The Railway Series

nation was being built; territories were merging, forming a new country. This union was called Confederation. A new Canadian government was formed, similar to the style of the British parliament that includes a House of Commons and a Senate. The railway started to be worked on in 1871, however, politics, finances and mismanagement delayed the start of construction. The CPR was finished in the year of 1885. The development of the CPR started on the track from the East in Montreal reaching out…

In 1875 traveling along the railway was anything but luxurious and the food options were atrocious. Besides the fact that there were very few restaurants options near railway stops the food offered was often rancid and took so long to be served customers didn’t have time to eat it. These existing restaurants weren’t concerned about one-overing their customer because they would never see them again. Fred Harvey was one of the first to recognize this unmet need and he capitalized on it. Harvey…

CHILDREN IN the United States are routinely taught that Abraham Lincoln of Illinois freed the slaves. But few children learn that Eugene Victor Debs of Indiana devoted his life to ending wage slavery. Ray Ginger’s wonderful biography of Debs—The Bending Cross—first published in 1949, and reprinted by Haymarket Books in 2007—introduces readers to a working-class hero as well as a period of immense struggle from below often treated as a footnote in most U. S. histories. Some of Debs’ contemporary…

Asian immigration to Canada during the 19th and early 20th century provided multiple issues to Canadians. After the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Asian labour was no longer perceived to be necessary for the country. Asians were then forced to compete with Canadians and would accept lower wages and standards of living. This, in turn, increased domestic unemployment rates and decreased the standards of life of Canadian workers. Although many other immigrants have arrived in Canada in…

This was the case in 1885 when the government of Canada defeated the Metis resistance and gained control of their land, but this was necessary in order to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1871 British Columbia joined confederation, but with the promise that a transcontinental railway would be built within 10 years of them joining. On June 28, 1886, the first train left Montreal and arrived at Port Moody, British Columbia on July 4, 1886. By 1891 the CPR had secured a contract…

Toll-gating is a procedure in which a person or company receiving a government contract is expected to forward a percentage of the profits to the party The Beauharnois Scandal of 1931 is an example of Toll-gating in Canadian politics. This scandal involved building and financing a huge hydro-electric project on the St. Lawrence river and a secret $700,000 payment to the Liberal Party. Bribery is an offering or accepting of illegal payments of money, goods or services in exchange for favours…

describes the ability of producing 9,870 bushels of grain in 1871 on only two hundred and ninety acres of land. According to Hamilton, the “average production of wheat is thirty and forty bushels to the acre,” while vegetables and fruit grow “luxuriantly” and to a “wonderful size.” While work was required for the production of these crops, it is presented as almost minuscule to the natural advantage that the provinces soil and climate offers. Unfortunately, Hamilton’s depiction was far from…

when you first arrive at university, transitioning over to their type of learning changes the way that most first year students must structure themselves and their time many realize that the work load has increased and that they must take on the responsibility for scheduling study and leisure times effectively the transition to lecture halls and lectures that involve a high level of note taking may be new to many first years, this is usually due to the pace at which lectures are presented and…

An integral question throughout Canada’s history has been who is and who is not permitted to come into the country. In The Making of the Mosaic, authors Ninette Kelley, a legal and policy analyst for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Michael Trebilcock, a university law professor, effectively compile legal and political answers in the pursuit of resolving this challenging question. Divided chronologically into eleven sections spanning the beginnings of the French Colony in…

Introduction The two men that I will be comparing today are Louis Riel and John A. Macdonald. Both of these men have contributed many things that have shaped our country that we see today, and are arguably two of the most important figures in Canada's history. Louis Riel was a Métis man who was born on October 22, 1844, on the Red River Settlement in Saint-Boniface. Riel was fluent in both English and French. During his lifetime, Riel achieved many great successes and inspired many people.…