next year saw the admission of another province to the Confederation. This was British Columbia on the Pacific Coast, which, separated from the rest of the Dominion by the Rocky Mountains, made it a condition of becoming a part of the Dominion that a railway should be constructed across the prairies and through the Rocky Mountains, so as to connect British Columbia with the Eastern provinces. Although the population of this new province was very small, it was given six members in the House of Commons and three in the Senate.
Two years after, still another province was added to the growing Dominion. Prince Edward Island, which in 1866 refused to become a part of the Confederation, was now willing to cast in its lot with the other provinces. This little island, with its hardy and intelligent population, formerly belonged to Nova Scotia; but in 1784 it received a separate government. Its history before 1873 was much the same as that of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, except that it had trouble in connection with the way its land had been parcelled out to a number of men called “proprietors,” who did not live on the island, and yet refused to give up their claims to those who were the actual tillers of the soil. The Legislative Council of Prince Edward Island was elective; in this respect it differed from the other provinces. On entering Confederation it was given six members in the House of Commons and four in the Senate. No new territory has since been added to the Dominion; but the North-West has been divided into districts, and given a form of government, consisting of a Lieutenant-Governor and Council, in which the people have a slight control over their own local affairs. They have also been given representation in the House of Commons—four members at present being returned from the four districts, Assiniboia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Athabasca.
3. Political Changes.—The party struggles that embittered the politics of Canada before Confederation were dropped for a short time after the Union of the provinces, only to be renewed with almost equal intensity at the general election of 1872. The Government of Sir John A. Macdonald had aroused strong opposition by its share in the Washington Treaty, and its mode of dealing with the proposed Pacific railway. Several points were in dispute between England and the United States, and between the United
