Political Unions Aid the Sale of Securities and Tariffs Reassure Debenture Holders

In 1841, the Province of Canada was created to abet the process of selling public securities, and subsequent tariff policy aimed to keep the debenture holders reassured. In 1867 precisely the same tactic was tried, with new territory brought within the federal tax collectors' grasp to ensure a steady flow of interest payments to Britain and keep up the quotation of public securities. In 1879, paralleling the fiscal policy of the late 1850's, a high tariff strategy was adopted, a key objective of which was to ensure an inflow of revenue to finance infrastructure and to pay off the public debt.

--R. T. Naylor, The Banks and Finance Capital, vol. 1 of The History of Canadian Business, 1867-1914 (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006), 58.