Why did provinces join confederation

Macdonald and Sir Oliver Mowat. A History of the Vote in Canada Scroll down this page for a review of the evolution of electoral law and elections in Upper Canada and other regions before and after Confederation. From Elections Canada. Confederation A digitized copy of a vintage book of documents from meetings involving the Fathers of Confederation that preceded the implementation of the British North America act.

From openlibrary. The Durham Report and Its Solutions An overview of the major political conflicts and compromises that led up to the agreement to unite the British North American colonies in Confederation From the University of Ottawa website.

From canlit. Canadian Confederation View an annotated collection of archival documents and images related to Canadian Confederation. From the Virtual Museum of Canada. There was talk in US newspapers of invading and annexing Canada.

The vast northwestern territory represented a third of what would become Canada. Fears of American expansionism only increased after the US purchased Alaska in Suddenly, Confederation offered the BNA colonies a chance to create a new free-trade market.

Confederation offered Britain an honourable way to ease its economic and military burden in North America. It would also give its BNA colonies strength through unity. Rather, it was created in a series of conferences and orderly negotiations. These culminated in the terms of Confederation on 1 July The union of the British North American colonies of New Brunswick , Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada what is now Ontario and Quebec was the first step in a slow but steady nation-building exercise.

It would come to encompass other territories and provinces. In the Atlantic colonies, however, a great deal of pressure would still be needed. A series of fortuitous events helped. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had been divided in There was interest in both regions in reuniting.

They were helped by the British Colonial Office. It felt that a political union of all three Maritime colonies, including Prince Edward Island , was desirable. Maritime union would abolish three colonial legislatures and replace them with one. In the spring of , all three legislatures declared an interest in having a conference on the subject.

But nothing was done. Once the Province of Canada announced an interest in attending such a meeting, the Maritime governments began to organize.

Charlottetown was appointed as the place — PEI officials would not attend otherwise — and 1 September was chosen as the date. See also: Charlottetown Conference. The Province of Canada was growing more prosperous and populous. It was rapidly developing politically, socially and industrially. As it did, its internal rivalries also grew. As a result, the job of governing Canada West now Ontario and Canada East now Quebec from a single legislature became difficult.

See also: Act of Union. After achieving responsible government , politicians in Canada West began calling for true representation by population.

In the s, Canada West benefitted from having a disproportionately large number of seats in the legislature. It had a smaller population than Canada East, but the same number of seats. By the s, the population of Canada West was the bigger of the two.

This and other divisive issues — such as government funding for Catholic schools throughout the colony — made English Protestants in Canada West suspicious of French Catholic power in Canada East. By , the rift between English and French had created years of unstable government and political deadlock.

It was worsened by a growing divide between conservatives and reformers within Canada West. Structural change was required to break the political paralysis. Confederation would separate the two Canadas and give each its own legislature. This was posed as the solution to these problems. By , four short-lived governments had fought to stay in power in the Province of Canada. Macdonald and Clear Grits led by George Brown — formed an alliance.

It was known as the Great Coalition. It sought a union with the Atlantic colonies. This gave Confederation a driving force that it never lost.

In Canada East, Confederation was opposed by A. But it was supported by the dominant political group, the conservative Parti bleu.

By , they had the necessary support of the Catholic Church. Confederation was justified on the grounds that French Canadians would get back their provincial identity. Their capital would once more be Quebec City. French Canadians feared anglophone domination of government. But Confederation would grant French Canadians their own legislature and a strong presence in the federal Cabinet. Of all the proposed changes, Confederation was the least undesirable for French Canadians.

The conference was already underway. Discussions for Maritime union were not making much progress. The Canadians were invited to submit their own proposals for a union of the BNA colonies. The idea of a united country quickly took over. The Maritime colonies approached Confederation from a position of weakness. Brown, Cartier, and Macdonald had a lot at stake in their mission, and they were motivated, therefore, to speak with something like a single voice in favour of the structure they envisioned.

The same was not true for the Maritimers. In each East Coast colonial assembly there was substantial division and no mandate to reconfigure the whole of British North America. Had they first achieved Maritime union, perhaps they might have stood as one. As it was, Prince Edward Island, to take one example, never had the chance to get past feeling dwarfed by Nova Scotia and New Brunswick before being overwhelmed by the Canadas.

Newfoundland, for its part, viewed the whole proposition with bemusement if not outright hostility. After all, there was nothing that an island colony across the St. Lawrence Gulf would get from a federal union: no railway, no bridge, and few economic advantages that it did not already enjoy. And the potential costs — loss of political authority to a centre 1, kilometres to the west, paying for a railway between Halifax and Montreal, and being dragged into Canadian-American affairs — were too high.

In , after the other colonies had joined as one Canada, pro- and anti-Confederation politicians took their arguments to the electorate. There were other, more immediate, issues before the voters, but the rejection of Confederation was resounding.

As the outcome was announced,. Newfoundland continued to seek its destiny in the mid-Atlantic and kept its back turned to Canada.

In Nova Scotia there was little solidarity on the topic of Confederation. The ability of the proposed federal government to establish tariffs and run the fisheries was a major hurdle for a seagoing community. As well there was Joseph Howe to factor into the equation. He was, however, a strong advocate for railroad construction and may have undermined his own position by whetting a public appetite for lures like an intercolonial railway.

The Nova Scotian premier, Charles Tupper , was exposed on other fronts as well. There were issues before the Halifax assembly that were entirely unrelated to Confederation but which drained his support. Was it part of Canada in ? After years of political debate , there were three historic meetings in Quebec City, Charlottetown and London, England to decide the future creation of Canada.

The original painting by Robert Harris burned during the fire that destroyed most of the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Today, the tribute copy of it, by Rex Woods, hangs in a committee room at Parliament.

The main difference between the two is the addition of a portrait of Robert Harris and three more delegates to the London Conference of who were officially recognized in Based on Robert Cooper, Canada.