Pacific Scandal

The Pacific Scandal involves the allegations of bribes being taken by Canada's Conservative government of Sir John A. Macdonald. As part of British Columbia's 1871 agreement to join the Canadian Confederation, the government had agreed to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, a transcontinental railway linking the Pacific province to the eastern provinces. The project, which required construction over long, isolated stretches of mountainous terrain, was the most demanding one ever undertaken in the Americas to that stage. Canada, as a new nation with an underdeveloped economy, did not have the financing available to build such an ambitious system, requiring a search for overseas financing in Great Britain and the United States.

Two groups competed for the contract to build the railway, Sir Hugh Allan's Canada Pacific Railway Company and David Lewis Macpherson's Inter-Oceanic Railway Company. In 1873 it became known that Allan had contributed a large sum of money to the Conservative government's re-election campaign of 1872; some sources quote a sum over $300,000. Allan had promised to keep American ownership out of the railway deal, but had lied to Macdonald over this vital point, and Macdonald later discovered the lie. ["Mr. Prime Minister 1867-1964", by Bruce Hutchison, Toronto 1964, Longmans Canada.] The Liberal party, at this time the opposition party in parliament, accused the Conservatives of having made a tacit agreement to give the contract to Hugh Allan in exchange for money.

Despite Macdonald's claims that he was innocent, evidence came to light showing receipts of money from Allan to Macdonald and some of his political colleagues. Perhaps even more damaging to Macdonald was when the Liberals discovered a telegram, through a former employee of Sir Hugh Allan, which had been stolen from the safe of Allan's lawyer, Sir John Abbott. ["Mr. Prime Minister 1867-1964", by Bruce Hutchison, Toronto 1964, Longmans Canada.] Macdonald had sent the telegram to Allan six days before the 1872 election which read, "I must have another $10,000. Will be the last time of calling. Do not fail me. Answer today." Macdonald resigned as prime minister. He offered his resignation as the head of the Conservative party, but it was not accepted and he was convinced to stay. Perhaps as a direct result of this scandal, the Conservative party fell in the eyes of the public and was relegated to being the Official Opposition in the federal election of 1874, after which Alexander Mackenzie succeeded Macdonald as the new prime minister of Canada.

Despite the short-term defeat, the scandal was not a mortal wound to Macdonald, the Conservative Party, or the Canadian Pacific Railway. An economic depression gripped Canada after Macdonald left office, and Mackenzie was blamed for the ensuing hard times. Macdonald would return as prime minister in the 1878 election thanks to his National Policy. He would hold the office of prime minister to his death in 1891, while the Canadian Pacific would be completed by 1885 with Macdonald still in office.

References

=External links=
* [http://ms.radio-canada.ca/archives/2005/en/wmv/political_scandals20010128et1.wmv Canada's first political scandal,CBC Video]
* [http://www.dickshovel.com/two.html Manifest Destiny and Western Canada Part One]
* [http://www.dickshovel.com/two2.html Manifest Destiny etc Part Two] - an alternative view of the Pacific Scandal and the overall binational political context at the time. Explores Sir John A.'s involvement with the CP's rival the Northern Pacific, which is usually obscured in Canadian histories, but in the context of the western rebellions and the politics of the railway barons and American expansionist designs on the northwestern quarter of the continent.

canada-hist-stub BritishColumbia-stub