George-Étienne Cartier, Father of Confederation                 

Québec and Confederation

The drive towards Confederation, wasn't initiated by Québec, that is certain. It was initiated by Ontario, where there was a great dissatisfaction with the way the Union, formed in 1840, was operating in the 1860s. The Union Act was when the old province Québec was split into two separate political parties, Upper and Lower Canada. In the Confederation era, all Québec wanted to do was to salvage the best possible scenario, and so, they went with it.

Confederation was enthusiastically embranced in Ontario. Québec on the other hand, not so much. By Confederation, Québec had 40% of its population sharing equally in the government.  This gave it an advantage over Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. It was now Upper Canada complaining about the Union, and its most important political leader of the time, George Brown, said that the province was 'French dominated'. To most Upper Canadians, this contained a great deal of truth, and they wanted for something to be done about it. Introducing, Representaion according to Population! This was their solution to the problem. Representation according to Population, means that depending on the population of a province, they may get more or less seats in the House of Commons. If a province has a great population, it will get more seats, and vice versa. It basically means that one person is one vote, and that all votes should count equally- a basic democratic principle. But to accept Rep. By. Pop. would have put the cultural survival of Québec on the line and, since the 1840s, the question about the survival of culture in Québec, was the question to ask.


Even though there were internal problems in the Union, Québecers felt secure culturally, and, shared equally power, giving them a large influence in the old Union. On the outside, Confederation would've seemed like a bad idea to Québecers for four reasons: (1) First off, they would then be a province with three partners instead of the recent, one. (2) Secondly, they would only have 30%  of the new country's population, instead of having 40% in the old Union. (3) Thirdly, there would be no need for dual prime ministership. (4) Last but not least, they would have to give up Rep. by Pop. to Ontario, for it was one of their necessities for Confederation.


These complications came as a shock to Québecers, and was what caused the original hesitation about joining Confederation, and when the vote was taken, 40% of Québec's population voted against it. Nearly half the newspapers in the province were opposing the proposal!


I think that the main reason for Québec joining Confederation is because of the influence of the elites in the province.  If an elite said something as a suggestion about the province the people were expected to agree. George-Étienne Cartier thought that Confederation was a great idea, and it would positively impact the chance of survival for French-Canada, and his career. Guess what? The locals agreed. Québec joined Confederation on July 1st of 1867 along with Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.


Fathers of Confederation from Québec were:

George-Étienne Cartier
Jean-Charles Chapais
Alexander T. Galt
Hector Langevin
Thomas-Darcy McGee
Étienne-Pascal Taché




http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/readings/queconf.htm 
http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/federal/repbypop.htm 

PICTURE
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