Sir George Etienne Cartier: His Work for Canada and His Services to Montreal

by John Boyd

Cartier and Confederation

The greatest work in which Cartier participated, and in which it is freely acknowledged he played a determining part, was of course the establishment of Confederation. The idea of a union of all the provinces of British North America did not originate with Cartier, any more than it originated with Macdonald, Tupper, Tilley, Brown or the other great Fathers of Confederation. Proposals to that effect had been made long before, and the idea was one that had arisen in many minds as a desirable consummation and as a remedy for the chaotic conditions which then prevailed. But the idea was one that was heartily supported by Cartier from a very early period, and to the Cartier-Macdonald Government of which he became the head in 1858 as Prime Minister of United Canada must be given the credit of having taken the first practical steps to bring about Confederation. One of the items of that government's programme was the union of the British North American provinces, and soon after the close of the session of 1858, a delegation composed of three members of the Government, Cartier himself, A. T. Galt, and John Rose went to England to press the matter upon the Imperial Government. A memorandum submitted to the Imperial authorities and signed by Cartier, Galt and Rose urged the Imperial Government to take steps to have a meeting of delegates from all the British North American provinces to consider the question of Confederation and to report upon it.

Though the steps taken in 1858 had no immediate result, the fact remains that the Government of which Cartier was the head, was the first to take up the question of the union of the British North American provinces, that, as the lamented Thomas D'Arcy McGee remarked in his great speech during the Confederation debate "the first real stage of the success of Confederation, the thing that gave importance to the theory in men's minds, was the memorandum of 1858, signed by Cartier, Galt and Rose. The recommendation in that memorandum" said McGee, "laid dormant until revived by the Constitutional Committee which led to the coalition, which led to the Quebec Conference, which led to the draft of the Constitution now on our table, and which" added McGee with assurance "will lead, I am fain to believe, to the union of all these provinces,"—an assurance, which was not long afterwards happily fulfilled.

Cartier was the leader of the Quebec wing of the Coalition Ministry. He was a delegate to the Charlottetown Conference, as well as a member of the Quebec Conference. He took a leading part in the Confederation debates, ably defending the measure against the attacks made upon it. With Macdonald, Brown and Galt he was deputed after the scheme had been adopted by the Legislature to go to England to confer with Her Majesty's Government; he was also one of the delegates who sat in Conference from the 4th to the 24th December, 1866, at the Westminster Palace Hotel in London, and at which a series of 69 resolutions, based on those of the Quebec Conference, were finally passed. The sittings of that famous conference were renewed early in January of 1867, a series of draft bills were drawn up, and revised by the Imperial law officers, a bill was submitted to the Imperial Parliament in February, and on March 29th, under the title of the British North America Act, it received the royal assent. A royal proclamation issued from Windsor Castle on May 22nd, 1867, appointed July 1st as the date upon which the Act should come into force, and the following first of July witnessed the birth of what the Governor-General, Lord Monck, well designated as "a new nationality".

The men who assembled at Quebec on October 10th, 1864, to devise means for bringing about the union of the British North American provinces, had momentous problems to solve, but they were all men of the most ardent patriotism, of the broadest views, and with a firm determination to carry to a successful issue the great work with which they had been entrusted. How they succeeded in their task we all know. It has been well remarked by one of the biographers of Sir John A. Macdonald that there are three men besides Macdonald who in the establishment of Confederation and in securing the large results which followed from that epoch-making measure, demand special mention. Those men were George Etienne Cartier, Charles Tupper, and Leonard Tilley.[1] Justice demands that George Brown should also be named amongst the great Fathers of Confederation, for without the co-operation of that eminent Liberal statesman it is questionable whether Confederation under the circumstances could have been effected at that time. It was George Brown who made the proposals which rendered the coalition ministry possible, and by sinking all party considerations and personal differences in a grave crisis of his country's history, he performed a signal act of patriotism, which entitles his name to a high place on Canada's roll of honor. It was in fact a striking lesson in patriotism and in devotion to country, to find men like Macdonald and Cartier on the one hand, and Brown on the other, forgetting all past differences and even bitter personal animosities, and sitting at the same council board to devise means by which the public interests might be served at a most critical juncture. Nor, amongst the leading Fathers of Confederation must Sir A. T. Galt be forgotten, for that distinguished statesman was a most zealous advocate of Confederation, holding that unless a union was effected, the provinces would inevitably drift into the United States. During the parliamentary session of 1858 he strongly advocated the federal union of all the British North American provinces, and as has been justly said, the resolutions which Galt then moved in favor of such a union, entitle him to a high place amongst the promoters of Confederation[2].

Of the thirty-two statesmen who assembled at Quebec in 1864 and framed the Quebec resolutions which formed the basis of Confederation, but one survives to-day, and the Cartier Centenary movement has the privilege of having that great statesman whose name will forever be linked with the names of Macdonald and Cartier, as its patron. Still hale and hearty in his 92nd year, Sir Charles Tupper enjoys the veneration and esteem of all Canadians. It has been justly said by Sir John A. Macdonald's biographer, that in the "reconciliation of Nova Scotia to Confederation; in carrying out a great expensive and hazardous railway policy; in the establishment of a national fiscal system; in making Canadian expansion compatible with complete allegiance to the Empire, the aid which Macdonald received from Sir Charles Tupper, can scarcely be exaggerated. In him great natural ability and power as a platform speaker were united with a splendid optimism about his country, a courage that feared nothing, and a resoluteness of purpose which despised any obstacles with which he could be confronted."[3]

It is not minimizing the services of any of the other illustrious Fathers of Confederation, to say that Cartier played a leading, in fact a determining part, in the achievement of that measure. His great colleagues have generously testified to the pre-eminent services which he rendered at that time.

"Cartier was as bold as a lion. He was just the man I wanted: but for him Confederation should not have been carried," was the emphatic declaration made by Sir John A. Macdonald on the day when he unveiled the statue of his great colleague at Ottawa.

Sir Charles Tupper's tribute is equally eloquent and emphatic. "I have no hesitation," he says, "in saying that without Cartier there would have been no Confederation, and therefore Canada owes him a debt that can never be repaid."

Dr Parkin in his life of Sir John A. Macdonald, in the "Makers of Canada" series, also pays a just tribute to Cartier for his work in connection with Confederation when he says: "Without Cartier's loyal help, it would scarcely have been possible, when the effort for union came, to allay the anxiety of the French-Canadians lest they should be swallowed up, and their individuality be lost in the large proposed confederacy."

Cartier's position at that time, it must be remembered, was an extremely difficult one, in fact, it is the difficulties which he then encountered and the manner in which he triumphed over them, that entitled him to all the more credit. "Never did a French-Canadian statesman" as an eminent French-Canadian writer has remarked, "have to face a greater responsibility than that which Cartier assumed the day when he had the alternative of accepting or refusing Confederation. Neither Papineau nor LaFontaine had to place in the balance such grave issues. Their role was reduced to demanding liberty for Canadians. Cartier had to choose between a problematical future and a recognized state of affairs, with well defined advantages. Would as many guarantees be found in the edifice which was to be constructed? By accepting the confederation of the provinces, was it not leaving the certain for the uncertain? Such were the questions which agitated minds anxiously weighed."[4]

There was strong opposition to Confederation in Quebec as well as in other provinces. Cartier had to face the powerful attacks of redoubtable and able antagonists who maintained that Confederation would be detrimental to the interests of the French-Canadians. His contention was that with general interests entrusted to a central government and local interests to local legislatures, the rights of the French-Canadians would be amply safeguarded. Cartier maintained his position in the face of the most determined opposition and even against bitter personal attacks. He had his vindication when in the elections of 1867 the people of Quebec returned him to Parliament with a triumphant following.

And has not the course of events since Confederation vindicated the position which Cartier then took? The French-Canadians have not only enjoyed the fullest freedom in the direction of provincial affairs, but they have played a large and important part in the public life of Canada, a French-Canadian has occupied the exalted position of Prime Minister of the Dominion, and no matter whether they agree with his policy or not, all fair-minded Canadians must admit that Sir Wilfrid Laurier personally filled that great office with the utmost distinction, with credit to himself and to his country. Under Confederation there has been friction at times due in most cases to demagogic appeals to popular passion and racial feeling, but the sound common sense of the mass of the people has always asserted itself, and the governmental and legislative machinery has been found elastic enough to meet ever increasing demands.

A notable tribute was recently paid to Cartier and the other great Fathers of Confederation by that distinguished British statesman, diplomat, and author, Right Hon. James Bryce, when in addressing this Club a few weeks ago he said: "Not less remarkable than your material progress has been the growth of your constitutional government, although in its early days there were not wanting people to show that Canada could never be a great nation. Your federal system has worked on the whole with wonderful success and with little friction. It has worked perhaps better than anywhere else in the world; I think the only example of equal success is that of Switzerland. You have had the great problem of two races living side by side, of peoples different in race and language, whom the federal system was designed to unite, while the federation of districts so dissimilar as the province of British Columbia, the prairies, and the Maritime Provinces shows that as far as adaptation to local conditions is concerned the federal system has been an unqualified success. And this success is a tribute to the capacity of the men who have governed as well as to those who framed the constitution."

The successful working of the federal system in Canada to which Mr. Bryce bore testimony, is another striking proof of the wise and far-sighted statesmanship of Cartier and the other public men who framed our constitution.