A Critical Juncture

Canadians experienced far-reaching changes in the second half of the nineteenth century. All of the existing British North American colonies, with the exception of Newfoundland, had joined a new Canadian political structure by 1900. Despite this unification, deepseated political and cultural disputes between francophones and anglophones continued to fester, shaped by old themes of language and religion and new themes of provincial-federal tensions and education. Dramatic expansion into the West yielded new provinces in the interior and on the Pacific Rim; it also triggered violent confrontations between Native peoples and whites. At the start of the period, British North America had some improved roads and canals but very few miles of railroads. By 1900 Canadians had completed a marvelous transcontinental railroad, and the plans for two more lines were underway. The vanguard of a wave of European immigrants had arrived. Thousands poured into the continents interior to clear land and provide the muscle for a new industrial-based economy. A modest exporter in midcentury, Canada by 1900 was becoming one of the worlds great producers of wheat and other agricultural products. The United States, riven by Civil War and grappling with Reconstruction, quickly filled its own interior, decimated its Amerindian population, and pressed for expansion beyond its continental borders. All presented Canadians with formidable challenges for survival in the swiftly changing world of the late Victorian era.