D'Arcy McGee, more than any other, fired the imagination of the people with glowing pictures of the greatness and the limitless possibilities of the new nation.Charles Tupper, the head of a Nova Scotia Conservative Ministry which had overthrown the old tribune, Joseph Howe, had the hardest and seemingly most hopeless task of all; for his province appeared to be content with its separate existence and was inflamed against union by Howe's eloquent opposition; but to Tupper a hard fight was as the breath of his nostrils.In New Brunswick, Leonard Tilley, a man of less vigor but equal determination, led the struggle until Confederation was achieved.
It was in June, 1864, that the leaders of the Parliament of Canada became convinced that federation was the only way out.Acoalition Cabinet was formed, with Sir Etienne Tache as nominal Premier, and with Macdonald, Brown, Cartier, and Galt all included.An opening for discussing the wider federation was offered by a meeting which was to be held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, of delegates from the three Maritime Provinces to consider the formation of a local union.There, in September, 1864, went eight of the Canadian Ministers.Their proposals met with favor.A series of banquets brought the plans before the public, seemingly with good results.The conference was resumed a month later at Quebec.Here, in sixteen working days, delegates from Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and also from Newfoundland, thirty-three in all, after frank and full deliberation behind closed doors, agreed upon the terms of union.Macdonald's insistence upon a legislative union, wiping out all provincial boundaries, was overridden; but the lesson of the conflict between the federal and state jurisdiction in the United States was seen in provisions to strengthen the central authority.The general government was empowered to appoint the lieutenant governors of the various provinces and to veto any provincial law; to it were assigned all legislative powers not specifically granted to the provinces; and a subsidy granted by the general government in lieu of the customs revenues resigned by the provinces still further increased their dependence upon the central authority.
It had taken less than three weeks to draw up the plan of union.
It took nearly three years to secure its adoption.So far as Canada was concerned, little trouble was encountered.British traditions of parliamentary supremacy prevented any direct submission of the question to the people; but their support was clearly manifested in the press and on the platform, and the legislature ratified the project with emphatic majorities from both sections of the province.Though it did not pass without opposition, particularly from the Rouges under Dorion and from steadfast supporters of old ways like Christopher Dunkin and Sandfield Macdonald, the fight was only halfhearted.Not so, however, in the provinces by the sea.The delegates who returned from the Quebec Conference were astounded to meet a storm of criticism.Local pride and local prejudice were aroused.The thrifty maritime population feared Canadian extravagance and Canadian high tariffs.They were content to remain as they were and fearful of the unknown.Here and there advocates of annexation to the United States swelled the chorus.Merchants in Halifax and St.John feared that trade would be drawn away to Montreal.Above all, Howe, whether because of personal pique or of intense local patriotism, had put himself at the head of the agitation against union, and his eloquence could still play upon the prejudices of the people.The Tilley Government in New Brunswick was swept out of power early in 1865.Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland both drew back, the one for eight years, the other to remain outside the fold to the present day.In Nova Scotia a similar fate was averted only by Tupper's Fabian tactics.Then the tide turned.In New Brunswick the Fenian Raids, pressure from the Colonial Office, and the blunders of the anti-Confederate Government brought Tilley back to power on a Confederation platform a year later.Tupper seized the occasion and carried his motion through the Nova Scotia House.Without seeking further warrant the delegates from Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick met in London late in 1866, and there in consultation with the Colonial Office drew up the final resolutions.They were embodied in the British North America Act which went through the Imperial Parliament not only without raising questions but even without exciting interest.On July 1, 1867, the Dominion of Canada, as the new federation was to be known, came into being.It is a curious coincidence that the same date witnessed the establishment of the North German Bund, which in less than three years was to expand into the German Empire.
