1. Path To Confederation

2. Act of Union 1840 United Upper and Lower Canada under one government
They became known as East & West Canada
Started with equal representation
As English population increased they demanded representation by population
This angered the French

3. Act of Union Cont… It was unfair
Upper Canada had fewer people and higher debt
The French language was banned
However Louis Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin worked together to make it fairer
Tensions between French and English caused political stalemate

4. Calls for Federation
By the 1850’s there were movements within the government to unite all the BNA colonies
By 1864 a coalition government led by George Brown, John A. MacDonald and George-Etienne Cartier were pushing for Confederation
This would strengthen the colonies as a whole

5. Britain’s Support By this time the British Empire was in decline
They wanted to get rid of financial responsibility for their colonies
Also they wanted strong colonies in light of the American Civil War which was taking place ( )

6. The Maritimes
At the same time in 1864 NS (Charles Tupper) and NB (Samuel Tilley) were trying to convince PEI (John Gray) to join a Maritime Confederation
They were geographically separate from the rest of BNA and could be stronger by joining
Tilley and Tupper suggested a conference in Charlottetown

7. The Charlottetown Conference
The coalition government of Brown, MacDonald and Cartier crashed the party
While NS and NB were arguing for a Maritime Confederation, they argued for a BNA Confederation
The Maritime provinces warmed to the idea of a larger union

8. Quebec Resolutions
Oct members from BNA met in Quebec to discuss the details of union
They tried to learn from the mistakes of France and USA
Strong central government
Rep-by-pop
Senate would have equal rep
Most of the resolutions were written by John A. MacDonald

9. Opposition
While the idea of Confederation was popular in East/West Canada, it was quite unpopular in the Maritimes
NFLD and PEI both found no support from their populations and did not pursue it

10. Opposition in NB
While Tilley wanted to join the voters of NB did not like the idea
His party lost an election in 1865 of which Confederation was the main issue
The new government fell apart in a year and a new election was called in 1866

11. NB Cont…
At the same time in 1866 a small Irish-American “terrorist” group known as the Fenians launched raids on British colonies
This caused enough fear that Tilley was able to convince NB of the need for a Union with central Canada

12. Issues in NS Tupper was in a good position
He wanted confederation and he was in power in NS
He did not need to call an election until 1867 so he drove Confederation through despite opposition

13. NS Cont… The loudest voice of opposition was Joseph Howe
He believed that Confederation served the purposes of Central Canada over the concerns of the smaller Maritime region
He argued that Tupper should call an election on the issue
Howe also petitioned Britain directly to stop Tupper, but no action was taken
In the end NS was dragged into the deal by Tupper

14. BNA Act
During the three years after the Charlottetown conference the leaders of Canada, NB and NS worked on drafting an agreement
In March of 1867 the BNA Act was passed into British Law
Canada became a sovereign nation on July 1, of that same year
The Act was signed by Ontario, Quebec, NS and NB