The cries of the voices of many Canadians following British Columbia joining Confederation on July 1st, 1871 made Prime Minister Macdonald’s promise come true in building the Canadian Pacific Railway. This railway would link Eastern Canada with Western Canada, thus, so connecting this nation together, finally creating a nation that was strong and united. The biggest problem the Canadian government would have to face was the many financial issues following the plan to build a railway. The years after British Columbia joined Confederation, Canada will struggle with a financial situation due to the poor planning and building of the railway that will set the government back financially, and the construction will harm Canada as a nation. The biggest …show more content…
At that time, there was no knowledge of how to get across Northern Ontario or through the Rocky Mountains by rail17. Therefore, one safe thing to do was to set up a program for a very respectable set of surveys so that the decisions could be made with knowledge18. This way, planning would proceed as scheduled and construction would be slowed down in order to plan a safe and effective way to link Canada. However, money was being spent with all these surveyors being sent out, and there was little to show for it19. The intention of the money was to construct the railway, yet money was being depleted from the government’s grant and there was no start in construction. The necessity to hire surveyors was that the railway had to be an “all-Canadian route”20, meaning that the railway must run through Canada, therefore not extending into the United States. This way, Canada would be independent and strong from annexation to the United States. However, the problem that Canada faced was that within Canada there were two areas especially difficult for railway building21. Surveyors must locate a route through 2,500 miles of rock in the Canadian Shield and pass the tall mountains of the Rockies in British Columbia22. This was the primary reason that large amounts of money was gone from government’s pocket, and construction was not able to start. The survey was itself a mammoth task23, and by the summer of 1871 over eight hundred men in twenty-one teams were in the field24. The large amounts of surveyors costed money, and very little new land being discovered by hiring them. Altogether, the total cost of surveying totalled $37 million28. The real construction of the railway had not even started, and yet large amounts of money had been used just to find a suitable route through
Along with the Confederation to begin the formation of Canada, the reciprocity debate of 1911 and NAFTA further impacted the development of Canada, because of its economic significance. The reciprocity debate of 1911 and NAFTA pronounced Canada economically through the flourishing of trade with other countries. The reciprocity agreement between Canada and the United States was instated to protect tariffs on goods traded between the two countries. Consequentially, the economy for Canada increased, with exports to the United States growing by 33%, post treaty.
This started in Sacramento and continued to build east. Congress, however, had one plan in mind; to build the railways as fast as possible. First, with each mile of track that was completed, they gave twenty alternate sections of land, to build the next mile. Second, congress would give loans: $16,000 was given to produce each mile of track on flat prairie land, $32,000 per mile if the track was produced on hilly terrain, and $48,000 per mile in the
One of those being a railway, which was said to be put in within 10 years. BC joined confederation in 1871 and went on to have its debt wiped clean thanks to the Federal government.
Did the confederation become a compromise among the colonies? All the colonies faced challenges before joining the confederation. This essay will be explaining the compromises made among the colonies after joining confederation in the 1860s. It will prove that colonies gained and loosed a lot by considering the social, political and economic challenges that existed before the joining the confederation, and compromise that colonies reached to join the confederation to form a new country called Canada.
Another thing the railway does is connect Canada coast to coast and makes it easier to transport goods across the
This was done to fulfill the task that Canada assigned B.C. with. “For decades, it was the only practical means of long–distance passenger transport in Canada.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Railway_in_British_Columbia ). British Columbia was frightened by the fact that Americans might interfere with their area, they believed that they would gain support from Canada. This is one of the reasons they joined.
The Transcontinental Railroad The completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad was an important event in the United States history. There were many challenges in building it, but after it was finished, it connected the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast. The railroad took three whole years to build, with the help of two railroad companies and thousands of other hired workers.
Money has always been a big issue, even in today’s society. When a problem emerges we turn to money to try and help us dig our way out. This was the same case for railroads. Due to their expensiveness, investments through the connectedness of the banks and government needed to be issued. “In late 1890 the Interstate-Commerce Railway Association died at the hands of the corporations that formed it…
Firstly, Native Americans were already in an inconvenient position, being relocated multiple times, and were further being pressured to move again. With the railroad in place, many white settlers would go onto the Native Americans’ land and hunt wild Buffalo to near extinction. To add
Living in Canada at the time of Confederation meant that there were many grievances that were being ignored and it came to a point where they needed to be properly addressed. There were many reasons for why Confederation occurred, but only a few of them were extremely significant. First and foremost, the economy was poor and desperately needed to do better. If small colonies combined, “they would have more taxes and more money to pay their debts as they grew” (Province of Manitoba, 2008).
Central Pacific Railroad started from San Francisco, and used Chinese laborers for their work, pushing through the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1867, to encourage quick progression, Congress deemed the land remaining between the two companies, which was the Utah plains, to be paid at mountain rate. This motivated the Union Pacific crew to lay 360 miles of track, and the Central Pacific crew to lay 425 miles of track within the year (Stockwell, 2011). Unfortunately, this hasty pace came at a cost.
Because of the rapid settlement of the western land in the 1850s, Congress wanted to enforce a transcontinental railroad to replace America’s current weak transportation system—horse-drawn carriages were still used and soldiers often had to walk. But due to the constant competition between the Northern members and the Southern
The Transcontinental Railroad was essentially built to link our country as one. Being about 1,776 miles long, it was the first completed railroad to connect land stretching from Sacramento, California to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Many people were involved in the creating the railroad. The excitement of people as well as some concerns were expressed in the Primary Source Documents. The Chamber of Commerce of New York invited The Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco to a congratulatory party.
Another steps to become an independent country Britain being the Empire of Canada, England had significant amount of control over Canada’s external affairs. When Halibut Treaty was signed between Canada and America, Canada just took another step towards its independence of England and being its own country and not a dominion. The Halibut Treaty was signed on 2 March, 1923 between Canada and America. This treaty was a huge step for Canada, as it basically meant that Canada would trade with United States more often. This treaty was mainly created because of concerns in fishing rights in the Pacific Ocean.
He attempted to pass the bill, but got nowhere with it . During his leadership in 1873, he established the North-West Mounted Police that was sent to Alberta and Saskatchewan. If it was not so successful