little in the composition of the House of Commons. Importantly, it confirmed the nation had indeed for given the Tories for the Pacific Scandal. Macdonald won support in all provinces, with a particularly strong showing in Québec, taking 52 of 65 seats. It was the first election for the new Liberal leader Edward Blake who, prior to Stéphane Dion, has the distinction of being the only official Liberal leader never to have served as prime minister.
It was inevitable that provincial governments seeking to assert their authority would clash with Macdonald’s vision of a strong central government. With residual powers, Macdonald believed he held the upper hand, stating, “We are not half a dozen provinces. We are one great Dominion.” He saw provincial lieutenant governors of the provinces as “officers of the Dominion.” Nonetheless, he was not prepared to usurp the provinces in all respects. When Macdonald’s French ministers wanted the Liberal-friendly lieutenant governor of Québec sacked, Macdonald resisted, telling the governor general that, “It was impossible to make Frenchmen understand constitutional government.”
Macdonald feared Ontario was becoming too large and too powerful. The federal and Ontario governments clashed over a number of issues, notably Ontario’s jurisdiction over liquor licenses. The federal government argued that its Temperance Act and residual powers trumped Ontario’s attempts to regulate this field of activity. Ultimately, Ontario’s legislation was upheld by the courts and other authorities.
The federal government’s hand in sorting out jurisdictional matters was supported by its power of disallowance, a power that had proved problematic over the course of Macdonald’s career as prime minister. Consistent with its monarchical beginnings, the British North America Act (section 55) requires royal Assent to any legislation passed by both houses of Parliament. (This “Imperial power of disallowance” has been used only once, in 1873. In 1930, it was agreed at an Imperial Conference that the power would never be used again.)
Another power of disallowance, articulated in section 90 of the British North America Act, gave the federal government the power to invalidate provincial legislation within one year of its enactment. As Father of Confederation and former prime minister Alexander Mackenzie noted, it was crucial that the federal government “have a control over the proceedings of the local legislatures to a certain extent ...[as] the want of this power was a great source of weakness in the United States.” This power was widely supported in pre-Confederation discussions by both the Colonial Office and Canadian politicians, although opponents such as member of Parliament Philip Moore, feared that “the veto power . . . if exercised frequently, would be almost certain to cause difficulty between the local and general governments.”
Unlike the Imperial power of disallowance, the federal power of disallowance over the provinces has been used on more than 100 occasions. Macdonald used the power 29 times between 1867 and 1881, mostly to void provincial legislation that reached into areas of federal jurisdiction. When pressed to reject New Brunswick legislation on nondenominational and mandatory schooling, Macdonald refused, arguing that because the legislation did not violate the BNA Act he had no right to intervene; that it would be a “. . . violent wrench of the Constitution.” During this time, Macdonald set himself up as a champion of provincial rights, but this would soon change.
In the 1880s, Macdonald set his principles aside and began to use disallowance power in an attempt to weaken the more powerful provinces, and as a partisan tool. When Ontario sought to expand its boundaries to the north and northwest, and then passed laws to regulate the use of rivers and streams, Macdonald was incensed at Ontario Premier Oliver Mowat, whom he once referred to as “a little tyrant.”
Macdonald tired of the fight with provinces. The economy, which had been strong in 1881–82, weakened in 1883. Immigration slowed. The growing season for farmers was poor. The CPR had run out of money and needed government guarantees to survive. Some banks holding railway loans were on the edge of bankruptcy. Some provincial leaders were threatening succession. The country was on the financial brink. In despair, Macdonald told a friend, “I have nearly made up my mind to get out of office. This is a good time for it and I’m breaking down. I can’t conceal this for myself, perhaps not from my friends.”
The Liberals opposed government support for the railway. Blake argued that the ill-conceived venture was underfinanced, monopolistic, and poorly designed. His arguments were not without foundation. Project management was indeed poor and the final price tag came in at double the original budget. Macdonald had difficulty keeping his own caucus together on the railway, with Québec MPs demanding support for their province in exchange for their votes on the railway. In frustration, Macdonald mused whether the French in Canada could ever be satisfied: “I had to circumvent a rather ignoble plot to cause a stampede of my French friends, by offering them, for their semi-insolvent province, large pecuniary aid. The plot failed, but this combination of the French to force the hand of the government of the day is a standing menace to Confederation.”
As if Macdonald needed more trouble, in early July 1884 Louis Riel slipped back into Canada from the United States. Macdonald issued orders to keep Riel under close observation: “I don’t attach much importance to these plots but my experience of the Fenian business has taught me that one should never disbelieve the evidence of plots or intended raids merely because they are foolish and certain to fail ...One cannot foresee what they ...under Riel’s advice, may do.”
Nevertheless, Macdonald wanted to address the legitimate needs of the Métis in a responsible manner. The Manitoba Act (1870) set aside 1.4 million acres of land for the Métis. That worked out to 240 acres of land for each child, and 160 acres of negotiable scrip to the head of each Métis family. Macdonald knew the dangers of passing out scrip: “The scrip is sold for a song to the sharks and spent in whiskey and this we desire above all things to avoid.”
But political agitation from the Métis was enormous and Macdonald relented in an uncharacteristic moment of weakness. In the House of Commons, Macdonald outlined his fear: “I do not hesitate to say that I did it with the greatest reluctance. I do not easily yield if there is a better course open; but at the last moment I yielded and I said: well for God’s sake, let them have the scrip; they will either drink it or waste it or sell it; but let us have peace.”
Macdonald was prepared to be open minded and even generous with Riel. He wrote to the governor general. “There is, I think, nothing to be feared from Riel. In his answer to the invitation sent to him, which was a temperate and unobjectionable paper, he spoke of some claims he had against the government. I presume these refer to his land claims, which he forfeited on conviction and banishment. I think we shall deal liberally with him and make him a good subject again.”
As expected, Riel made demands for his people to the Canadian government, amounting to some two million acres of land. But Riel also demanded benefits for himself: $100,000 and a job, and offered to end the turmoil if his personal demands were met. Macdonald reported to the House of Commons that Riel, “. . . came in for the purpose of attempting to extract money from the public purse. Of course, that could not be entertained for a moment.”
Whatever settlement might have been negotiated with Riel ended on March 26, 1885, when forces clashed at Duck Lake. Macdonald’s first response was all business. “This insurrection is a bad business but we must face it as best we may. . . . the first thing to be done is to localize the insurrection.” Macdonald sent in the military. Transporting the troops gave the cash-strapped railway its first real test.
Riel and his followers were defeated at Batoche in what could hardly rank as a significant military accomplishment because the outcome was never in doubt. But Riel’s surrender on May 15, 1885 was cause for celebration in Ottawa. Macdonald wrote to Tupper, “Canada as you will see is delirious with enthusiasm on the return of our volunteers. This has done more to weld the provinces into one nation than anything else could have done.”
The trial of Louis Riel on six counts of treason began
