Everything about The Pacific Scandal totally explained
The
Pacific scandal involves the allegations of bribes being taken by Canada's
Conservative government of Sir
John A. Macdonald. As part of
British Columbia's agreement to join the
Canadian Confederation, the government had agreed to build the
Canadian Pacific Railway, a transcontinental railway linking the Pacific province to the eastern provinces.
Two groups competed for the contract to build the railway,
Hugh Allan's Canada Pacific Railway Company and
David Lewis Macpherson's Inter-Oceanic Railway Company. In
1873 it became known that Allan had contributed a large sum of money to the Conservative government's re-election campaign of
1872. The
Liberal party, at this time the opposition party in parliament, accused the Conservatives of having made a tacit agreement to give the contract to Hugh Allan in exchange for money.
Despite Macdonald's claims that he was innocent, evidence came to light showing receipts of money from Allan to Macdonald and some of his political colleagues. Perhaps even more damaging to Macdonald was when the Liberals discovered a telegram, through a former employee of Sir Hugh Allan. Macdonald had sent the telegram to Allan six days before the
1872 election which read,
"I must have another $10,000. Will be the last time of calling. Do not fail me. Answer today." Macdonald resigned as Prime Minister. He offered his resignation as the head of the Conservative party, but it wasn't accepted and he was convinced to stay. Perhaps as a direct result of this scandal the Conservative party fell in the eyes of the public and was relegated to being the Official Opposition in the federal
election of 1874, after which
Alexander Mackenzie succeeded MacDonald as the new Prime Minister of Canada.
Despite the short-term defeat, the scandal wasn't a mortal wound to Macdonald, the Conservative Party, or the Canadian Pacific Railway. An
economic depression gripped
Canada after Macdonald left office, and Mackenzie was blamed for the ensuing hard times. Macdonald would return as prime minister in the
1878 election thanks to his
National Policy, an office he'd hold to his death, while the Canadian Pacific would be completed by
1885 with Macdonald still in office.
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