to the British colony of Newfoundland ). Upper Canada was primarily English-speaking, whereas Lower Canada was primarily French-speaking. The Province of Canada was divided into two parts: Canada East and Canada West . Canada East was what became of the former colony of Lower Canada after being united into the Province of Canada. It would become the province of Quebec after Confederation. Canada West

11342-549: Was united with the colony of British Columbia in 1866. The remainder of modern-day Canada was made up of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory (both of which were controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company and sold to Canada in 1870) and the Arctic Islands , which were under direct British control and became a part of Canada in 1880. The idea of joining the various colonies in North America

11449-580: Was what became of the former colony of Upper Canada after being united into the Province of Canada. It would become the province of Ontario after Confederation. The location of the capital city of the Province of Canada changed six times in its 26-year history. The first capital was in Kingston (1841–1844). The capital moved to Montreal (1844–1849) until rioters, spurred by a series of incendiary articles published in The Gazette , protested against

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