The war between France and England ended decades ago; but the conflict between the French and English speaking settlers in Canada could still be felt as a result of many events and issues.
Conferderation
Confederation was never enthusiastically embraced in Quebec as it evidently was in Ontario. Since, by Confederation, Quebec only had about 40% of the population of the United Province of Canada, 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, claimed that the province had become ‘French dominated’. While Brown’s comment disclosed an intolerant attitude, to most Upper Canadians 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. Had this proposal been implemented, it would have made 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 its people 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%...
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