Timeline of Ontario History - The United Province of Canada (Canada West), 1841 To 1867

The United Province of Canada (Canada West), 1841 To 1867

• 1841–Upper and Lower Canada are united by the Act of Union (1840) to form the Province of Canada, as recommended by Durham. Upper Canada becomes known as Canada West and Lower Canada as Canada East.
• 1841 - Population 455,000.
• 1841–Sydenham dies in a riding accident and is replaced by Sir Charles Bagot. The movement for responsible government which had been growing under Sydenham is now so strong that Bagot realizes that to govern effectively he must admit French leaders to his executive council. Once admitted, Canada East Reformer Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine insists that Canada West Reformer Robert Baldwin also be admitted. Bagot admits Baldwin as well, creating a Reform bloc.
• 1843–Bagot retires because of illness and is replaced by Sir Charles Metcalfe, who is determined to make no further concessions to the colonists. Metcalfe refuses a demand by Baldwin and Francis Hincks that the assembly approve official appointments. The ministry in the assembly resigns, and in the ensuing election a slim majority supporting Metcalfe is returned.
• 1846–The Colonial Secretary, Lord Grey, rules that the British North American lieutenant governors must rule with the consent of the governed. Executive councils are to be selected from the majority in the assembly, and change when the confidence of the assembly changes. Britain is abandoning the mercantilist principles which have guided its imperial policy, and since colonial trade will no longer be restricted, local colonial politics need no longer be restricted.
• 1846– Britain begins the repeal of preferential tariffs to the colonies, starting with the Corn Laws. These actions essentially spur on the beginning of later negotiated trade agreements with the United States.
• 1847 - Canada is overwhelmed with 104,000 immigrants, many suffering from typhus who arrive that year alone escaping the Irish Potato Famine. 1700 typhus deaths, including doctors, nurses, priests and others who aide the sick. They land at Grosse Île, Canada East and Partridge Island, New Brunswick. Large numbers go on to settle in Canada West. Bytown (Ottawa), Kingston and Toronto receive more than other places, putting a strain on local resources while at the same drastically increasing and changing the composition of the population in the province.
• 1848–Lord Elgin, who had replaced Metcalfe in 1847, asks Baldwin and Lafontaine to form a government following their success in elections for the assembly. This is the Province of Canada's first responsible government.
• 1849–Elgin signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, which provided compensation for losses suffered during the Lower Canada Rebellion, over the opposition of English conservatives (Tories) in Canada East, who were accustomed to having the governor support them. IN reaction, a Tory mob burns down the parliament building in Montreal but Elgin, supported by majorities in both Canada East and Canada West (which had already passed a similar bill), does not back down, and responsible government is established in fact.
• 1849–The Canada East Tories then sponsor an Annexation Manifesto calling for the province of Canada to join the United States. They were motivated by the loss of trade threatened by the repeal of the British Corn Laws. However, the rest of the Canadian population opposes the manifesto, including the Tories of Canada West, who favour provincial union. Union with the United States ceases to be an important political issue.
• 1850–The Robinson Treaties are negotiated by William Benjamin Robinson with the Ojibwe nation transferring to the Crown the eastern and northern shores of Lake Huron and the northern shore of Lake Superior.
• 1851 - The population of Canada West is now 952,000 having more than doubled in 10 years, by then numerically superior to that of Canada East. Politicians of Canada West begin to argue for representation by population ('rep by pop').
• 1854–An agreement for reciprocal lowering of trade barriers is reached between British North America and the United States. The British North American provinces can now send their natural products (principally grain, timber, and fish) to the United States without tariff, while American fishermen are allowed into British North American fisheries. Lake Michigan and the St. Lawrence River are opened to ships of all signatories.
• 1854–A law secularizing the clergy reserves is passed; the Anglican and Presbyterian churches retain their endowments.
• 1855–The American canal at Sault Ste. Marie on the St. Marys River (Michigan-Ontario) opened in May which opened Lake Superior to American and Canadian navigation, and made access to the Red River colony in Manitoba easier.
• 1855–The Great Western Railway links Windsor with Hamilton and Toronto.
• 1856–The Grand Trunk Railway opens between Sarnia and Montreal greatly enhancing the flow of goods and people across Southern Ontario and trade links with the American Midwest. Towns along its route swell in importance and population.
• 1858–Canada has become increasingly sectional, with Canada West electing Clear Grit Liberals and Canada East electing Conservatives. A coalition government led by John A. Macdonald and Antoine-Aimé Dorion falls in two days. In the assembly Alexander Galt proposes a federal union of the British North American colonies as a solution to the problem.
• 1858– The temporary judicial districts of Algoma and Nipissing are created, the first in Northern Ontario.
• 1859–The Clear Grit Liberals under George Brown propose specific arrangements for a federal union of the two Canadas.
• 1861- Population is 1,396,000.
• 1864–A committee proposed by George Brown to inquire into solutions to the parliamentary deadlock between the Canadas recommends a federal union of the British North American colonies, a solution which is welcomed by all sides. A government of Liberals and Conservatives, the Great Coalition, is formed to pursue this goal. Representatives of the coalition attend the Charlottetown Conference called to discuss union of the maritime colonies and persuade the representatives to endorse the Canadian plan for a broader federal union. A conference in Quebec City draws up the Quebec Resolutions, a plan for this union.
• 1866–The Westminster Conference endorses the Quebec Resolutions with minor changes.
• 1866- After a minor skirmish on the Niagara Peninsulia at Ridgeway, the Fenians withdraw back the United States. This incident only hastens the publics desire for full fledged nationhood (see Fenian raids).