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Date: 1867-11-29
By: Canada (Parliament)
Citation: Canada, House of Commons Debates, 1st Parl, 1st Sess, 1867 at 159-160.
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RUPERT’S LAND

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The Hon. Mr. McDougall gave notice that on Monday next, he would move the following resolutions, affirming the advisability of incorporating Rupert’s Land with the Dominion of Canada, and the advantage of extending westward towards the Pacific the same system of Government established in these Provinces. (Hear, hear.)

1. That it would promote the prosperity of the Canadian people, and conduce to the advantage of the whole Empire, if the Dominion of Canada, constituted under the provisions of the British North America Act of 1867, were extended westward, to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
2. That the colonisation of the fertile lands of the Saskatchewan, the Assiniboine, and the Red River districts, -the development of the mineral wealth which abounds In the regions of the Northwest, -and the extension of commercial intercourse, through the British Possessions in America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, -are alike dependent upon the maintenance of law and order in the Northwestern Territories.
3. That the welfare of a sparse and widely scattered population of British subjects, of European origin, already inhabiting these remote and unorganized territories, would be materially enhanced, by the formation therein of political Institutions bearing analogy, as far as circumstances will admit, to those which exist in the several provinces of this Dominion.
4. That the 148th section of the British North America Act of 1867, provides for the admission of Rupert’s Land, and the Northwestern Territory or either of them, into Union with Canada; upon terms and conditions to be expressed in addresses from the Houses of Parliament of this Dominion, to Her Majesty, and which shall be approved of by the Queen in Council.
5. That it is accordingly expedient to address Her Majesty that she would be graciously pleased, by and with the advice of Her Most Honourable Privy Council, to unite Privy Council, to unite Rupert’s Land, and the North-Western Territory with the Dominion of Canada, and to grant to the Parliament of Canada, authority to legislate for their future welfare and good government.
6. That in the event of the Imperial Government agreeing to transfer to Canada the jurisdiction and control over this region, it would be expedient to provide, that the legal rights of any Corporation, Company or individual with the same, will be respected, and that in case of difference of opinion as to the extent, nature, and value of these rights, the same shall be submitted to judicial decision, or be determined by mutual agreement between the Government of Canada and the parties Interested.
7. That upon the transferance of the Territories in question to the Canadian Government, the claims of the Indian Tribes to compensation for lands required for purposes of settlement. would be considered and settled in conformity with the equitable principles which have uniformly governed the Crown in its dealings with the Aborigines.

Mr. McDougall, in reply to Mr. Dorion, said the correspondence which had been moved for on the subject of the North West Territory, would be brought down before its discussion.

Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald gave notice that he would on Monday next, move that the House do resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on Tuesday next to consider the following resolutions:

1. That for the purpose of constructing a railway connecting the port of Rivere du Loup, in the Province of Quebec, with the line of railway leading from the City of Halifax, in the Province of Nova Scotia, at or near the Town of Truro, it is expedient to raise and appropriate by loan a sum not exceeding three million pounds sterling, bearing interest at a rate of not exceeding four per centum per annum, upon the guarantee of the payment of the interest of such loan by the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, under the provisions of the Canada Railway Loan Act, 1867.
2. That it is expedient to charge the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada, with the principal and interest of the loan immediately after the charges specifically made thereon by sections one hundred and three, one hundred and four, and one hundred and five, of the British North America Act 1867.
3. That it is expedient to provide for the payment by the Government of Canada by way of Sinking Fund, of an annual sum at the rate of one per centum per annum, on the entire amount of principal money whereon interest is guaranteed, to be remitted the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury by half-yearly payments in such manners as they may from time-to-time direct, and to be invested and accumulated under their direction in the name of four Trustees, nominated from time-to-time, two by the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, and two by the Government of Canada, such sinking fund and its accumulations to be invested in securities of the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, issued before the Union of Canada, or at the option of the Government of Canada, in such other securities as may be proposed by that Government, and approved by the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, and to be applied under the direction of 

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the  Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, in discharge of principal money whereon interest is guaranteed.

4. That it is expedient to charge the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada with the amount of the Sinking Fund immediately after the principal and interest of the loan.
5. That it is expedient to charge the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada with any sum issued out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom under the Canada Railway Loan Act 1867, with interest thereon at the rate of five per centum per annum, immediately after the Sinking Fund.
6. That it is expedient to continue the Sinking Fund until all principal and interest of the loan, and all sums issued out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom under the Canada Railway Loan Act 1876, and all interest thereon are fully discharged, or until the Sinking Fund and its accumulations are adequate to discharge so much thereof as remains undischarged.
7. That it is expedient that the Government of Canada be empowered to raise, by loan, for the completion of the railway, a further sum not exceeding one million pounds sterling (without guarantee by the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury) and that the consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada be charged with the money so raised and interest, immediately after the charges made thereon in pursuance of the foregoing resolutions.
8. That it is expedient to provide that separate accounts of the monies raised under the foregoing resolutions be kept by the Receiver-General, and that all sums required for the construction of the railway, and carrying out the purposes of the Act authorizing such construction, shall be paid out of such monies, and not out of any other fund -except that the Governor-in-Council may authorize the advance out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, of such sums as it may be necessary to expend for the purposes aforesaid, before the said loans can be raised; such sums to be repaid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund out of the loans.