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3. The Path to Union 1864-67
From History of Canada Online
| A. The Road to Confederation →→ 1. Growth & Change in B.N.A. → 2. Causes of Confederation 1861-66 → 3. The Path to Union 1864-67 → 4. Building the New Nation → 5. Confederation Today →→ B. All Aboard for the West |
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Compromise and Diplomacy
Contents |
The pathway to Confederation was long and circuitous, and only achieved with considerable compromise and diplomacy.
On June 14, 1864, another Canadian ministry, the Taché-Macdonald government, was forced to resign after only three months in power. However, this time things were different. The united province of Canada had suffered through fifteen different ministries and more than half a dozen elections in little more than a decade and a half.
Two months later, in August, the three members of the Great Coalition, George Brown, George-Étienne Cartier and John A. Macdonald, were able to extract an invitation from the Maritimes to attend a conference in Charlottetown beginning on the first day of September. The Canadian leaders were simply invited as observers as the stated aim of the meeting was to discuss Maritime Union only.
The Atlantic colonies faced a number of problems - the end of the great wooden shipbuilding era, diminished trade with New England, and growing debts. The old panacea of Maritime Union was held out as their salvation. However, the scheme had little chance of acceptance. Newfoundland refused to send delegates and it was felt wise, given Prince Edward Island's indifference, to convene the meeting in Charlottetown.
- Resource: Newfoundland Debates on Confederation
Conference at Charlottetown
Eleven men left Quebec on the steamship Queen Victoria for Charlottetown in late August, 1864. The principals were the three members of the Great Coalition and the financial minister, Alexander Galt. The quartet were divided by politics. Brown strongly favoured "representation by population" while Cartier insisted on restoring a separate province of Quebec. Macdonald, wanting to avoid the same crises the Americans faced caused by the doctrine of "states rights," demanded a strong central government, while Cartier felt that his native Quebec needed a powerful provincial government to ensure French cultural survival.
Brown, as leader of the pro-farm Clear Grit Party, was suspicious of financial influence and power. Cartier, on the other hand, as a solicitor for the Grand Trunk Railway and a principal supporter of Montreal's business elite, lobbied for commercial expansion. Brown had an abiding dislike of French Canadians and Cartier barely tolerated him on a personal level. It was only their fundamental goal of achieving a federal union that was enough to overcome their personal, political animosities, and differences.
When the Canadian delegates arrived on the Island, everything was abuzz. The hotels were fully booked; stores were jammed. There had not been this much excitement since four years before when the Prince of Wales had visited. However, it was not the deliberations of the Charlottetown Conference that captured the people's attention. The circus was in town. The world-renown Slaymaker and Nichols Olympic circus was what was captivating both the public and visitors' fancy. In fact, when the Canadian delegates disembarked from the Queen Victoria, they went almost completely unnoticed. Only a lone man in a rowboat, William Pope, a local cabinet minister, greeted them.
After an initial evening dinner party - indeed there was much champagne and parties throughout the entire negotiations - the fifteen Maritime and eleven Canadian delegates got down to the serious matters at hand.
Prince Edward Island's Premier, John Gray, was elected chairman as the Conference opened. Macdonald and Cartier almost immediately took the floor and in so doing, almost hijacked the proceedings. What had originally been the prime reason for calling the Conference - Maritime Union - was shelved and in fact, never even discussed in the formal meetings.
- Resource: George Brown's Account of Charlottetown
Instead, eloquent explanations of the benefits of a larger federal union were offered. Very different in temperament - Macdonald was highly knowledgeable, subtle, and rational while Cartier was fiery, passionate, and emotional - the two made a highly effective team. They were well rehearsed. They had all the relevant information at their fingertips. Macdonald outlined the powers of the proposed national government, while Cartier explained the powers that would be held by provincial governments that would enable them to protect their own local interests. The latter argument found a receptive audience not only with Quebec delegates but with the Maritimers as well. Galt clarified the financial arrangements of Confederation in which the new national government would assume all provincial debts of joining provinces as well as pay them an annual per capita subsidy.
The Maritimers' reluctance was starting to give way to enthusiastic support. Compelling arguments, guileless diplomacy, and a round of social get-togethers as well as a tide of champagne convinced them. Their concerns about being isolated, distant, and potentially losing their unique identity appeared to have been countered by the political and economic proposals they heard.
The deal would be consummated on Monday, September 5th as George Brown outlined the proposed constitutional arrangements. In an all-day presentation, he eloquently explained the three cornerstones of the new system. The new Canadian parliament would be modeled on the British system and would retain the monarchy. Secondly, it would be a bicameral system, containing both an elected lower house and an appointed upper chamber. Third and finally, he described the critical division of powers between the central and local governments.
The Maritime delegates were convinced. The Charlottetown Conference was a pivotal moment in Canadian history. Without entering into the realm of specifics - the delegates agreed that another conference would be held to discuss those vaguely announced "acceptable terms" - they had obtained agreement on a federal union. They had been able to set aside personal, political, and local jealousies and rivalries in order to realize a higher goal.
Conference at Quebec
Almost exactly one month later, thirty-three delegates met in Quebec City to hammer out, in private, as in Charlottetown, acceptable terms. Étienne-Paschal Taché, the Premier of the Province of Canada, was nominated conference chairman but it would prove to be Macdonald who would be the real power. A sense of urgency was added to their deliberations as the St. Albans Raid occurred only nine days after the Conference opened. That once more raised the specter of an American invasion against the weak and scattered defenses of British North America. Yet again, there was considerable wining and dining throughout the conference as five wives and nine daughters had come along with their husbands. Whereas the Charlottetown Conference had achieved agreement on the concept of a federal union, the Quebec Conference would work out the specific details.
- Resource: Montreal Gazette on the St. Albans Raid, Oct. 20, 1864
Using Brown's closing speech at Charlottetown as the basis, the delegates worked mightily to fashion a constitution and a new nation. Macdonald, much of the while doodling in his notes, directed much of the proceedings. Not only did he lead most of the daily discussions and debates, but he spent much of his evenings crafting the actual language of the document that came to be known as the 72 Resolutions that in turn would become the backbone of Canada's first constitution, the British North America Act.
- Resource: Macdonald's Speech at Quebec
Consensus on some fundamentals was fairly easily achieved. All agreed that ties to Britain and the monarchy would be retained. The new dominion would have a parliamentary, not a republican, system. That parliament would be bicameral, having a lower house, the House of Commons, and an upper chamber, the Senate. (The American name, rather than the British, was adopted.) Finally, again much in keeping with Brown's Charlottetown outline, it would be a federal system, with a central government looking after national concerns and provincial governments having jurisdiction over local affairs.
- Resource: Macdonald on the Federal System
Beyond that, the debate was long and sometimes acrimonious. Everyone had their own idea about precisely how power should be divided up between the two levels of government. Not only was there the general question as to which level should be overall more powerful, but as well, there were great debates as to which level of government had jurisdiction over many different areas. There were heated debates as the method of representation in the bicameral legislature. The issues of federal appointments as well as the final financial terms of the new union both took considerable time to resolve.
Most matters were resolved by compromise. In terms of the allocation of powers within the federal system, Macdonald basically won the day. Convincing the delegates of the absolute necessity to avoid the disasters of an American-style Civil War, which in part was the result of allocating too much power to the state governments, the new central government received the bulk of the power. It received 37 enumerated (or specified) powers, whereas the provincial government only received 15. Not only did the national government obtain more than twice as many powers, but the powers it was allocated, such as defense, criminal law, external affairs, etc., were more important. The central government also received the significant "peace, order, and good government" power which enabled it to have control of all residual areas. The national government was the only level of government that was permitted to levy both direct and indirect taxes. Finally, the national government held the right of disallowance, which permitted it to cancel any provincial statute that was deemed to be in violation of a federal law.
However, Cartier obtained some important powers for the provincial. Although the areas they were allocated, while fewer in number, were nonetheless crucial for cultural survival. Provinces received control over such vital areas as education, religion, civil law, and language. That satisfied both the "la survivance" tradition in his home province of Quebec as well as the desire of Maritimers to protect their identity.
The representational issue in the legislature, particularly composition of the Senate, was also resolved through compromise. It was agreed that House of Commons would be elected on the basis of representation. That pleased George Brown. However, Cartier and the French Canadians - as well as the smaller provinces - received some assurances. First, the Senate would be appointed on an equal basis with a total of 72 members, 24 from each of Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. In addition, Quebec was guaranteed 65 seats in the lower house and all other provinces would have their number of representatives determined by the proportion of their population compared to that of Quebec.
Alexander Galt devised a complicated economic arrangement whereby the central government would assume the debt of all joining provinces as well as paying an annual per capita subsidy. The promise of increased intra-provincial trade augured well for expansion of the Intercolonial and Grand Trunk Railways.
The Bases of Union
In short, the Quebec Conference's 72 Resolutions were those acceptable terms that the delegates sought. In a little more than two weeks they had united Canada and the Maritimes and had laid the basis for an enduring constitution. However, the chief difficulty at this point was that the delegates had no legal standing. They had to return to their provincial legislatures and obtain approval for what they had worked out. Only one province, Canada, supported the proposals, and even then the French-Canadian segment was deeply divided. (Overall, the united province of Canada had voted 91 to 33 in favour of Confederation. However, the vote among French-Canadian members was much closer, 27 for and 21 against.) The only province that had allowed his citizens to vote on it, New Brunswick, had seen it defeated. In fact, all the Atlantic colonies either opposed the plan or were hugely indifferent to it.
However, it was at this point that some of the external causes of Confederation that we have seen earlier came to the fore. The Fenian raids and the American cancellation of the Reciprocity Treaty turned many in favour of union, especially in New Brunswick where a 1866 election returned the pro-Confederation party of Samuel Tilley to office. In Nova Scotia, however, Charles Tupper ran into heavy weather over the deal struck at Quebec. Opposition Leader Adams George Archibald was the only Liberal to support the Seventy-two Resolutions. Former premier Joseph Howe had organized an Anti-Confederation Party that was growing in strength, so Tupper postponed a vote on the question until April 1866, when the Nova Scotia legislature backed the Resolutions if Tupper were able to get better terms at the upcoming conference in London.
British willingness to pass Confederation legislation and host a final conference to bring it about, turned more BNA politicians toward favouring the plan. So did the appointment of pro-Confederation Lieutenant Governors who were instructed to promote the idea of union.
The London Conference, begun in December 1866, was the final step. This time, befitting the leading role he played up to that point, Macdonald was chosen conference chairman. The work was fairly easily accomplished and involved minor polishing, tinkering, and adjustments. The greatest excitement occurred outside the conference halls when Macdonald, reading late one night, set his clothes and bed on fire. Nova Scotian Joseph Howe's efforts to break up the discussion came to naught.
When it came to selecting a name for the new nation, the delegates thought that the "Kingdom of Canada" might be offensive to the United States. Instead, on Samuel Tilley's suggestion, they took a line from Psalm 72 and choose the "Dominion of Canada." Cartier translated the word as "Puissance".
The London Resolutions were adopted by the delegates on December 4, and the British North America Act breezed through both houses of the British Parliament with virtually no major changes. It was signed on March 29, 1867 by Queen Victoria and was to become effective on July 1st.
Sidelight: Alexander Muir Writes "The Maple Leaf Forever"In 1867, Alexander Muir wrote a Canadian patriotic song he called The Maple Leaf Forever as an entry in a Confederation poem contest in Montreal. He won second prize.  Muir tried to find a suitable piece of music, but had to write his own, which he published without copyright in 1868 In 1871 a copyrighted edition was published. The song grew popular in English Canada and became the regimental march of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada and The Royal Westminster Regiment. But because of its British imperial perspective it was not popular with French Canadians. |
| Path to Union - Gallery | Stories & Texts | Web Links | Student Activities | Student Projects |
| A. The Road to Confederation →→ 1. Growth & Change in B.N.A. → 2. Causes of Confederation 1861-66 → 3. The Path to Union 1864-67 → 4. Building the New Nation → 5. Confederation Today →→ B. All Aboard for the West |
