Nation Building – Part One

• From 1864 onward, British North America politicians began to take greater responsibility for managing colonial affairs
• By an Act of the British Parliament, the Dominion of Canada came into being on July 1, 1867
• By 1869 the government was able to increase the land area by more than 300 percent by the acquisition of Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company
• Three additional provinces joined the confederation in the 1870’s – Manitoba 1870, British Columbia 1871 and Prince Edward Island 1873
• The Fathers of Confederation encountered a challenging task in addressing the question of power:

1. Who would have power?
2. How would it be divided?
3. How would it be administered?
4. How would it be controlled?

• Further challenges included what style of government to adopt – British parliamentary or American republicanism
• By accepting and rejecting aspects of both the British and American systems, Canada was hopeful in obtaining :”the best of both worlds”
• In turn, the Fathers of Confederation created a viable and durable government structure; a federal union based on the British parliamentary model but incorporating elements of the new American federal system
• It proved to be a flexible union which addressed the need of the times as well as provided a framework for growth, development and change
• Over the first 25 years, Canadian federalism would evolve in ways markedly different from the American version

Confederation Achieved 1864 – 1867

August 1864 saw Canadian leaders (Upper and Lower) pry an invitation from the Maritimes to attend a conference to be held in Charlottetown.  The intention of this meeting was to discuss the idea of Maritime Union.  PEI was not in favour of this idea which is why Charlottetown was chosen as the meeting place, literally forcing the leaders from PEI to attend.