Canada West- now called Ontario
Canada East- now called Quebec

In 1841, Canada West and Canada East united. This is the first step towards Confederation. Canada is still a British colony.
The role of the legislature is to pass laws.
In 1857 Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the permanent capital.
The 4 political parties were-
The Liberal party (Grits)- active in Canada West
The Conservative party (Tories)- active in Canada West
Bleus - active in Canada East
Rouges- active in Canada East
Equal Representation- each region/colony has the same number of seats in the legislature.
As the population in Canada West rose, they started to believe that they should have more seats in Parliament. They argued for representation by population.
Representation by population- the more the population of a region, the more seats should have in Parliament.

George Brown and John A Macdonald were from Canada West. 
Etienne Cartier  was from Canada East. 

He opposed representation by population. He felt that the English already had a majority in the legislature. The Canadiens (people of French background ) were already a minority in Canada East. If Canada East had less seats than Canada West, they ( Canadiens) would be under represented! He argued that this would be unfair.