Editing Upper Canada (section)

===Canada Company===
{{main|Canada Company}}
[[File:Canada Company Office 1834.jpg|thumbnail|left|Canada Company Office, 1834]]
{{rquote|right|The greater portion of British emigrants, arriving in Canada without funds and the most exalted ideas of the value and productiveness of land, purchase extensively on credit... Everything goes on well for a short time. A log-house is erected with the assistance of old settlers, and the clearing of forest is commenced. Credit is obtained at a neighbouring store&nbsp;... During this period he has led a life of toil and privation... On the arrival of the fourth harvest, he is reminded by the storekeeper to pay his account with cash, or discharge part of it with his disposable produce, for which he gets a very small price. He is also informed that the purchase money of the land has been accumulating with interest&nbsp;... he finds himself poorer than when he commenced operation. Disappointment preys on his spirit... the land ultimately reverts to the former proprietor, or a new purchaser is found.|Patrick Shirreff, 1835}}

Few chose to lease the Crown reserves as long as free grants of land were still available. The Lieutenant Governor increasingly found himself depending upon the customs duties shared with, but collected in Lower Canada for revenue; after a dispute with the lower province on the relative proportions to be allocated to each, these duties were withheld, forcing the Lieutenant Governor to search for new sources of revenue. The Canada Company was created as a means of generating government revenue that was not under the control of the elected Assembly, thereby granting the Lt. Governor greater independence from local voters.

The plan for the Canada Company was promoted by the province's Attorney General, [[John Beverly Robinson]], then studying law at Lincoln's Inn in London. The Lt. Governor's financial crisis led to a quick adoption of Robinson's scheme to sell the Crown reserves to a new land company which would provide the provincial government with annual payments of between £15,000 to £20,000. The Canada Company was chartered in London in 1826; after three years of mismanagement by [[John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]], the company hired [[William Allan (banker)|William Allan]] and [[Thomas Mercer Jones]] to manage the company's Upper Canadian business. Jones was to manage the "[[Huron Tract]]," and Allan to sell the Crown reserves already surveyed in other districts.<ref>{{harvp|Lee|2004|pp=98–148}}</ref>

According to the Canada Company, "the poorest individual can here procure for himself and family a valuable tract; which, with a little labour, he can soon convert into a comfortable home, such as he could probably never attain in any other country&nbsp;– all his own!" However, recent studies have suggested that a minimum of £100 to £200 plus the cost of land was required to start a new farm in the bush. As a result, few of these poor settlers had any hope of starting their own farm, although many tried.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ankli|first=Robert E.|author2=Duncan, Kenneth |title=Farm Making Costs in Early Ontario|journal=Canadian Papers in Rural History|year=1984|volume=4|pages=33–49}}</ref>

====Huron Tract====
[[Image:HuronTract.JPG|thumb|Huron Tract Purchase area, in [[Southern Ontario]], highlighted in yellow]]
{{main|Huron Tract}}

The Huron Tract lies in the counties of Huron, Perth, Middlesex and present-day [[Lambton County, Ontario]], bordering on [[Lake Huron]] to the west and [[Lake Erie]] to the east. The tract was purchased by the Canada Company for resale to settlers. Influenced by [[William "Tiger" Dunlop]], [[John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]] and other businessmen formed the [[Canada Company]].<ref name="Huron Country">{{cite web|url=http://www.huroncounty.ca/library/assess/preambl2.htm|title=''What was the Huron Tract?''|access-date=17 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726161837/http://www.huroncounty.ca/library/assess/preambl2.htm|archive-date=26 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Canada Company was the administrative agent for the Huron Tract.