Early Political Career and National Policy
Macdonald's Rise to Power and Political Parties
Sir John A. Macdonald became Canada's first Prime Minister at Confederation in 1867 and went on to dominate the country's politics for most of the next quarter century. He served two stretches as PM: 1867–1873 and 1878–1891.
Macdonald led the Conservative Party, which favored a strong central government and close ties to the British Empire. His main opposition came from the Liberal Party, led by Alexander Mackenzie, which pushed for greater provincial autonomy. These two parties defined the political landscape of late 19th-century Canada.
The National Policy and Economic Development
After returning to power in 1878, Macdonald introduced the National Policy, a sweeping economic strategy designed to build a self-sufficient, east-west Canadian economy and reduce dependence on the United States. It had three pillars:
- High protective tariffs on imported manufactured goods, shielding Canadian industries from foreign (especially American) competition
- A transcontinental railway to move goods and people between the provinces and open the West to settlement
- Promotion of European immigration to populate the western territories and supply labor for farms and industry
Together, these three elements reinforced each other: tariffs protected eastern manufacturers, the railway connected eastern factories to western markets, and immigrants provided both consumers and workers.
Western Expansion and Land Distribution
The Dominion Lands Act of 1872 was the government's main tool for settling the West. It offered free homesteads of 160 acres to any settler who agreed to cultivate the land and make improvements within a set period. This model drew heavily from the American Homestead Act of 1862.
The Act also reserved large tracts of land for two other purposes: construction of the transcontinental railway (land grants helped finance the project) and obligations to the Hudson's Bay Company, which had surrendered its territorial claims to the Dominion. The Dominion Lands Act was central to Macdonald's vision of binding the western territories to the rest of Canada through settlement.
Pacific Scandal and Canadian Pacific Railway
The Pacific Scandal and its Consequences
The Pacific Scandal of 1873 was the first major political corruption crisis in Canadian history. During Macdonald's first term, evidence surfaced that his Conservative government had accepted large campaign donations from Sir Hugh Allan, a Montreal shipping magnate, in exchange for awarding Allan's company the contract to build the transcontinental railway.
The fallout was swift:
- Opposition Liberals obtained damaging telegrams linking Macdonald directly to the arrangement.
- A Royal Commission investigated the allegations and confirmed the financial connection.
- Facing almost certain defeat in a vote of confidence, Macdonald resigned in November 1873.
- Alexander Mackenzie's Liberals took power, and progress on the railway stalled during their time in office.
The scandal badly damaged Macdonald's reputation, but it didn't end his career. He won the 1878 election on the strength of the National Policy platform and returned to finish what he'd started.
The Canadian Pacific Railway and Nation-Building
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was the largest infrastructure project in Canadian history to that point. Construction began in earnest in 1881 under Macdonald's second government, and the last spike was driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, on November 7, 1885.
The railway served several strategic purposes:
- It fulfilled a promise made to British Columbia when it joined Confederation in 1871 (a transcontinental rail link was a condition of entry).
- It facilitated the movement of settlers, goods, and resources across the West, accelerating economic development.
- It asserted Canadian sovereignty over the western territories at a time when American expansion northward was a real concern.
The CPR's construction came with serious human costs, particularly for the thousands of Chinese laborers who built the most dangerous mountain sections under harsh and often deadly conditions. Despite the controversies, the railway became an enduring symbol of national unity and Macdonald's nation-building ambitions.
Western Expansion and Manitoba
The North-West Mounted Police and Law Enforcement
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was established in 1873 to bring Canadian law and order to the western territories. The immediate trigger was the Cypress Hills Massacre, in which American wolf hunters killed a group of Assiniboine people in what is now southern Saskatchewan.
The NWMP's duties were wide-ranging: suppressing the illegal American whiskey trade, establishing relationships with Indigenous peoples, and providing the stability settlers needed to move west. Their "March West" in 1874, a grueling trek of over 1,300 km across the prairies, became a foundational moment in the force's identity.
The NWMP later evolved into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which still serves as Canada's national police force today.
The Manitoba Act and the Creation of a New Province
The Manitoba Act of 1870 created Manitoba as the first new province to enter Confederation after the original four. It came about as a direct result of the Red River Resistance (1869–1870), led by Louis Riel, who organized the Métis community to resist the Canadian government's takeover of Rupert's Land without consulting the people already living there.
Key provisions of the Manitoba Act:
- Set aside 1.4 million acres of land for Métis families
- Protected both English and French language rights in the legislature and courts
- Established a provincial government with representation in Ottawa
In practice, many of these promises went unfulfilled. Métis land grants were delayed, mismanaged, or lost through speculation, pushing many Métis further west. These grievances would resurface dramatically during the North-West Resistance of 1885, a topic covered later in this unit.