Editing Ontario (section)

===Canada West (1841–1867)===
{{Main|Canada West}}
Although both rebellions were put down in short order, the British government sent [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|Lord Durham]] to investigate the causes. He recommended [[responsible government]] be granted, and Lower and Upper Canada be re-joined in an attempt to assimilate the [[French Canadians]]. Accordingly, the two colonies were merged into the Province of Canada by the ''[[Act of Union 1840]]'', with the capital initially at [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]], and Upper Canada becoming known as [[Province of Canada|Canada West]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Canada West – historical region, Canada |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Canada-West |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=October 25, 2018 |archive-date=October 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025225854/https://www.britannica.com/place/Canada-West |url-status=live }}</ref> Responsible government was achieved in 1848. There were heavy waves of immigration in the 1840s, and the population of Canada West more than doubled by 1851 over the previous decade. As a result, for the first time, the English-speaking population of Canada West surpassed the French-speaking population of [[Canada East]], tilting the representative balance of power.
[[File:1855 Colton Map of Upper Canada or Ontario - Geographicus - Ontario2-colton-1855.jpg|thumb|left|Map of [[Canada West]] from 1855. Canada West formed the western portion of the [[Province of Canada]].]]
In 1849, the districts of southern Ontario were abolished by the [[Province of Canada]], and [[county]] governments took over certain municipal responsibilities. The Province of Canada also began creating ''districts'' in sparsely populated Northern Ontario with the establishment of [[Algoma District]] and [[Nipissing District]] in 1858.

An economic boom in the 1850s coincided with railway expansion across the province, further increasing the economic strength of Central Canada. With the repeal of the [[Corn Laws]] and a reciprocity agreement in place with the United States, various industries such as timber, mining, farming and alcohol distilling benefited tremendously.

A political stalemate developed in the 1850s, between finely balanced political groups: conservative and reform groups from Canada West and Canada East aligned against reform and liberal groups from Canada East each group having some support from [[French-Canadian]] and English-Canadian  legislators.  There was also a fear of aggression from the United States during and immediately after the [[American Civil War]].  These factors led to the formation of the [[Great Coalition]] in the elected Legislative Assembly, which initiated a series of conferences in the 1860s to effect a broader federal union of all [[British North America]]n colonies. The ''[[Constitution Act, 1867|British North America Act]]'' took effect on July 1, 1867, establishing the Dominion of Canada, initially with the four provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. The Province of Canada was divided into Ontario and Quebec so that each linguistic group would have its own province. Both Quebec and Ontario were required by section 93 of the ''British North America Act'' to safeguard existing educational rights and privileges of the Protestant and Catholic minorities. Thus, separate Catholic schools and [[board of education|school boards]] were permitted in Ontario. However, neither province had a constitutional requirement to protect its French- or English-speaking minority. Toronto was formally established as Ontario's provincial capital.