2 apr 1873 anni - Pacific Scandal

Descrizione:

— Conservatives took bribes from railway builders
— led to downfall of Conservatives
— Railroad would be delayed
— led to threats of BC leaving confederation
— the next government (Liberals) would try to renegotiate BC railway deal. BC again threatens to leave.



The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving bribes being accepted by 150 members of the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract.[1] As part of British Columbia's 1871 agreement to join the Canadian Confederation, the government had agreed to build a transcontinental railway linking the Pacific Province to the eastern provinces.[2]

The scandal led to the resignation of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, and a transfer of power from his Conservative government to a Liberal government led by Alexander Mackenzie.[3] One of the new government's first measures was to introduce secret ballots in an effort to improve the integrity of future elections. After the scandal broke, the railway plan collapsed and the proposed line was not built. An entirely different operation later built the Canadian Pacific Railway to the Pacific.

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