anti-confederation party

Anti-Confederation was the name used by several parties in what is now Atlantic Canada by movements opposed to Canadian confederation.

Nova Scotia

In Nova Scotia, the Anti-Confederates were led by Joseph Howe. They attempted to reverse the colony's decision to join Confederation, which was initially highly unpopular in the province. In 1867, the Anti-Confederates won 36 out of 38 seats in the provincial legislature, and formed a government under William Annand. The Anti-Confederation Party was opposed by the Confederation Party of Charles Tupper. Federally, in the 1867 Canadian election, the Anti-Confederate party won 18 of Nova Scotia's 19 seats in the Canadian House of Commons. Britain, however, refused to allow Nova Scotia to secede. Howe was a pragmatist, and ultimately accepted Confederation as a fact. He was soon persuaded to join the Cabinet of Sir John A. Macdonald, leading to the movement's collapse.

Newfoundland

In Newfoundland, the Anti-Confederates, led by businessman Charles Fox Bennett, defeated the government of the pro-Confederation Premier Sir Frederick Carter in 1869, effectively killing Confederation as a saleable proposal for two generations. It wasn't until eighty years after Bennett's victory that Newfoundland finally joined Confederation.

New Brunswick

There was also an Anti-Confederation Party in New Brunswick led by Albert J. Smith, whose coalition of Conservatives and Reformers won the 1865 election. It was, however, was soundly defeated in the 1866 election by the Confederation Party led by Peter Mitchell. The legislature that resulted from that election approved Confederation by a margin of 38 to 1. In the 1867 federal election the Anti-Confederates won five of New Brunswick's fifteen seats in the Canadian House of Commons. While in Nova Scotia and elsewhere, opponents of confederation were predominantly Liberals and supporters were predominantly Tories, in New Brunswick the debate blurred party lines. Anti-Confederate leader Albert Smith and Confederate Peter Mitchell were both Conservatives, while one of the most prominent leaders of the pro-Confederation forces, Samuel Leonard Tilley, was a Liberal. Tilley later joined the government of Sir John A. Macdonald. Both Anti-Confederate and Confederate forces were mixtures of Tories and Reformers (Liberals). By 1870, the Confederate and Anti-Confederate parties had dissolved and were replaced by the old Liberal and Tory parties.