Antoine-Aimé Dorion and His Parti Rouge Believe Confederation Will Harm French Canada

Led by Antoine-Aimé Dorion, the Parti rouge challenged the idea proposed by the likes of John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier that the only way Canada could prosper was through integration with other British North American provinces. The fear was that French Canada would lose clout in a Confederation arrangement, overwhelmed by an intolerant English majority that would undoubtedly engineer every possible scheme to ensure the assimilation of francophones.

--Patrice Dutil and David MacKenzie, Canada 1911: The Decisive Election That Shaped the Country (Toronto: Dundurn, 2011), ??.