First majority, 1867–1872 Macdonald and his government faced immediate problems upon the formation of the new country. Much work remained to do in creating a federal government. Nova Scotia was already threatening to withdraw from the union; the Intercolonial Railway, which would both conciliate the Maritimes and bind them closer to the rest of Canada, was not yet built. Anglo-American relations were in a poor state, and Canadian foreign relations were matters handled from London. The withdrawal of the Americans in 1866 from the
Reciprocity Treaty had increased tariffs on Canadian goods in US markets. American and British opinion largely believed that the experiment of Confederation would quickly unravel, and the nascent nation absorbed by the United States. In August 1867, the new nation's
first general election was held; Macdonald's party won easily, with strong support in both large provinces, and a majority from New Brunswick. By 1869, Nova Scotia had agreed to remain part of Canada after a promise of better financial termsthe first of many provinces to negotiate concessions from Ottawa. Pressure from London and Ottawa failed to gain the accession of Newfoundland, whose voters rejected a Confederation platform in a general election in October 1869. In 1869, John and Agnes Macdonald had a daughter, Mary. It soon became apparent that Mary had ongoing developmental issues; she was never able to walk, nor did she ever fully develop mentally. Hewitt Bernard, deputy minister of justice and Macdonald's former secretary, also lived in the Macdonald house in Ottawa, together with Bernard's widowed mother. In May 1870, John Macdonald fell ill with gallstones; coupled with his frequent drinking, he may have developed a severe case of
acute pancreatitis. In July, he moved to Prince Edward Island to convalesce, most likely conducting discussions aimed at drawing the island into Confederation at a time when some there supported joining the United States. The island joined Confederation in 1873. Macdonald had once been tepid on the question of westward expansion of the Canadian provinces; as prime minister, he became a strong supporter of a bicoastal Canada. Immediately upon Confederation, he sent commissioners to London who in due course successfully negotiated the transfer of
Rupert's Land and the
North-Western Territory to Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company received £300,000 () in compensation, and retained some trading posts as well as one-twentieth of the best farmland. Prior to the date of acquisition, the Canadian government faced unrest in the
Red River Colony (today southeastern
Manitoba, centred on
Winnipeg). The local people, including the
Métis, were fearful that rule would be imposed on them which did not take into account their interests, and rose in the
Red River Rebellion led by
Louis Riel. Unwilling to pay for a territory in insurrection, Macdonald had troops put down the uprising before the formal transfer; as a result of the unrest, the Red River Colony joined Confederation as the province of Manitoba, while the rest of the purchased lands became the
North-West Territories. from an 1869 issue of Grinchuckle, Uncle Sam is given the boot by Young Canada as John Bull looks on approvingly. Macdonald also wished to secure the colony of British Columbia. There was interest in the United States in bringing about the colony's annexation, and Macdonald wished to ensure his new nation had a Pacific outlet. The colony had an extremely large debt that would have to be assumed should it join Confederation. Negotiations were conducted in 1870, principally during Macdonald's illness and recuperation, with Cartier leading the Canadian delegation. Cartier offered British Columbia a railway linking it to the eastern provinces within ten years. The British Columbians, who privately had been prepared to accept far less generous terms, quickly agreed and joined Confederation in 1871. The Canadian Parliament ratified the terms after a debate over the high cost that cabinet member
Alexander Morris described as the worst fight the Conservatives had had since Confederation. There were continuing disputes with the Americans over deep-sea fishing rights, and in early 1871, an Anglo-American commission was appointed to settle outstanding matters between the British, the Canadians and the Americans. Canada was hoping to secure compensation for damage done by
Fenians raiding Canada from bases in the United States. Macdonald was appointed a British commissioner, a post he was reluctant to accept as he realised Canadian interests might be sacrificed for the mother country. This proved to be the case; Canada received no compensation for the raids and no significant trade advantages in the settlement, which required Canada to open her waters to American fishermen. Macdonald returned home to defend the
Treaty of Washington against a political firestorm.
Second majority and Pacific Scandal, 1872–1873 In the run-up to
the 1872 election, Macdonald had yet to formulate a railway policy, or to devise the loan guarantees that would be needed to secure the construction. During the previous year, Macdonald had met with potential railway financiers such as
Hugh Allan and considerable financial discussion took place. The greatest political problem Macdonald faced was the Washington treaty, which had not yet been debated in Parliament. In early 1872, Macdonald submitted the treaty for ratification, and it passed the Commons with a majority of 66. The general election was held through late August and early September. Redistribution had given Ontario increased representation in the House; Macdonald spent much time campaigning in the province, for the most part outside Kingston. Widespread bribery of voters took place throughout Canada, a practice especially effective in the era when votes were publicly declared. Macdonald and the Conservatives saw their majority reduced from 35 to 8. The Liberals (as the Grits were coming to be known) did better than the Conservatives in Ontario, forcing the government to rely on the votes of Western and Maritime MPs who did not fully support the party. . Macdonald is depicted claiming clean hands, but with "Send me another $10,000" written on his palm. Macdonald had hoped to award the charter for the
Canadian Pacific Railway in early 1872, but negotiations dragged on between the government and the financiers. Macdonald's government awarded the Allan group the charter in late 1872. In 1873, when Parliament opened, Liberal MP
Lucius Seth Huntington charged that government ministers had been bribed with large, undisclosed political contributions to award the charter. Documents soon came to light which substantiated what came to be known as the
Pacific Scandal. The Allan-led financiers, who were secretly backed by the United States's
Northern Pacific Railway, had donated $179,000 to the Tory election funds, they had received the charter, and Opposition newspapers began to publish telegrams signed by government ministers requesting large sums from the railway interest at the time the charter was under consideration. Macdonald had taken $45,000 in contributions from the railway interest himself. Substantial sums went to Cartier, who waged an expensive fight to try to retain his seat in
Montreal East (he was defeated, but was subsequently returned for the Manitoba seat of
Provencher). During the campaign Cartier had fallen ill with
Bright's disease, which may have been causing his judgment to lapse; he died in May 1873 while seeking treatment in London. Before Cartier's death, Macdonald attempted to use delay to extricate the government. The Opposition responded by leaking documents to friendly newspapers. On 18 July, three papers published a telegram dated August 1872 from Macdonald requesting another $10,000 and promising "it will be the last time of asking". Macdonald was able to get a
prorogation of Parliament in August by appointing a
Royal Commission to look into the matter, but when Parliament reconvened in late October, the Liberals, feeling Macdonald could be defeated over the issue, applied immense pressure to wavering members. On 3 November, Macdonald rose in the Commons to defend the government, and according to one of his biographer, P.B. Waite, he gave "the speech of his life, and, in a sense, for his life". He began his speech at 9 p.m., looking frail and ill, an appearance which quickly improved. As he spoke, he consumed numerous glasses of gin and water. He denied that there had been a corrupt bargain, and stated that such contributions were common to both political parties. After five hours, Macdonald concluded, I leave it with this House with every confidence. I am equal to either fortune. I can see past the decision of this House either for or against me, but whether it be against me or for me, I know, and it is no vain boast to say so, for even my enemies will admit that I am no boaster, that there does not exist in Canada a man who has given more of his time, more of his heart, more of his wealth, or more of his intellect and power, as it may be, for the good of this Dominion of Canada. Macdonald's speech was seen as a personal triumph, but it did little to salvage the fortunes of his government. With eroding support both in the Commons and among the public, Macdonald went to the governor general,
Lord Dufferin on 5 November, and resigned; Liberal leader
Alexander Mackenzie became the second prime minister of Canada. He is not known to have spoken of the events of the Pacific Scandal again. On 6 November 1873, Macdonald offered his resignation as party leader to his caucus; it was refused. Mackenzie called
an election for January 1874; the Conservatives were reduced to 70 seats out of the 206 in the Commons, giving Mackenzie a massive majority. The Conservatives bested the Liberals only in British Columbia; Mackenzie had called the terms by which the province had joined Confederation "impossible". Macdonald was returned in Kingston but was unseated on an election contest when bribery was proven; he won the ensuing by-election by 17 votes. According to Swainson, most observers viewed Macdonald as finished in politics, "a used-up and dishonoured man".
Opposition, 1873–1878 Macdonald was content to lead the Conservatives in a relaxed manner in opposition and await Liberal mistakes. He took long holidays and resumed his law practice, moving his family to Toronto and going into partnership with his son Hugh John. One mistake that Macdonald believed the Liberals had made was a free-trade agreement with Washington, negotiated in 1874; Macdonald had come to believe that protection was necessary to build Canadian industry. The
Panic of 1873 had led to a worldwide depression; the Liberals found it difficult to finance the railway in such a climate, and were generally opposed to the line anywaythe slow pace of construction led to British Columbia claims that the agreement under which it had entered Confederation was in jeopardy of being broken. By 1876, Macdonald and the Conservatives had adopted protectionism as party policy. This view was widely promoted in speeches at a number of political picnics, held across Ontario during the summer of 1876. Macdonald's proposals were popular with the public, and the Conservatives began to win a string of by-elections. By the end of 1876, the Tories had picked up 14 seats as a result of by-elections, reducing Mackenzie's Liberal majority from 70 to 42. Despite the success, Macdonald considered retirement, wishing only to reverse the voters' verdict of 1874he considered Charles Tupper his heir apparent. When Parliament convened in 1877, the Conservatives were confident and the Liberals defensive. After the Tories had a successful session in the early part of the year, another series of picnics commenced in the areas around Toronto. Macdonald even campaigned in Quebec, which he had rarely done, leaving speechmaking there to Cartier. More picnics followed in 1878, promoting proposals which would come to be collectively called the "
National Policy": high tariffs, rapid construction of the transcontinental railway (the
Canadian Pacific Railway or CPR), rapid agricultural development of the West using the railway, and policies which would attract immigrants to Canada. These picnics allowed Macdonald venues to show off his talents at campaigning, and were often lightheartedat one, the Tory leader blamed agricultural pests on the Grits, and promised the insects would go away if the Conservatives were elected. The final days of the
3rd Canadian Parliament were marked by explosive conflict, as Macdonald and Tupper alleged that MP and railway financier
Donald Smith had been allowed to build the
Pembina branch of the CPR (connecting to American lines) as a reward for betraying the Conservatives during the Pacific Scandal. The altercation continued even after the Commons had been summoned to the Senate to hear the dissolution read, as Macdonald spoke the final words recorded in the 3rd Parliament: "That fellow Smith is the biggest liar I ever saw!"
The election was called for 17 September 1878. Fearful that Macdonald would be defeated in
Kingston, his supporters tried to get him to run in the safe Conservative
riding of
Cardwell; having represented his hometown for 35 years, he stood there again. In the election, Macdonald was defeated in his riding by
Alexander Gunn, but the Conservatives swept to victory. Macdonald remained in the House of Commons, having quickly secured his election for
Marquette, Manitoba; elections there were held later than in Ontario. His acceptance of office vacated his parliamentary seat, and Macdonald decided to stand for the British Columbia seat of
Victoria, where the election was to be held on 21 October. Macdonald was duly returned for Victoria, although he had never visited either Marquette or Victoria.
Third and fourth majorities, 1878–1887 and his party in this 1884 cartoon by
John Wilson Bengough. Part of the National Policy was implemented in the budget presented in February 1879. Under that budget, Canada became a high-tariff nation like the United States and Germany. The tariffs were designed to protect and build Canadian industryfinished textiles received a tariff of 34%, but the machinery to make them entered Canada free. Macdonald continued to fight for higher tariffs for the remainder of his life. In January 1879, Macdonald commissioned politician
Nicholas Flood Davin to write a report regarding the industrial boarding-school system in the United States. Now known as the Davin Report, the
Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds was submitted to Ottawa on 14 March 1879, providing the basis for the
Canadian Indian residential school system. It made the case for a cooperative approach between the Canadian government and the church to implement the "aggressive assimilation" pursued by
President of the United States,
Ulysses S. Grant. By the 1880s, Macdonald was becoming frailer, but he maintained his political acuity. In 1883, he secured the "Intoxicating Liquors Bill" which took the regulation system away from the provinces, in part to stymie his foe Premier Mowat. In his own case, Macdonald took better control of his drinking and binges had ended. "The great drinking-bouts, the gargantuan insobrieties of his middle years, were dwindling away now into memories." As the budget moved forward, Macdonald found that the railway was progressing well: although little money had been spent on the project under Mackenzie, several hundred miles of track had been built and nearly the entire route surveyed. In 1880, Macdonald found a syndicate, led by
George Stephen, willing to undertake the CPR project. Donald Smith (later Lord Strathcona) was a major partner in the syndicate, but because of the ill will between him and the Conservatives, Smith's participation was initially not made public, though it was well-known to Macdonald. In 1880, the Dominion took over Britain's remaining Arctic territories, which extended Canada to its present-day boundaries, with the exception of Newfoundland, which did not enter Confederation until 1949. Also in 1880, Canada sent its first diplomatic representative abroad, Sir
Alexander Galt as
High Commissioner to Britain. With good economic times, Macdonald and the Conservatives were returned with a slightly decreased majority
in 1882. Macdonald was returned for the Ontario riding of
Carleton. The
transcontinental railroad project was heavily subsidised by the government. The CPR was granted of land along the route of the railroad, and $25 million from the government. In addition, the government had to spend $32 million on the construction of other railways to support the CPR. The entire project was extremely costly, especially for a nation with only 4.1 million people in 1881. Between 1880 and 1885, as the railway was slowly built, the CPR repeatedly came close to financial ruin. The terrain in the
Rocky Mountains was difficult and the route north of
Lake Superior proved treacherous, as tracks and engines sank into the
muskeg. When Canadian guarantees of the CPR's bonds failed to make them salable in a declining economy, Macdonald obtained a loan to the corporation from the Treasurythe bill authorizing it passed the
Senate just before the firm would have become insolvent. The Northwest again saw unrest. Many of the Manitoban Métis had moved into the territories and negotiations between the Métis and the Government to settle grievances over land rights proved difficult. Riel, who had lived in exile in the United States since 1870, journeyed to Regina with the connivance of Macdonald's government, who believed he would prove a leader they could deal with. Instead, the Métis rose the following year under Riel in the North-West Rebellion. Macdonald put down the rebellion with Canadian troops who were transported by rail, and Riel was captured, tried for treason, convicted, and hanged. Macdonald refused to consider reprieving Riel, who was of uncertain mental health. The hanging of Riel was controversial, and alienated many Quebecers from the Conservatives and they were, like Riel, Catholic and culturally
French Canadian; they soon realigned with the Liberals. Following the
North-West Rebellion of 1885, Macdonald's government implemented
restrictions upon the movement of indigenous groups, requiring them to receive formal permission from an Indian Department Official in order to go off-reserve. The federal government under Macdonald sought to keep the indigenous ill-fed and dependent on government food supplies, a policy which has been blamed for many deaths. Also in 1885, there was a smallpox epidemic in Montreal, and the Macdonald government imposed compulsory
vaccination on the
Mohawk people living in the nearby
Kahnawake reserve, so that there were few cases on the reserve. The CPR was almost bankrupt, but Canada's decision to deploy troops in response to the crisis showed that the railway was helpful to maintain the territory's status as part of the British Empire, and the British Parliament provided money for its completion. On 7 November 1885, CPR manager
William Van Horne wired Macdonald from
Craigellachie, British Columbia, that the
last spike had been driven, completing the railway. That same year, the Macdonald government enacted the
Chinese Immigration Act, 1885. Macdonald told the House of Commons that, if the Chinese were not excluded from Canada, "the Aryan character of the future of British America should be destroyed". In the summer of 1886, Macdonald travelled by rail to western Canada. On 13 August 1886, Macdonald used a silver hammer and pounded a gold spike to complete the
Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway. In 1886, another dispute arose over fishing rights with the United States. Americans fishermen had been using treaty provisions allowing them to land in Canada to take on wood and water as a cover for clandestine inshore fishing. Several vessels were detained in Canadian ports, to the outrage of Americans, who demanded their release. Macdonald sought to pass a Fisheries Act which would override some of the treaty provisions, to the dismay of the British, who were still responsible for external relations. The British government instructed the governor general,
Lord Lansdowne, to reserve the bill for royal assent, effectively placing it on hold without vetoing it. After considerable discussion, the British government allowed royal assent at the end of 1886, and indicated it would send a warship to protect the fisheries if no agreement was reached with the Americans.
Fifth and sixth majorities, 1887–1891 election poster from 1891 Fearing continued loss of political strength as poor economic times continued, Macdonald planned to hold an election by the end of 1886, but had not yet issued the writ when
an Ontario provincial election was called by Liberal Ontario premier Oliver Mowat. The provincial election was seen as a bellwether for the federal poll. Despite considerable campaigning by Macdonald, Mowat's Liberals were reelected in Ontario and increased their majority. Macdonald dissolved the federal Parliament on 15 January 1887, for
an election on 22 February. During the campaign, the Quebec provincial Liberals formed a government (four months after
the October 1886 Quebec election), forcing the Conservatives from power in Quebec City. Nevertheless, Macdonald and his cabinet campaigned hard in the winter election, with Tupper (the new
High Commissioner to London) postponing his departure to try to bolster Conservative votes in Nova Scotia. The Liberal leader,
Edward Blake, ran an uninspiring campaign, and the Conservatives were returned nationally with a majority of 35, winning easily in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba. The Tories also took a narrow majority of Quebec's seats despite resentment over Riel's hanging. Macdonald became MP for Kingston once again. Even the younger ministers, such as future prime minister
John Thompson, who sometimes differed with Macdonald on policy, admitted Macdonald was an essential electoral asset for the Conservatives. Blake resigned after the defeat and was replaced by
Wilfrid Laurier. Under Laurier's early leadership, the Liberals, who previously supported much of the National Policy, campaigned against it and called for "unrestricted reciprocity", or free trade, with the United States. Macdonald was willing to see some reciprocity with the United States, but was reluctant to lower many tariffs. American advocates of what they dubbed "commercial union" saw it as a prelude to political union, and did not scruple to say so, causing additional controversy in Canada. , Kingston, Ontario Macdonald called an
election for 5 March 1891. The Liberals were heavily financed by American interests; the Conservatives drew much financial support from the CPR. The 76-year-old prime minister collapsed during the campaign, and conducted political activities from his brother-in-law's house in Kingston. The Conservatives gained slightly in the popular vote, but their majority was reduced to 27. The parties broke even in the central part of the country but the Conservatives dominated in the Maritimes and Western Canada, leading Liberal MP
Richard John Cartwright to claim that Macdonald's majority was dependent on "the shreds and patches of Confederation". After the election, Laurier and his Liberals grudgingly accepted the National Policy; when Laurier later became prime minister, he adopted it with only minor changes.
Death In May 1891, Macdonald suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed and unable to speak. His health continued to deteriorate and he died in the late evening of 6 June 1891. Thousands filed by his open casket in the Senate Chamber; his body was transported by funeral train to his hometown of Kingston, with crowds greeting the train at each stop. On arrival in Kingston, Macdonald lay in state in City Hall, wearing the uniform of an Imperial Privy Counsellor. He was buried in
Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston, his grave near that of his first wife, Isabella. == Legacy and memorials ==