REPRESENTATION BY POPULATION Rep-by-pop: Who was in favour of this? Clear Grits # of representatives in the Legislative Assembly depends on the # of people who live in a particular area (a riding) French extremely opposed

DOUBLE MAJORITY Double majority: for a bill to be passed in the Legislative Assembly, there had to be a majority vote in both Canada East and Canada West Makes it very inefficient French and English working against eachother

CONFEDERATION: YES OR NO? The colonies would only join if they got a good deal out of it. How would they benefit? Up until then, the colonies were the responsibility of the British Well-being Defence

The colonies were on friendly terms economically and socially Had separate legislatures (the part of the government where laws are made)

MacDonald wanted a strong national (central) government Limited power for provincial governments Few people in the colonies outside of central Canada liked the idea

The Maritimes’ position: CONS Mature, independent colonies Common identity different from the province of Canada Responsible government Independent trading relationships with the British and US

Newfoundland did not trade with Canada at all Why join? Railway was a selling point but… Wouldn’t benefit Newfoundland or PEI Why not? Islands

The Maritimes position: PROS US to end of the Reciprocity Treaty (1866): Allowed goods to be sent to the US duty free Removal of Corn Laws Development of steel and steam technology was not good for the shipbuilding industry MacDonald had to convince them that these problems could be solved with Confederation

THE CONFERENCES Most of the colonies were facing difficulties: The northern US states were winning the Civil War Not on good terms with Britain Maritimes were losing trade opportunities with Britain and the US Economic problems Canada East and West were almost bankrupt Depression (Corn Laws) Bad government (Canadian Union) 12 different governments between 1849 and 1864

Representatives from the colonies agreed to meet to discuss the idea of joining together (Confederation) The Maritime colonies had already planned to meet to join together to discuss a Maritime union Representatives from Canada ask if they can go to introduce the idea of all of the colonies joining together

WHO WAS THERE? From Canada MacDonald Brown Cartier From New Brunswick Samuel Tilley From Nova Scotia Charles Tupper From PEI Edward Whelan A Newfoundland representative

The Conferences Many leaders saw Confederation as the only solution to their problems The “Great Coalition”: even George Brown, agreed to work with MacDonald and Cartier to save the government of Canada and then unite the colonies

Charlottetown Conference (1864) Discussed the details of a new union Initially just for the Maritime provinces The Great Coalition and railway builder Alexander Tilloch Gauld ask to attend Very convincing to the representatives of the Maritimes colonies Samuel Tilley (New Brunswick), and Charles Tupper (Nova Scotia), and Edward Whelan (PEI) agreed to meet them again in Quebec

The Quebec Conference (1864) Made the formal decisions as to how to create the new nation How they would divide powers between the provincial and federal governments The provinces would have more power than MacDonald expected Came up with 72 resolutions (statements on government) and a plan for Confederation

Each representative had to go back and debate the every proposal in the legislature A lot of opposition in each colony Strong opposers A.A. Dorion (Quebec) Joseph Howe (Nova Scotia) One of the biggest supporters was Thomas D’Arcy McGee

All of the delegates (representatives) were men Accompanied by families Huge parties and banquets No native people were included

The London Conference 1866 In the end, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Canada decided to join together They needed permission from Britain to do so Each colony sent representatives to London, England British pass the British North American Act, creating the Dominion of Canada

THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN ACT (BNA): Had to get permission from Britain to join together Very different from the US who fought a revolution for its independence

The BNA was based on the Quebec Resolutions Mostly written by Canadians Became the constitution of the dominion Constitution: the laws that set forth the powers and responsibilities of the government and guarantee the rights of the people Dominion: a self-governing nation that is still part of the British Empire

Canada then had two types of government: federal, or national, government: the Parliament Provincial government: the provincial legislatures Each had specific powers outlined in the constitution

The powers FederalProvincial Military defence Currency Postage Criminal law Immigration Indian affairs Interprovincial and overseas transportation/projects Education Hospitals Civil law Local issues/projects

O CANADA! O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.