How Did The West Influence The Canadian Pacific Railway

The West’s Influence on the Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway was first foremost a business, and like all businesses the main goal is economic success. In its rival and creation, the marvel of the steel rail was a lucrative plan by the East where politicians and investors got together to establish the first ever Canadian Railway. At the same time, America was a giant, and its commercial influence only grew with its transcontinental railroad that already started to get closer in control of the Western and Eastern provinces of Canada allowing Britain to slowly lose power unless it created a change. This idea of building a unified purpose was the reason that the Canadian Pacific Railway was created and lied solely on the

After this, America’s interest were provoked when Alexander Mackenzie reached the beyond the Rockies all the way till the Pacific (Innis 5). This led to the appreciation of the value of the western area by the United States and with their influence it lead it to the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804 (Innis 5). When territory along this area started to be acquired in bringing in more interests than it allowed for establishments of posts and the beginnings of settlement near the lakes and streams where furs could be collected; food and fish could be acquired; agriculture produce could be obtained more efficiently (Innis

Firstly, Westerners of the early 1900’s would prestigiously claim that they were a big factor in bringing Canada together. Some would claim that Canada would not maintain its unity and would break off in the middle if there was no steel trail to link the East to the West (Macbeth 20). This is demonstrated because the truth of the matter is that many cannot fathom how the continuance of inter travel and trade over the pioneer railway across Canada brought the East and West together (Macbeth 21). All of these were sought out by politicians that realized the potential of brining in the West into Canada’s unity. Furthermore, in the early 60’s all politicians took steps towards joining confederation of provinces from the east all the way to the Pacific Coast (Macbeth 21). Newspapers of this time like the Toronto Globe would have reporters like Mr. George Brown who would vote in favor of confederation (Macbeth 21). From this, the early remarks of the Canadian Pacific Railway started, with big political moves in creating a unity amongst provinces occurred at the Charlottetown Conference (Macbeth 22). This highlights the devotion of the west being manifested in politics when provinces such as, Manitoba and British Columbia joined confederation in 1870 and 1871. However, British Columbia had one special request that first established the Pacific Railway