Alexander Galt: Confederation

Alexander Galt, a Montreal businessman and railway promoter, began urging the British provinces to for a union in the late 1850s. In 1858, Galt agreed to become minister of finance in John A. Macdonald’s cabinet on the condition that the Canadian Provincial government would work towards such a union. Galt attended the three conferences at Charlottetown, Quebec, and London, and was largely responsible for working out the financial terms of confederation.

Alexander Galt had a plan for the federation of the British North American colonies. Like others observing the political scene, Galt had conscious of the escalating difficulties in maintaining equality in representation between Lower and Upper Canada within a proposed union.

In late 1864, Galt was in the delegation of ministers who were to attend a meeting at Charlottetown with the heads of the Maritime Provinces. The purpose of the conference was to discuss a legislative union of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Alexander Galt was faced with the task of persuading the conference members as to how prospective a federation would benefit them financially. At the following conference in Quebec, the organization of a federal state was indicated, resembling Galt’s previous arrangement. Galt is credited with conquering the impasse surrounding the size of subsidies that the central governments would have to grant the provincial governments. By proposing to assume the provincial debts, and the allocation of a sum per each inhabitant, the Maritime Provinces agreed to grant the central government the power to levy indirect taxes. Aside from this, Galt also helped secure the inclusion of the Quebec resolutions which protected the existing rights of religious minorities in regard to education privileges. Galt, as a representative of the Anglo-

government. The federal union was met with opposition when brought to the attention of imperial authorities. They showed no enthusiasm for the plan, and other colonies made little response. Following the discontinuation of his federal union proposal, Galt concentrated on resolving the financial problems which had increasingly plagued the province.

He however, believed the solution lay within replacing the union with a federative system which would be accepted by the colonies. Galt had a detailed conception of how the organization of the power within such a federation may be organized. A central government with both fundamental as well as residual powers, a supreme court instated, and payment of federal subsidies to the provinces. Galt persuaded his colleagues to attempt at instating this federal union as the new

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