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Joining Confederation Case Study

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Canada was not always as large of a country as it is now. It started with just two parts, the West and the East. Have you ever wondered how it all started or who was the first prime minister of the country? Perhaps you were wondering what colonies did not want to join the confederation.

During the years between 1854 to 1864, the province of Canada was changing governments frequently, which made it very difficult for them to make important decisions. Many politicians in both Canada West and Canada East thought that the solution would be to create a new country called Canada. Both Canada West and Canada East would have their own governments, but the government in Ottawa would make the really important decisions for the whole country. Leaders in both Canada East and West also believed that it would make the economy stronger if they united. Shortly after Canada East and West united, Nova Scotia joined Canada because a railroad was promised to the new province. Joining Canada helped them with commerce and also provided protection against Fenian attacks. New Brunswick joined shortly after Nova Scotia. The new province joined Canada because they thought that the powerful United States would want to expand more towards the north. The people of New Brunswick thought that …show more content…

While the government of PEI wanted to join the confederation, the public in PEI did not want to. The majority voted to not join the confederation, when a referendum was held. The people of PEI also suspected that joining the confederation would turn the discussion toward joining a bigger union, the British North America colonies (BNA). They saw little to no advantage of joining BNA and so they declined the offer. Edward Palmer, the premier of PEI from 1859 to 1863, and an anti-Confederation group both told the Charlottetown conference that there were advantages for BNA but none for

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