|
A New Nation |
Nova Scotia Balks |
The Northwest Territories |
Manitoba & Riel |
Federal Provincial Relations |
British
Columbia | Prince
Edward Island | The
Washington Treaty | Scandal
| Liberal Interlude |
The National Policy |
The Railroad |
Immigration |
Rebellion |
Transition
The Gold Rush had brought prosperity and
incredible growth to the west coast but by 1864 the gold
had become harder to find and more expensive to extract.
The union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia began
to unravel and they decided to go their own way. By 1866
with an increasingly devastating economic slowdown and
many gold mining ventures and supplying merchants going
under, the two colonies began to reconsider the
relationship. Amor de Cosmos changed sides and began to
campaign for a union of the colonies and in August of
1866 the British Government passed the Act of Union
which once again brought the two colonies together as
the colony of British Columbia with it's capital in
Victoria and 23 members in the legislative council.
With the collapse of
the Hudson Bay Company in British Columbia many of the
ties that the west coast had with Canada to the east had
been severed. A competition for the colony now began in
earnest between Canada and the United States. The US had
absorbed the Oregon and Washington territories and in
1867 with the purchase of Alaska virtually surrounded
British Columbia. Canada needed British Columbia to
complete its coast to coast unification of British
colonies and to stop the march of American calls of
manifest destiny which was the belief that eventually
all of North America would become a part of the United
States. J.S. Helmcken, one of the recognized leaders of
British Columbia, led the movement for annexation into
the United States. His group petitioned the British
Government for permission to join the US and President
Johnson to accept the territory.
Amor de Cosmos took up
the challenge and formed a pro-confederation league and
in 1867 had encouraged the Legislative Council to pass a
resolution that stated the intention of the colony to
join Confederation. Britain, however, was intent on
settling the status of the northwest and informed
British Columbia that it would have to wait until that
issue was dealt with. de Cosmos began to form
pro-confederation leagues throughout the colony.
American annexation took a positive turn
on May 10th, 1869 when the trans-continental railway was
completed in the US and the Northern Pacific railway was
being built to Puget Sound just south of Victoria on the
mainland. It looked as though the natural economic,
industrial, communication, and transportation forces
were coming together to overwhelm the pro-confederation
forces but at this point de Cosmos found the ally he
needed to turn he tide in Canada. This ally was John A
Macdonald. In 1869 the Northwest issue was substantively
settled and Macdonald began to pressure the British
Government to add British Columbia to the Canadian
Dominion.
Debate in the British
Columbia Legislature was intense with Helmcken and de
Cosmos leading the charge for annexation and
confederation. When the vote for action came the ties
and loyalty to the British Empire was triumphant and
British Columbia voted to negotiate entry into Canada.
On May 10th 1870 the three British
Columbia delegates, R.W.W. Carroll, Joseph Trutch and
the anti-confederationist J.S. Helmcken departed for
Canada to make the deal. They met with Cartier and the
agreement was quickly reached. Canada would absorb the
British Columbia debt, BC would have 3 senators and 6
MP's and most importantly, a railway would be built from
Canada to British Columbia within 10 years or entry into
Confederation.
The entry date was set as July 20th, 1871 and on that
date the dream of a Canada which stretched from Atlantic
to Pacific to the Arctic Ocean had become a reality. |
