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Date: 1864-07-29
By: Perth Courier
Citation: “The Confederation Scheme”, Perth Courier (29 July, 1864)
Other formats: TBA

THE CONFEDERATION SCHEME.

Accepting the proposal of Messrs. Brown and McDonald to find a solution of the sectional difficulties heretofore existing in the government of United Canada, in a Federal Union of the two Provinces, or in a grand Confederation of all British America, as the basis of their scheme, we find so many difficulties in the way of its practical working, that but little hope remains of seeing it carried out without inflicting on the country greater evils than those from which we seek to escape by its means. In a former article on “The Federation of Canada,” this paper discussed some of the difficulties in the way of adopting the principle of a Federal Union between Upper and Lower Canada, and we now propose to view the other horn of Messrs. Brown and McDonald’s governmental dilemma, to wit:—the Confederation of all the British American Provinces. It can hardly be proposed even in the carrying out of this grand attempt at a scheme of nationality, to include, at present, the Hudson’s Bay and North-west Territories; so leaving them out in the cold for a while, there remain six other Provinces to form the Confederation, having each a population as follows:—

Upper Canada……… 1,396,091

Lower Canada……… 1,110,664

Nova Scotia……….. 330,857

New Brunswick ……. 252,047

Newfoundland……… 125,000

Prince Edward’s Island.. 80,757

The advocates of the scheme, chief among which stands the Globe, admit that, whilst the Lower House will be framed on the basis of representation by population, the Upper House must have an equality of members from each section of the Confederacy. It would be impossible to form a Confederation on any other basis, and such being the case, it may reasonably be asked, how Mr. Brown is to carry out his great scheme of justice to Upper Canada by placing our million and a half of people on a representative equality with the eighty thousand of Prince Edward’s Island? The representation according to numbers in the Lower House will not give to Upper Canada that position to which it is entitled, because all measures passed by the Lower House must go through the Upper House before they become law, and having but, say four members there against twenty from the other five Provinces, how is it possible to guard our interests or give us that justice which Mr. Brown has heretofore demanded as a right?. The Globe says we can secure that justice by having sole jurisdiction over our own local affairs, but we may be permitted to doubt the truth of this argument, when we consider that the TARIFF of the whole Confederacy can only be settled by the Federal Government, in the Upper House of which we can have but a one-sixth voice instead of the half we now possess in the much-abused Legislative Union. It is an undeniable fact that on this important question our interests are opposed to those of the Maritime Provinces, for as we are now getting to be a manufacturing country, we need a protective duty on what we are able to make, whereas their interests would be best served by free trade, with Great Britain at least. We cannot afford free trade in Upper Canada, and, supposing this fact be admitted, and a measure of protection to our interests be carried in the popular branch of the Federal Legislature, how would it get through the Upper House where there would be a vast majority of opposing interests arrayed against us? It can thus be seen that the very first act of the Federal Parliament would leave us at the mercy of the freetraders, and destroy the infant manufactures that have sprung up all over the country during the past few years. To obviate this difficulty as much as possible, some of our politicians are proposing to divide the two Canadas into three, four, or even five sections, which scheme, they say would protect our interests in the Upper House; but, on the other hand, it would give us so many more Parliaments and sets of Parliamentary officers to support, that it is difficult to determine whether it would not be better to endure the disease rather than submit to the cure. On the whole, we see but little prospect of our constitutional difficulties being settled by this difficult and, seemingly, impracticable scheme.

Another matter to be considered in connection with the Confederation business, is the construction of the Intercolonial Railway, without which there can be no federation at all. For nearly half the year there can be no communication between the Lower Provinces and the Canadas without the road, and how can Mr. Brown now advocate a scheme embracing its construction when he has heretofore strenuously opposed it, on the score of expense and uselessness? It cannot be said in answer, that the altered circumstances under which it is now brought forward increases its usefulness to such an extent as to pay for constructing and working it. Its only increased usefulness would be the carrying of the members of the House and other officials back and forth, and, important though such service may be, the benefits to be derived from it, would hardly pay the interest on the money demanded for its construction. At the time the idea of building the road was first submitted to the people, it was estimated, we believe, that its cost to Canada would be about five millions of dollars. We do not remember the exact figures, but think that is about the amount, and, at any rate, we may be certain that it would cost many millions, and many thousands a year afterwards, to work it, for its most sanguine promoters never pretended that it would even pay a fraction of the cost of working. The people of Upper Canada are now paying so much for one railway, that they will hardly be willing to build another even in the hope of remedying their governmental difficulties by its means.

Such are a few of the considerations involved in the scheme of a Confederation of the British North American Provinces; the Courier, in a previous article, discussed the principle of a Federal Union between Upper and Lower Canada, and it would seem as if the difficulties of the one case was only equalled by those of the other.

Messrs. Brown and McDonald may see some way of overcoming these difficulties, and so arrange the details of their plan as to do justice to all parties concerned. The task before them can best be appreciated by the fullest discussion of the difficulties in their way, and if the plan they intend submitting to the House at its next session, will overcome them so as to give Upper Canada the justice its people demand, we must not only heartily support their efforts, but bestow on them the highest reward in our power to confer—the honest thanks and gratitude a free people.