- Quebec Conference, 1864
The Quebec Conference was the second meeting held in 1864 to discuss
Canadian Confederation .The 16 delegates from the
Province of Canada ,Nova Scotia ,New Brunswick , andPrince Edward Island had agreed at the close of theCharlottetown Conference to meet again at Quebec City in October 1864. Newfoundland also sent two observers, but did not participate directly in the proceedings.The Conference
The conference began on October 9. The major source of conflict at the conference was between those who favoured a strong central government, such as
John A. Macdonald , and those who favoured stronger provincial rights. Representatives from the Maritimes andCanada East (nowQuebec ) tended to argue for provincial rights, fearing they would lose their cultural identity under a centralized government. Macdonald thought the failure of smaller, localized governments was evident in theAmerican Civil War , which was still being fought in theUnited States as the delegates met in Charlottetown and Quebec. The delegates eventually compromised, dividing powers between federal and provincial governments. They also decided to have an elected lower house, the House of Commons, and an appointed upper house, the Senate, although there was considerable debate about how many senators each province would have. The Prince Edward Island delegation called for what could be seen as the forerunner of the currentTriple-E Senate proposal. Eventually, a proposed structure for the government was written out in the form of theseventy-two resolutions at the end of the conference. [cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.ca/confederation/023001-2080-e.html|title=The Quebec Conference|accessdate=2006-06-24]Aftermath
The conference ended on October 27, and the delegates returned to their provinces to submit the Seventy-Two Resolutions to the provincial legislatures.
George-Étienne Cartier was largely responsible for convincing the French-Canadian members of the Legislature in Canada to accept the resolutions, even though he himself did not support such a strong federal government.A.J. Smith led the opposition to Confederation in New Brunswick, whileJoseph Howe led the opposition in Nova Scotia, but both of these provinces eventually agreed to join the union. Only Prince Edward Island rejected the resolutions. The Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia then set about securing autonomy from the British government, which culminated in a third London Conference in1866 , and theBritish North America Act onJuly 1 ,1867 .Delegates
Province of Canada
* George Brown
* Alexander Campbell
*Jean-Charles Chapais
*James Cockburn
*Alexander Tilloch Galt
*Hector-Louis Langevin
*John Alexander Macdonald
* William McDougall
*Thomas D'Arcy McGee
*Oliver Mowat
*Étienne-Paschal Taché New Brunswick
*
Edward Barron Chandler
*Charles Fisher
* John Hamilton Gray
*John Mercer Johnson
* Peter Mitchell
*William H. Steeves
*Samuel Leonard Tilley Nova Scotia
*
Adams George Archibald
*Robert B. Dickey
*William Alexander Henry
*Jonathan McCully
*Charles Tupper Prince Edward Island
*
George Coles
* John Hamilton Gray
*Thomas Heath Haviland
*Andrew Archibald Macdonald
*Edward Palmer
* William Henry Pope
*Edward Whelan Newfoundland (observers)
*
Frederic Bowker Terrington Carter
*Ambrose Shea "See also:
History of Canada "References
External links
* [http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/2/18/index-e.html National Library's Confederation website]
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