Macdonald's National Policy

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The development and implementation of John A. Macdonald’s National Policy was able to accomplish it’s three main goals: completion of the Canada Pacific Railway, the increase in tariffs and import duty to protect resources and industrial interest, as well as expanding immigration to the West of Canada. However, this period of success was also met with many disadvantages as well. The policy put forth for western immigration was discriminatory to francophone Canadians, causing massive emigration to the United States. In addition, the only areas to benefit from the National Policy were the heartland areas from Windsor to Montreal, causing regional innequality in Western Canada and the maritime provinces.
Macdonald’s policy of increasing tariffs …show more content…

However, the execution of this point of the National policy saw benefits only in certain parts of the country. Ontario, the most industrialized part of the nation, profited greatly from increasing tariffs as it now had a monopoly on much of the manufacturing market in Canada. Most other provinces were now forced to purchase from the factories in Ontario, rather than the ones just south of the border in the United States. This also meant that provinces outside of the heartland were unable to profit from international trade. Provinces like Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were discouraged from trading with the United States, a major part of their economy. Similarly, British Columbia’s vast quantity of natural resources like wheat and timber were only to be sold to the heartland. British …show more content…

In 1871, Macdonald promised that the CPR would be completed in ten years’ time. This was ultimately unsuccessful, but by 1882, construction was put into high gear and was completed by 1885. While the construction of the CPR saw many benefits including creating a link to western Canada which aided in expansion, it was also a key player in the stagnation of the maritime provinces. A key purpose of the CPR was importing resources from the west to the heartland and exporting it to be sold back to the west. Therefore, there wasn’t much economic incentive to be seen in provinces like Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In fact, it was of economic strain to the Maritimes because they still had to play a part in financing it with their tax dollars. In addition, the fact that the CPR only ran from east to west and back, further discouraging trade between the United States and the maritime

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