SS9 The Advantages of Confederation EASTern Canada After achieving responsible government the next major step for Canada was confederation Its supporters believed that it would bring economic ID: 586857
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Slide1
The Challenges of Confederation
SS9Slide2
The Advantages of Confederation:
EASTern
Canada
After achieving
responsible
government, the next major step for Canada was
confederation
It’s supporters believed that it would bring economic
prosperity
to the colonies because
tariffs
between the colonies could be removed, allowing them to
trade
with each other
A united
Canada
could also build an intercolonial
railway
to connect the colonies with each other, something too
expensive
for each colony to do on its own
This would also allow goods and agriculture from Canada East/West to travel to
Europe
from
Halifax,
Nova Scotia instead of the US state of
MaineSlide3
The Advantages of Confederation: Western Canada
In Western Canada, the major advantage of Confederation was to stop American
annexation
The colony of
British Columbia
and the territory of
Rupert’s Land
were
isolated
from the other colonies, and many feared that the US would try to take them over
Many Americans believed in the idea of
Manifest Destiny,
the idea that their country was meant to control all of North America
Furthermore, the US now had a massive
army
after their civil
war,
and Britain had privately supported the
southern
states
By joining together, the British colonies in North America could
united
against a potential US
invasionSlide4Slide5
Challenges in Canada East/West
But perhaps the most important reason for Confederation was to
improve
the government of the colonies; although
responsible
government had been achieved, the colonies still had
inefficient
government
Most members of the
legislative
assemblies were
independent;
this meant that they would support their own issues instead of grouping together to support their
party
This meant that if the
ruling
party did something unpopular, it would almost always be
defeated
and an
election
would be called
This meant that a government rarely had a chance to actually
govern
Between 1849 and 1864, there were
12
different governments in powerSlide6
Challenges in Canada East/West
Furthermore, bills in
Canada had to pass a double majority,
meaning they had to be approved by both Canada East and West. Since many bills often supported only
one language group, the other province would always vote
against itThis made passing laws almost
impossible, since no one could agree on anything, especially English and French-speaking Canadians. Political
gridlock was a fact of life
Under Confederation, this would be solved by giving a
central
government power over matters that concerned
all
Canadians, while each province would have its own
legislature
to deal with issues that affected itself.Slide7
Challenges in Canada East/West
To try and solve this,
George Brown,
leader of the
Clear Grits
proposed
rep by pop
(representation by population), which would mean that the amount of
members
an area would sent to a legislature would be determined by its
population
This was popular in Canada
West,
but hated in Canada
East,
because the French-speaking population was now smaller than the English
If rep by pop was
adopted
, the French feared they would be under the complete
control
of Canada West’s
Anglophone
populationSlide8
Challenges in Atlantic Canada
At first, the
Atlantic
colonies believed they were independent and
mature
colonies that did not need confederation
They also had closer
economic
connections with the
US
and
Britain
than the rest of Canada
For
Newfoundland
and
Prince Edward Island
, they had no need for a
railway
because they weren’t
connected
to the rest of the colonies
Nova Scotia had already achieved
responsible
government, so it did not believe it needed the
political
advantages of Confederation
New Brunswick
also already had responsible government, and less than 5% of its
trade
was with other colonies
At this point, they actually wanted to form their own
union
separate from CanadaSlide9
Exit Slip: 3-2-1 exercise
On a full, lined sheet of paper write down:
3 challenges facing Confederation2 potential solutions you can think of that might solve the issues we’ve encountered1 question you have about what you have learned todayPlease hand it in before you leaveIf you finish early, you may study or do work quietly in your own seat
until class ends