British Columbia in the Balance by Jean Barman

Author:Jean Barman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Canada, British Columbia, Indigenous Peoples, First Nations, Social Science, Ethnic Studies, Politics, Government
ISBN: 9781550179897
Publisher: Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd.
Published: 2022-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

Deciding on a capital

The now united colony had to have a capital, and locating it was no easy matter. James Douglas had, in expanding his turf from the governorship of Vancouver Island to that of the mainland, and on its coming into being as the colony of British Columbia consequent on the 1858 gold rush, continued to make his home in Victoria. The principal mainland settlement of New Westminster remained in the shadows, although it gained some prominence due to the nearby headquarters of the Royal Engineers prior to their departure in 1863.

Seymour’s earlier governorship of British Columbia made him sympathetic to New Westminster, being “the most respectable, manly and enterprising little community with which I have ever been acquainted,” getting its due as the capital of the united colony.79 Not so fast. As explained by Seymour in the summer of 1867:

I have met with the unscrupulous hostility of the Victoria politicians. It was not to be allowed that British Columbia would stand alone and be independent…The inhabitants of the Island commercially levied a toll on everything consumed on the mainland and evaded all indirect taxation. British Columbia was practically a dependency of Victoria, its gold fields, fishing and hunting ground. If the mines proved rich, Victoria prospered…[and] by the assistance of the Government, Church, Navy, Banks and a great commercial Company was raised to a place of considerable importance. But its prosperity was artificial, to a certain extent, and had no solid foundation.80

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