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| When the United Province of Canada came into existence it February, 1841 and Kingston was named
its capital, the city became the centrepiece of an immense and important British colony. The other major cities in the new Canada were Quebec, Montreal, Toronto and Hamilton. The Act of Union which united the former Upper and Lower Canadas, brought together some 650,000 mainly French-speaking Upper Canadians and approximately 450,000 predominately English-speaking Lower Canadians. Renamed Canada East and Canada West, the two sections, however, had equal representation in the first Parliament.
Although one of the oldest settlements in Canada West, Kingston had been incorporated as a town only in 1838, four years after Toronto had become a city. It was a small community, but important nevertheless: its Loyalist antecedents and leadership provided self-confidence; its Imperial past provided a sense of destiny; its transshipment role provided prosperity and a mercantile elite. Equally, effective men in public office and with good Family Compact connections, had kept Kingston in the forefront of provincial politics. In sum, Kingstonians were confident that they possessed the facilities, the amenities and the society required of the capital of an enormous territory with a brilliant future. Consequently, on Friday, May 28, 1841, Kingston citizens, dressed in their Sunday best, gathered at the Commercial Wharf to greet Governor Sydenham. All shops and businesses were closed and the assembled citizenry was in a festive mood. When the steamer Traveller bearing Governor Sydenham arrived, the guns of Fort Henry gave a Royal salute. John A. Macdonald, members of the St. Andrew's Society and the public then followed the Governor's carriage to Alwington House, the official residence of the new Governor. In June, 1841, Kingstonians watched the impressive ceremony of the opening of Parliament in the converted hospital building which now forms part of Kingston General Hospital. Because the building was to be only interim accommodation, Lord Sydenham arranged to buy land, now City Park, where he planned to erect the permanent Legislative Buildings. Kingstonians predicted that if everything continued to go well, their town would soon become a city. But three months later their mood changed. Severely injured in a riding accident, Lord Sydenham died in September,1841. His successor was Sir Charles Bagot, a retired professional diplomat. Ill and facing important decisions that would have far-reaching results -principally involving the contentious call for responsible government for Canada -Sir Charles died in May 1843 before his successor, Sir Charles Metcalfe, arrived. At the same time, opposition to the designation of Kingston as capital of Canada was growing and, in 1844, the capital was removed from Kingston and opened in Montreal in November of that year. After being moved again, briefly, to both York, now Toronto, and Quebec, it was finally located in Ottawa. Its removal from Kingston was no doubt hastened by the pronouncement of Charles Dickens that Kingston "which is now the seat of government in Canada. ..(is) a very poor town. ...The Government House is neither elegant nor commodious, yet it is almost the only house of any importance in the neighbourhood." Despite such criticism and the loss of its status as Canada's capital, Kingston has risen to become the legal and commercial centre of Fontenac County, the home of a world-renowned university and Canada's Royal Military College and a mecca for tourists. With its new designation as Canada's First Capital, the city not only regains lost prestige but also gains new strength for its ambitious campaign for increased economic growth and historic and cultural development.
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Page / Announcement of 1st
Parliament / Canada's
1st Parliament / City Hall of the Capital |
