BONUS: Canadia Pacific Railway

By: Stephen Yan/Martin Campos

Who will Build The Railway?

In 1871, when BC joined confederation, the Canadian government promised to build a railway to the west coast within 10 years of BC joining Canada. Macdonald saw it was essential to the creation of a unified Canada nation that would stretch across the continent. It was part of his long-held dream to create a country that stretched from sea to sea.

The Starting of the Railway

The first obstacle to its construction was political. Jay Cooke, an American businessman knew the potential of the Canadian West in terms of making money. Sir Hugh Allan decided to join forces with Jay Cooke and he then formed the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. This company was actually controlled by Jay Cooke. In the summer of 1872, John A Macdonald called an election. The Conservatives realized they needed more money for their campaign. In 1873, the agreement between Macdonald and Allan were made public so Maconald then got forced to resign from office.

The National Policy

John A. Macdonald was out of office for 5 years frin 1873 to 1878. He developed a National Policy in 1876. 2 years later, in 1878, it became the basis for his election platform. John A. Macdonald then got elected back to his office.

The National Policy contains 3 parts:

1. A system of protective tariffs (taxes)

2. Increased immigration

3. The building of the CPR

CPR Syndicate

was needed for goods transportation, throughout of British Empire's Trading Network
During 1878 - 1880, the Canadian government was searching for investors and put CPR into top priority
It took MacDonald 2 years to find new investors for the railway
He found 3 investors:

George Simpson- President of the Bank of Montreal

Donald Smith- business man with the HBC

James J. Hill- business man in various fields and railway owner

The CPR Syndicate invested $100, 000 and gained a profit of $17 million dollars after 4 years

William Van Horne

Construction was not going well after 1881 and by the end of the year 1881, only 230 km was built. The CPR Syndicate wanted to speed up the building process so they needed a new general manager for the railway, which would be William Van Horne. Van Horne brought energy and high level of drive into the contruction and it speeded up the process.

Money Troubles/NW Uprising

By the end of 1883, the company was running out of money and the government passed a bill that provided $22.5 million for the railway. Van Horne then began to cut down the expenses by replacing the metal bridges with cheap, wooden ones. But by the end of 1884, the CPR was nearly out of money. The NW Uprising broke out in 1885 and Van Horne organized the troop movements with efficiency and thanks to the CPR, the government now knew why the CPR was necessary to build the railway. In early July, Parliament approved the needed grant and the CPR was finished in November 1885, five years ahead of schedule.

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Railway
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-pacific-railway/
http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/exhibits/timemach/galler08/frames/cpr.htm