Colonies of BNA:
Canada West, Canada East, Maritimes &The West
Economy- the wealth and resources of a country or region.
Economy- refers to how are the goods and services produced and consumed.
The economy of British North America was weak. Why?
- The population was small. Economies need large populations to grow. There weren't enough people to buy products or to work for businesses.
The 2 major reasons for the colonies to work together:
1. They were worried that they would be taken over by the Americans
2. Their populations were too small, so they needed to trade with each other.
Intercolonial trade- trade between different colonies
Duty/Tariff- a tax on an imported item
-it limited intercolonial trade
- people had to pay tariffs on items they got from other colonies.
External Trade- trade outside of BNA.
eg. USA, Great Britain....
Goods from BNA were cheaper than goods from the USA because Great Britain put a tax on all American goods. There was no tax on goods from BNA ( now Canada).
Colonial Preference- Britain FAVOURED goods from BNA over goods from America because BNA was English colonies but USA was a foreign country
Repeal- to abolish/get rid of
Corn Laws- made American wheat more expensive Canadian wheat.
In 1846- the Corn law was repealed in Great Britain
Free Trade- no taxes would be charged on imported goods.
After the Corn laws, Canadian farmers had a hard time.
External Trade
Colonies also exported to USA
New Brunswick exported lumber.
Nova Scotia exported fish.
Canadas exported wheat.
Reciprocity Treaty was signed in 1854 between BNA and USA. They promised to lower tariffs on the other's goods so that consumers/ buyers could get cheaper goods.
In 1865, USA backs out of the Reciprocity Treaty because
1) The USA wasn't really benefiting from the treaty.
2)The USA wanted to punish Britain for supporting the South during the Civil War
3) They didn't like the tariffs that the Canadas put on manufactured imports.
So...
1) the repeal of the Corn laws
2) the repeal of the Reciprocity Treaty
led business people in the British North American colonies to want to focus on intercolonial trade!
