Document Information

Date: 1864-10-17
By: Edward Whelan, The Examiner (Charlottetown), Quebec Conference
Citation: Edward Whelan, “Inter-Colonial Union,”The Examiner (24 October 1864).
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Note: Any endnotes come from our recent publication, Charles Dumais, The Quebec Resolutions: Including Several Never-Published Preliminary Drafts by George Brown and John A. Macdonald, and a Collection of all Previously-Published Primary Documents Relating to the Conference (CCF, 2021).

INTER-COLONIAL UNION.

No. 3.

MONDAY, Oct. 17, 1864

I understand that the debate on the question of representation in the Upper House was resumed to-day in the Parliament Buildings; and the Delegates from the Lower Provinces adhered, by an almost unanimous vote, to their claim for equal representation with the two sections of Canada; providing for a separate representation for Newfoundland, the North West Territory, British Columbia, and Vancouver’s Island. The Canadian Ministry retired from the Conference, I am informed, to consider this ultimatum; and in an hour returned, conceding all that the Lower Provinces demanded. The representation in the Upper House will be as follows, if the scheme should be approved of by the Imperial and Local Parliaments;—Lower Canada, 24; Upper Canada, 24; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and P.E. Island, 24; the maritime Provinces to be represented as follows: Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 10 each; P.E. Island, 4; and Newfoundland, as an addition to the general arrangement, 4. I give the readers of the Examiner the above information, as the subject of current report about Quebec. I will not vouch for its accuracy, but I think it is very near the truth.

The Conference, I am informed, next proceeds to consider the question, whether the Upper House should be nominated by the Crown, or elected by the people, or by the several local Legislatures. Each view was ably supported, and I regret I am not at liberty to give the arguments or the names of the different speakers. The debate was kept up until 12 o’clock tonight, and then adjourned. The Conference now meets at 10 a.m., adjourn at 2, reassemble at half past seven p.m.; and propose to carry their deliberations far into the night.