Canada's Founding Debates

R. Douglas Francis is a professor of history at the University of
Calgary and the co-author of Destinies: Canadian History Since
Confederation.

It has long been a truism in Canadian history that the Fathers of
Confederation were pragmatists, concerned only with practical and
immediate issues—such as political deadlock in the United Canadas,
railway debt, threat of American takeover, and acquisition of the North
West—as they debated the possibility, and the nature, of a
confederation of the British North American colonies; they were not
philosophers or men of ideas.

This book challenges that assumption. By presenting excerpts from the
debates in the eight colonies, seven of which would be incorporated into
Confederation between 1867 and 1873, the editors show that the Fathers
of Confederation were “men consciously acting within a tradition of
political thought.” They brought an extensive knowledge of the ideas
of political thinkers in Britain, France, and the United States to the
debate on such political issues and questions as What is the best form
of government? Are parliamentary institutions the only choice? Is the
purpose of government liberty, prosperity, or democracy? and What makes
a nation great?

The excerpts (taken mainly from official reports of the debate in the
different colonies and supplemented by newspaper accounts where
necessary) are organized under five headings: liberty, opportunity
(prosperity), identity, the “new nationality” (federal and
provincial rights), and how to make a constitution. Both supporters and
opponents of Confederation in the respective colonies are represented in
the excerpts; the occasional lack of balance is simply due to the lack
of material for one side or the other in the debate.

There are drawbacks to the organization of the material. From a
political theory perspective, it makes sense to organize the material by
topic/theme. From a historical perspective, however, the context is
missing; the ideas seem to be presented in a vacuum. A
province-by-province division, with the editors providing the historical
context, would have given more meaning to the ideas presented. That
said, Canada’s Founding Debates is a valuable reference for scholars
interested in the ideas of the Fathers of Confederation, and in the
historical roots of current constitutional and political debates.