Canada’s National Policy

In the 1870’s the Canadian economy had been terribly damaged by the policies in the United States. This was because the United States companies could make goods very cheap. Because of the U.S. dumping items on the economy Macdonald decided to protect the some of Canada’s higher economies which were mining, and agriculture. He protected them by creating the System of Protective Tariffs.

Politicians from the east saw the west as a gold mine for manufacturing. Since the prairies were in the west the government encouraged farmers to move there. But the government just wanted the farmers to go there to help manufacture goods. Macdonald realized that this was unfair and discouraged this so there would still be a captive market in the east.

Since goods could not be transported until there was some sort of transportation to and from western Canada, Macdonald decided to make The CPR. The CPR also was a major part of the British Empire trading with Asia. Because of Macdonald’s great idea it became the government’s top priority between 1878 and 1880.