Challenges Before Confederation Canada

Confederation

Confederation was an important part of our history. Without confederation Canada would not even be close to where it is today. Confederation solved many problems Canada was facing at the time such as, political deadlock, threats from other forces and a railway that was needed.

Political deadlock was a major problem in the 1800’s. Since each party had an equal amount of representatives, no decisions could be made because each party had an equal say in the government. Canada east had 2 parties le parti blue I and le parti rouge with 42 representatives and Canada west had two parties the liberals and the conservatives with again, 42 representatives. What one party would want could easily be turned down by the other party. After confederation, They
decided to use the rep-by-pop system in which the number of representatives depended on the population.
The higher population the more representatives you had in the legislative assembly. Without confederation Canada would never have been able to come to any sort of agreement in the legislative assembly. Another major problem was threats that Canada was facing. Before confederation Canada was facing many different threats, one of which were the Fenians. The Fenians were an Irish brotherhood that who wanted independence from Britain, so the launched attacks in BNA spreading fear within Canada impacting them greatly as they successfully assassinated Thomas D’arcy McGee in 1868. The second threat was the US. In the US there was a group named manifest destiny who felt it was their destiny to take over all of North america. BNA felt that if they were to properly fend for themselves, they would have to join together. The third reason for confederation was the need for a railroad. In the winter, trade within the colonies became difficult since the st. lawrence river froze, making it almost impossible to trade in the winter season since boats were their main type of
transportation. Having a railroad would also help in times of war as troops could be sent faster and more efficiently. But as railroads are expensive, they would need all the colonies to pitch in to be able to afford a railroad. Without confederation, the intercolonial railroad would not have been possible.

In my opinion the biggest factor that caused confederation was political deadlock. I think this because if Canada was still in political deadlock Canada would still be stuck. Political deadlock stopped canada's government from making many decisions such as the construction of the railroad. When Canada west wanted a railroad, but canada east didn’t the two would have to keep fighting each other which could have even resulted in a civil war. If political deadlock was not solved what would the government have done in urgent situations such as war. If they did have to go to war with the US they wouldn’t have time to keep arguing about what to do. That could have resulted in Canada being taken over. That is the main factor I think caused confederation. What do you think is the main reason for confederation.