HIST-261 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Great Coalition, Canadian Confederation
16 Jul 2020
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Document Summary
Economic nation-building and national disunity in the late nineteenth century: following the acquisition of the northwest territories and the incorporation of british. Columbia and prince edward island into canadian confederation, the federal government took steps to encourage the economic integration of canada"s vast regions and promote national economic development. Macdonald hoped that these tariffs would encourage the development of canadian manufacturing by protecting it from competition with american industries. In conjunction with this policy, macdonald"s government reaffirmed its commitment to ensure the completion of the transcontinental railway, which had stalled under the liberal government in a period of economic downturn. Macdonald viewed the railway as essential to the settlement of the west through immigration, one of the foundational objectives of the great coalition in pursuing. The railway would move settlers west, as well as facilitate the exchange of manufactured goods from eastern canada with agricultural produce from western canada.
