One of the challenges at the Quebec conference was to determine the financial relationship between the central government and the provinces. Alexander Tilloch GALT played a crucial role:

“He had the task of explaining to the conference how the prospective federation might work financially and how the question of each province’s debts would be settled. At the Quebec conference in October the main lines of the organization of a federal state were laid down, in terms very close to those proposed by Galt in 1858. Galt is credited with once more resolving an impasse, over the size of subsidies that the central government would have to grant the provincial governments.”

To find out more about the questions of the economy and public finance that were debated within the framework of a union between the British North American colonies, please consult the list of biographies below: