Editing John A. Macdonald (section)

===Third and fourth majorities, 1878–1887===
[[File:Mac steamroller.png|thumb|alt=A drawing of a steamroller running over a group of men while a larger group of men are pushing it. Macdonald is sitting on top of the machine. The steamroller has the phrase, "Government Majority" printed on the side|Macdonald uses his parliamentary majority to roll to victory over Liberal leader [[Edward Blake]] and his party in this 1884 cartoon by [[John Wilson Bengough]].]]

Part of the National Policy was implemented in the budget presented in February 1879. Under that budget, Canada became a high-tariff nation like the United States and Germany. The tariffs were designed to protect and build Canadian industry{{snd}}finished textiles received a tariff of 34%, but the machinery to make them entered Canada free.{{sfn|Gwyn|2011|p=307}} Macdonald continued to fight for higher tariffs for the remainder of his life.{{sfn|Swainson|1989|pp=115–16}}

In January 1879, Macdonald commissioned politician [[Nicholas Flood Davin]] to write a report regarding the industrial boarding-school system in the United States.<ref name="TRCHistoryPart1">{{cite web|title=Canada's Residential Schools: The History, Part 1 Origins to 1939: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Volume 1|url=http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Final%20Reports/Volume_1_History_Part_1_English_Web.pdf|website=National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation|publisher=Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada|access-date=1 July 2016|year=2015|archive-date=5 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305044526/http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Final%20Reports/Volume_1_History_Part_1_English_Web.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Davin">{{cite report|last1=Davin |first1=Nicholas Flood |author-link=Nicholas Flood Davin |title=Report on industrial schools for Indians and half-breeds |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_03651/ |publisher=[Ottawa? : s.n., 1879?] |access-date=11 July 2016 |format=microform |year=1879 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529190243/https://archive.org/details/cihm_03651 |archive-date=29 May 2016 }}</ref> Now known as the Davin Report, the ''Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds'' was submitted to Ottawa on 14 March 1879, providing the basis for the [[Canadian Indian residential school system]]. It made the case for a cooperative approach between the Canadian government and the church to implement the "aggressive assimilation" pursued by [[President of the United States]], [[Ulysses S. Grant]].{{sfn|Henderson|Wakeham|2013|p=299}}<ref name="Davin" /> In 1883, Parliament approved $43,000 for three industrial schools and the first, [[Battleford Industrial School]], opened on 1 December of that year. By 1900, there were 61 schools in operation.<ref name="TRCHistoryPart1" /> In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the assimilation amounted to [[cultural genocide]].<ref name="TRCExec">{{cite web |title=Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada |url=http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Exec_Summary_2015_05_31_web_o.pdf |website=National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation |publisher=Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada |access-date=28 June 2016 |date=31 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706170855/http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Exec_Summary_2015_05_31_web_o.pdf |archive-date=6 July 2016 }}</ref>

By the 1880s, Macdonald was becoming frailer, but he maintained his political acuity. In 1883, he secured the "Intoxicating Liquors Bill" which took the regulation system away from the provinces, in part to stymie his foe Premier Mowat. In his own case, Macdonald took better control of his drinking and binges had ended. "The great drinking-bouts, the gargantuan insobrieties of his middle years, were dwindling away now into memories."{{sfn|Creighton|1955|pp=345, 347}} As the budget moved forward, Macdonald found that the railway was progressing well: although little money had been spent on the project under Mackenzie, several hundred miles of track had been built and nearly the entire route surveyed. In 1880, Macdonald found a syndicate, led by [[George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen|George Stephen]], willing to undertake the CPR project. Donald Smith (later Lord Strathcona) was a major partner in the syndicate, but because of the ill will between him and the Conservatives, Smith's participation was initially not made public, though it was well-known to Macdonald.{{sfn|Swainson|1989|pp=116–117}} In 1880, the Dominion took over Britain's remaining Arctic territories, which extended Canada to its present-day boundaries, with the exception of Newfoundland, which did not enter Confederation until 1949. Also in 1880, Canada sent its first diplomatic representative abroad, Sir [[Alexander Galt]] as [[High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom|High Commissioner to Britain]].{{sfn|Swainson|1989|p=123}} With good economic times, Macdonald and the Conservatives were returned with a slightly decreased majority [[1882 Canadian federal election|in 1882]]. Macdonald was returned for the Ontario riding of [[Carleton (Ontario federal electoral district)|Carleton]].{{sfn|Creighton|1955|p=33}}

The [[transcontinental railroad]] project was heavily subsidised by the government. The CPR was granted {{convert|25000000|acre|km2 sqmi}} of land along the route of the railroad, and $25 million from the government. In addition, the government had to spend $32 million on the construction of other railways to support the CPR. The entire project was extremely costly, especially for a nation with only 4.1&nbsp;million people in 1881.{{sfn|Waite|1975|pp=149–150}} Between 1880 and 1885, as the railway was slowly built, the CPR repeatedly came close to financial ruin. The terrain in the [[Rocky Mountains]] was difficult and the route north of [[Lake Superior]] proved treacherous, as tracks and engines sank into the [[muskeg]].{{sfn|Swainson|1989|pp=118–119}} When Canadian guarantees of the CPR's bonds failed to make them salable in a declining economy, Macdonald obtained a loan to the corporation from the Treasury{{snd}}the bill authorizing it passed the [[Senate of Canada|Senate]] just before the firm would have become insolvent.{{sfn|Creighton|1955|pp=370–376}}

[[File:John Wilson Bengough 1885-08-29 A Riel Ugly Position (cropped).jpg|thumb|alt=A drawing of Macdonald standing on two horses facing opposite directions. Louis Riel is sitting on his shoulders. The caption says, "A Riel Ugly Position". A crowd is in the background. |Protestants demanded Riel be executed; Catholics wanted him to live. The decision for execution alienated Francophones.]]

The Northwest again saw unrest. Many of the Manitoban Métis had moved into the territories and negotiations between the Métis and the Government to settle grievances over land rights proved difficult. Riel, who had lived in exile in the United States since 1870, journeyed to Regina with the connivance of Macdonald's government, who believed he would prove a leader they could deal with.{{sfn|Creighton|1955|pp=385–388}} Instead, the Métis rose the following year under Riel in the North-West Rebellion. Macdonald put down the rebellion with Canadian troops who were transported by rail, and Riel was captured, tried for treason, convicted, and hanged. Macdonald refused to consider reprieving Riel, who was of uncertain mental health. The hanging of Riel was controversial,{{sfn|Waite|1975|pp=159–162}} and alienated many Quebecers from the Conservatives and they were, like Riel, Catholic and culturally [[French Canadian]]; they soon realigned with the Liberals.{{sfn|Swainson|1989|p=138}} Following the [[North-West Rebellion]] of 1885, Macdonald's government implemented [[Pass system (Canadian history)|restrictions upon the movement of indigenous groups]], requiring them to receive formal permission from an Indian Department Official in order to go off-reserve.{{sfn|Stonechild|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/newbuffalostrugg0000ston/page/19 19]}} The federal government under Macdonald sought to keep the indigenous ill-fed and dependent on government food supplies, a policy which has been blamed for many deaths.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McKercher |first1=Asa |title=Canada and the World since 1867 |date=19 September 2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-350-03678-9 |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-nSuDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22food+until+the+Indians+are+on+the+verge+of+starvation%22&pg=PA14 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=J. C. H. |title=Blood and Land: The Story of Native North America |date=25 August 2016 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-1-84614-808-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jfWpCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22food+until+the+Indians+are+on+the+verge+of+starvation%22&pg=PT85 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gwyn |first1=Richard J. |title=Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times |date=21 August 2012 |publisher=Random House of Canada |isbn=978-0-307-35645-1 |pages=425–426 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cBKGvuvksIAC&dq=%22food+until+the+Indians+are+on+the+verge+of+starvation%22&pg=PA425 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shipley |first1=Tyler A. |title=Canada In The World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination |date=25 July 2020 |publisher=Fernwood Publishing |isbn=978-1-77363-404-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwB0EAAAQBAJ&dq=%22food+until+the+Indians+are+on+the+verge+of+starvation%22&pg=PT59 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dutil |first1=Patrice |last2=Hall |first2=Roger |title=Macdonald at 200: New Reflections and Legacies |date=10 October 2014 |publisher=Dundurn |isbn=978-1-4597-2460-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQEiAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22food+until+the+Indians+are+on+the+verge+of+starvation%22&pg=PT103 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Daschuk |first1=James William |title=Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life |date=2013 |publisher=University of Regina Press |isbn=978-0-88977-296-0 |page=123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mxwwZmSSOssC&dq=%22food+until+the+Indians+are+on+the+verge+of+starvation%22&pg=PA123 |language=en}}</ref>

The CPR was almost bankrupt, but Canada's decision to deploy troops in response to the crisis showed that the railway was helpful to maintain the territory's status as part of the British Empire, and the British Parliament provided money for its completion. On 7 November 1885, CPR manager [[William Van Horne]] wired Macdonald from [[Craigellachie, British Columbia]], that the [[Last Spike (Canadian Pacific Railway)|last spike]] had been driven, completing the railway.{{sfn|Creighton|1955|p=436}} That same year, the Macdonald government enacted the ''[[Chinese Immigration Act, 1885]]''.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Avvy Yao-Yao |last1=Go |first2=Brad |last2=Lee |title=Should we really be celebrating Sir John A. Macdonald's birthday? |work=[[Toronto Star]] |date=13 January 2014 |url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/01/13/should_we_really_be_celebrating_sir_john_a_macdonalds_birthday.html |access-date=30 December 2018 |archive-date=30 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230233441/https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/01/13/should_we_really_be_celebrating_sir_john_a_macdonalds_birthday.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Macdonald told the House of Commons that, if the Chinese were not excluded from Canada, "the Aryan character of the future of British America should be destroyed".<ref>{{cite news |first=Aaron |last=Wherry |title=Was John A. Macdonald a white supremacist? |work=[[Maclean's]] |date=21 August 2012 |url=https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/was-john-a-macdonald-a-white-supremacist/ |archive-date=21 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021075134/https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/was-john-a-macdonald-a-white-supremacist/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In the summer of 1886, Macdonald travelled by rail to western Canada.<ref name="oosterom">{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Donald B.|last2=Oosterom|first2=Nelle|title=Worlds Apart|journal=Canada's History|date=2017|volume=97|issue=5|pages=30–37|issn=1920-9894}}</ref> On 13 August 1886, Macdonald used a silver hammer and pounded a gold spike to complete the [[Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway]].{{r|Shawinigan Lake Museum}}

In 1886, another dispute arose over fishing rights with the United States. Americans fishermen had been using treaty provisions allowing them to land in Canada to take on wood and water as a cover for clandestine inshore fishing. Several vessels were detained in Canadian ports, to the outrage of Americans, who demanded their release. Macdonald sought to pass a Fisheries Act which would override some of the treaty provisions, to the dismay of the British, who were still responsible for external relations. The British government instructed the governor general, [[Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne|Lord Lansdowne]], to reserve the bill for royal assent, effectively placing it on hold without vetoing it. After considerable discussion, the British government allowed royal assent at the end of 1886, and indicated it would send a warship to protect the fisheries if no agreement was reached with the Americans.{{sfn|Creighton|1955|pp=454–456}}