Brown-Dorian administration.
Background edit
The Province of Canada was created in 1841 from the merger of the British colonies of Upper Canada (renamed Canada West, now Ontario) and Lower Canada (renamed Canada East, now Quebec). Each section of the province would elect the same number of legislatures. After the election, legislators would negotiate coalitions to form an administration with one leader selected from each section, who would form an administration as co-premiers.
After the 1857 election in the Province of Canada, John A. Macdonald's Liberal-Conservative Party lost support in Canada West, reducing the number of legislators that would support him as one of the co-premiers. In Canada East, the Ministerialist Party renamed themselves as the Parti bleu and won the majority of seats in Canada East. Their leader, George-Étienne Cartier, negotiated with Macdonald and they became co-premiers of the province.
Fall of the Macdonald-Cartier administration edit
The province's political situation was tenuous. The province's finances were decreasing, the year's harvest was a failure and prominent Conservatives were splitting from the movement due to a lack of progress on their initiatives. In January 1858, Queen Victoria announced that she had chosen Ottawa as the new capital of Canada. On July 28, the legislature was debating an address to the Queen regarding the capital and Joseph Piche, a member of the Lower Canadian Parti rouge, proposed an amendment that called for Ottawa's designation as the capital to be reversed and another city chosen instead. This vote passed the house, with support from Parti bleu legislators who were aligned with the government but voted with the opposition in this motion. George Brown then motioned for an adjournment, and Macdonald stated that he would treat this as a confidence motion, meaning that if it was successful Macdonald would dissolve the administration, and Parti bleu members helped to defeat the motion.[1]
When the legislature ended in two in the morning the next day, the Macdonald-Cartier administration met to discuss the political situation. Three legislators who had previously voiced their opposition to the administration were absent that day, and there were nine outstanding cases of election fraud from the 1857 election that might cause other anti-administration members to join the legislature. They decided to resign from the administration so that more liberal members of the legislature could form their own administration.[2]
Negociations to form an administration edit
Edmund Walker Head, the governor-general of Canada, asked Brown on July 29 to form a new administration since he was seen as the leader of the opposition legislative members. Brown spent two days consulting with Upper Canadian followers and Lower Canadian allies to determine if it was viable for him to form an administration, and the members of the legislature from Upper Canada gave their support.[3]
Brown started negotiations with Antoine-Aimé Dorion, as he was the leader of the Reform faction in Lower Canada. Discussions continued to the next day, and members of the cabinet were selected from both parts of the country.[4] The two men agreed to support representation by population, and that constitutional procedures would be implemented to protect French-Canadian institutions. They also agreed to investigate modifying the education system in favour of creating a national, single-state system that also contained considerations for the religious education of various Christian denominations to take place. Concerning where the capital of Canada should be, the two agreed that a ministerial bill, not the UK's colonial office, would determine where the capital would be.[5]
Administration edit
On July 31, Brown confirmed with Head that he had support to form a new ministry.[6] After their meeting, Brown returned to conversing with his colleagues to determine who would be part of the administration's cabinet.[7]
On August 2, the Brown-Dorion administration swore their oaths of office to be officially installed into their positions. Later that day, a parliament session began to approve of the new administration. Members who were to be in the cabinet had to resign their seats in parliament and run in a by-election, so the members of the Brown-Dorion cabinet were unable to speak or vote on approving the administration.[8] Allies of the administration proposed the typical motions to prorogue the parliament and issue a writ for the by-elections for the cabinet ministers to get reelected into the parliament. They stated that the cabinet ministers would announce their policy objectives after they were successfully returned to the parliament.[9]
Hector-Louis Langevin, an opponent of the administration, then proposed an amendment asking for a want-of-confidence which, if successful, would end the administration. Other opponents of the ministry then spoke about the lack of policy proposed by the administration and decried Brown's alliance with French Canadians and Roman Catholics to create the administration. Administration supporters pointed out that the previous Macdonald-Cartier administration announced their policy positions a month after they assumed their positions, and that the alliance to create the administration was trying to put an end to sectarian and geographic divisions.[10] At midnight, the parliament voted against the administration 71-31. The lopsided vote was attributed to the absence of supporters from parliament and the nine ministers being unable to defend the administration after vacating their seats in the parliament.[10]
Fall of the administration edit
After losing the vote of confidence, Brown asked Head to dissolve the parliament, but Head insisted that the request be put in writing. After consulting the Executive Council, he sent a memorandum to Head outlining why the parliament should be dissolved.[10] Head refused to call an election, outlining his reasoning in a response that was three times the length of Brown's request. His reasoning was that an election had just taken place during the previous winter, the financial cost would be too great for an election in such short succession, and there were important proposed bills that needed to be dealt with before an election could be established.[11]
Brown submitted his resignation as co-premier on August 4. T. C. Wallbridge, the legislator representing the constituency of Hastings, announced the administration's dissolution in the legislature later that day.[12] Head sought a new administration for the province, and on August 6 it was announced that a Cartier-Macdonald administration would form, with Alexander Tilloch Galt supporting them to prevent its dissolution.[13]
Aftermath edit
Brown used the short-lived administration to reinforce the negotiated unity of factions that allowed the administration to be formed. Brown toured the province to give speeches at Reform gatherings to extoll the virtues of the administration; these speeches were positively received by Reformers. Brown's physical health suffered during this period, and in mid-September disclosed to his colleague Luther Hamilton Holton that he was exhausted and struggled to complete ordinary tasks.[14]
Although Reformers were initially united behind their perceived injustice over the event, by the winter various factions in the movement were looking for explanations of the administration's downfall. Moderate Reformers thought Brown's past positions on various issues were too radical for enough legislators to support him as co-premier. Radicals were unhappy that the administration's cabinet did not contain enough ministers that were aligned with their ideals while voluntaryists, who advocated for secular, public education, objected to the number of Roman Catholics in the administration.[15]
Legacy edit
The administration showed the Canadian electorate that a Reform administration was possible, despite Conservative objections and differences of political opinions between Upper and Lower Canada. Opponents of Brown used this administration as an example of Brown's failings. They stated that Brown was willing to compromise his Clear Grit ideology to obtain political power.[16] When the subsequent Cartier-Macdonald administration was criticised for having thin policy proposals, they would counter by questioning Brown-Dorion ministers about their intentions if they retained power.[17]
Galt's inclusion into the Cartier-Macdonald ministry, caused by the defeat of the Brown-Dorion administration and Head's reluctance to call an election, allowed Galt to influence government policy. One such policy was introducing the idea of uniting the Province of Canada with Maritime provinces in a confederation.[18] The Colonial Office, the British government's representative on Canadian affairs, cited Head's treatment of the Brown-Dorion administration as one of the reasons why the office did not take the proposal seriously. Brown printed in his newspaper The Globe that the proposal for Confederation was a distraction from the turmoil caused by the fallout of the dissolution of his administration.[19] Even though Maritime provinces rejected Confederation, Canadian ministers pointed to this proposal as their attempt to solve the province's sectional divisions that the Brown-Dorion administration seemed to resolve but was rejected by the legislature for the Cartier-Macdonald administration to form.[20]
Members of the administration edit
Canada West:[3]
- George Brown, co-Premier
- Sandford Macdonald, Attorney-General West
- Oliver Mowat, Provincial Secretary
- Michael Hamilton Foley, Postmaster-General
- James Morris, Speaker of the Legislature
Canada East:
- Antoine-Aimé Dorion, co-Premier, Commissioner of Crown Lands
- Luther Hamilton Holton, Public Works
- Joseph-Élie Thibaudeau, President of the Council
- François-Xavier Lemieux, Receiver-General
- Lewis Thomas Drummond, Attorney-General, East
- Charles Laberge, Solicitor-General, East
References edit
- ^ Careless 1959, pp. 263–264.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 264.
- ^ a b Careless 1959, p. 265.
- ^ Careless 1959, pp. 265–266.
- ^ Careless 1959, pp. 268–269.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 269.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 270.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 272.
- ^ Careless 1959, pp. 272–273.
- ^ a b c Careless 1959, p. 273.
- ^ Careless 1959, pp. 274–275.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 276.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 277.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 286.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 290.
- ^ Careless 1959, pp. 279–280.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 292.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 283.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 284.
- ^ Careless 1959, p. 285.