Parliament rewrites history

I read with amazement the success of our Island politicians, Senator Diane Griffin and MP Wayne Easter to push through the Houses of Parliament a Bill to declare Charlottetown the Birthplace of Canada. It needs to be remembered that P.E.I. was not party to the birth of our nation July 1st 1867, so it is impossible for Charlottetown to have been its birthplace.

P.E.I. only joined confederation, most reluctantly, in July 1873 and out of pure financial necessity. The colonial government was broke from the costs of constructing the Island railway and was forced to appeal to Ottawa for help.

Following the birth of Canada in July 1867 a federal administration was created in Ottawa and federal elections took place, in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. P.E.I. was not involved in any of this, having removed itself from the process of Confederation in early 1865.

The Island’s claim to historic fame is the fact that the initial discussions of the Founding Fathers took place in Charlottetown in September 1864.

The irony of efforts to declare Charlottetown our nation’s birthplace is that the 1864 meeting took place here only because the other provincial representatives were totally frustrated by the Island Government’s diffidence to engage in talks concerning union, so they came here to break this impasse.

P.E.I. was hardly an enthusiastic supporter of confederation in those critical years.

The passage of a bill to declare Charlottetown the birthplace of Confederation is a complete distortion of Canada’s historical beginnings.

John Palmer,

West Covehead