Quebec
and the Confederation project (1864-1867)
Claude
Bélanger,
Department of History,
Marianopolis College
The
extent of support in Quebec for the Confederation project is a matter of conjecture
and debate; what is certain is that the drive toward Confederation did not come
from Quebec primarily. If Confederation was done it was because there was great
dissatisfaction in Ontario with the way the Union, created in 1840, functioned
by the 1860's and that there was a great deal of sectional discontent from a variety
of issues and how they were resolved by the governments of the time. By and large,
what Quebec will attempt to do in the Confederation period is to salvage the best
situation possible in a process it did not initiate or control.
Confederation
was never enthusiastically embraced in Quebec as it was evidently done in Ontario.
The old Union of 1840-1841 had been transformed from an instrument of assimilation
and oppression into a partnership where Quebec and Ontario shared equally power
on the principle of duality. Since, by Confederation, Quebec only had about 40%
of the population of the United Province of Canada, to be able to share equally
in the government put it in an advantageous position; this was so much so that
it was Upper Canada that now complained about the Union and its most important
political leader of the time, George Brown, could claim that the province had
become ‘French dominated’. While Brown’s comment disclosed an intolerant
attitude, to most Upper Canadian it contained a good deal of truth and they
wished something to be done about it. Their great solution to this problem was
to propose Representation according to Population. This would likely have the
effect of making it possible to form a government with only political support
from Upper Canada and, consequently, put George Brown in power. Such a prospect
could not be accepted in Quebec as it would endanger all the cultural gains it
had made in the union since 1848. Simply put, to have accepted Rep. by Pop. would
have put the cultural survival of Quebec on the line, and ever since the 1840's,
cultural survival was the central question, the existential question, in Quebec.
However, while there were
deep problems in the Union, and no agreement as to the solutions that should be
applied, one should not forget that Quebecers felt culturally secure, shared equally
power and, thus, wielded a good deal of influence in the old Union. On the surface,
Confederation would seem to have the effect of making Quebec’s position weaker
as the province would now become one partner out of four (instead of one out of
two), would constitute only 30% of the new country (instead of 40%), there would
be no requirement for dual prime ministership (governments such as Lafontaine-Baldwin
or Macdonald-Cartier) and Quebec would have to concede Representation according
to Population to Ontario as this province demanded it as a condition for support
of Confederation.
It
is the realization of all of these possible losses that made many
Quebecers hesitate about Confederation and generated quite a bit
of apprehension and opposition. When the vote was taken in the
Legislative Assembly of the United Province of Canada on the Confederation
project, about 40% of the members from Quebec voted against it.
Nearly half of the newspapers of the province were opposed to
Confederation. This not only reflects the great reluctance of
Quebecers for Confederation but also supports the idea that the
majority rallied behind Confederation, albeit without enthusiasm.
What
brought Quebec to support Confederation?
Four
main reasons explain why Quebec eventually supported Confederation:
- Political realism: Even the
most reluctant Quebecer must have realized by 1864 that the United Province of
Canada had become ungovernable; sectionalism was a constant problem (what language
to use? How much confessionalism should there be in schools? Should we resort
to conscription to protect our territory against the threat of the United States?
Where should the capital be? Does each section have a fair share of the civil
service and of government expenditures?), the Province was embroiled in a hopeless
political deadlock, it was impossible to establish a government that lasted any
significant amount of time (we count thirteen governments in a period of eight
years at some point), and Rep by Pop was unacceptable in the context of the Union.
This state of affairs could not continue indefinitely and, if it remained unresolved
by the lack of agreement between Upper and Lower Canada, it is likely that Britain
would intervene to resolve the problems. If England intervened, as had been done
in 1840-41, it was evident that the solution it would impose might not be favourable
to Quebec. Political wisdom, common sense, dictated that Quebecers cooperate in
making changes and attempt, in the process, to safeguard vital interests.
- The support of powerful elites:
Political realism was especially displayed by the power elites of the time (political,
economical and clerical). They understood the problems outlined above and they
wished to apply pragmatic solutions. The period of Confederation was not yet
a particularly democratic time, as we would understand or apply democracy today,
but one where elites considered issues and made the necessary accommodations.
And when the elites agreed, and made the accommodations, the people were expected
to follow; they were rarely consulted and their views mattered very little unless
the elites disagreed. There is no doubt that Confederation was going to be good
for business, that the political elites of French Canada (people like George Etienne
Cartier) thought that Confederation would impact positively on the survival of
French Canada and on their own career and, thus, should be supported. The
Roman Catholic Church was always prepared to support the established authorities;
in fact, by creating a province of Quebec it is likely that the power and the
prestige of the Church would be enhanced. We should not be surprised that the
people wished to follow (and their support was not absolutely required in any
case!). The Rouges of Quebec (a radical, nationalist, anticlerical party in Quebec
that opposed Confederation) demanded that a referendum be held on the question
of Confederation but, typically, the authorities refused to do so in part, perhaps,
because they feared the result of such a move but, mostly, because the idea of
letting the ‘people’ decide was foreign to their conception of how public
policy should be decided. That the people did not need to be involved certainly
simplified the process.
- The
lack of viable alternatives: In any case, if Confederation was not done, what
else could be done? In reality, while there appeared to be several other possibilities
to resolve the problems of the Confederation period, alternatives were actually
very limited. Quebec could have conceded Rep by Pop to Ontario in the Union, it
could have annexed itself to the United States, it could have become independent
and a different political system (legislative union or Confederation) could have
been done. However, for one reason or another, none of these were viable alternatives.
In the end, as the Courrier du Canada was to put it to its readers in 1864,
Confederation should be supported because it was ‘la moins mauvaise des choses
dans un monde fort mauvais’. While this opinion does not disclose a particularly
positive view of the Confederation project, it does highlight that the choices
were very narrow and that politics is frequently merely the art of the possible...
- The nature of federalism: Yet,
there is no denying that in the end very positive arguments could be made in favour
of Confederation. Aside from enhancing the defence of the country against a possible
takeover by the United States and creating conditions to generate greater prosperity
by creating a sort of Canadian common market, arguments that were universally
supported by the champions of Confederation everywhere in Canada, in Quebec the
main argument in favour of Confederation concentrated on the nature of the federal
system. Indeed, if a federal system was created, it was primarily because it was
the only way to sell the idea of union in Quebec. The federal system, by creating
two levels of government each endowed with elements of sovereignty, permits different
people to pool in the central government such elements over which they have
broad agreement, and draw great benefits from that, at the same time as they continue
to retain absolute control over all of the things (particularly social and cultural
ones) that distinguish them and which they wish to continue to control through
their provincial government. The federal system cannot be understood, and the
support of Quebec for it at the time of Confederation cannot be grasped, unless
one remembers that its net effect is to recognize and guarantee local interests
and differences. Quebec, as the only French Catholic entity in North America,
needed to protect its distinctiveness, especially at a time when tolerance had
not, as yet, emerged as a cardinal virtue in Canada. Thus, in Quebec, in 1867,
the massive pro-Confederation argument rested not so much on the idea of union
with others, a prospect that highlighted the minority position of Quebec and potentially
frightened its people, but, rather, that the federal system would recreate an
autonomous province of Quebec, in the hands of French Canadians, and with a Legislature
that would take care of all of the subjects so important for the survival
of the people of Quebec as a separate entity in North America. While the principle
of union was the biggest selling point in Ontario, provincial autonomy was stressed
instead in Quebec. It is nearly as if the project was presented to its people
not as creating a single country but rather a new and rather independent Quebec.
Under these conditions, Confederation seemed to make an important contribution
to la survivance and the majority felt that it deserved support.
Further readings: Read in my Handbook of Canadian Constitutional History,
1978, 184p. The following entries:
© 1998 Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College
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