- Immanuel Giulea and James McLean
When most Canadians take a minute to think about the railway development in our country and how the transcontinental rail came to be, they think of Sir John A. Macdonald. What most Canadians are unaware of is that Macdonald wasn’t behind the Canadian Pacific Railroad that linked the east coast all the way to Vancouver. It was Macdonald’s close ally, George-Étienne Cartier, who played the greatest role.
Cartier, recognized as an influential leader, understood that the key to prosperity in both pre- and post-Confederation Canada lied in the construction of railways. Aware of this important reality, Cartier devoted much of his professional life to raising money, building public support and representing the interests of the railway industry in the union and federal legislatures.
For nearly two decades, Cartier acted as the solicitor to the Grand Trunk Railroad and mobilized his law firm to act on its behalf. Acting as its legal agent, Cartier’s firm dealt with labour disputes, property litigations, court cases, inquests and land deals. On every significant legal issue the Grand Trunk faced during pre-Confederation Canada, Cartier and his firm fought in the interests of railways and the economic development they brought. More than just providing legal counsel, Cartier also became a spokesman for the railway industry.
In 1845, Cartier was appointed first solicitor of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway, a line that would connect Montreal with the ice-free port of Portland, Maine. A few years later, as chief solicitor of the Grand Trunk Railway, he actively promoted the financing of the Grand Trunk and Intercolonial railways through government loans and subsidies.
From 1851 to his death in 1873, not counting short intervals out of power, Cartier was Chairman of the Standing Committee on Railways. Shortly after Confederation, Cartier signaled that his intentions to champion railway interests would continue. As Minister of Militia before and after the Union, he promoted railways as a necessity for national security and unity.
In 1870, he persuaded the BC delegates to join Confederation by promising them that a CP rail connection would begin in three years. Working with British financiers, the Bank of Montreal and Hudson's Bay Company interests, Cartier actively promoted the CPR. Two years later, in 1872, Cartier introduced and pushed the bill that created the Canadian Pacific Railroad through the House of Commons.
Influential in the drafting of clauses in various acts, including the BNA Act, Cartier prevented US lines from tapping into Canadian east-west trade until the Grand Trunk, Intercolonial and CPR were under way. A year before his death, Cartier lost his election in the riding of Montreal-East. What most people don’t know is that he was defeated by the interest of Boston financiers who wanted to build a transcontinental railway through Quebec and Ontario. The lobbying from Boston to build the Northern Pacific Railroad is what eventually led to the Pacific Scandal. Cartier was defeated but later given the riding of Provencher.
For all his achievements, Canada owes a great deal of gratitude to this leader who played such an influential role in shaping our nation’s political, economic and railway history. For his role in the railway development of Canada, George-Etienne Cartier fully deserves his place in the
Canadian Railway Hall of Fame, next to other great leaders such as Sir John A. Macdonald, George Stephen, Donald Smith and others.
Immanuel Giulea and James McLean are with the Société Macdonald-Cartier Society, one of Canada's most dynamic youth-oriented non-profit organizations, with the mandate to educate a new generation of citizens and leaders about Canadian history, heritage and culture; increase their level of civic literacy; and bring their voices and ideas to the nation's public policy discourse.
