The Hatchet Blood on the Tracks | The Canadian Pacific
This episode is available immediately to paid supporters. For unpaid supporters, we're providing a short preview. Please consider supporting us at hatchetmedia.substack.com
There’s a story we like to tell ourselves about how Canada was built. It’s about John A. Macdonald’s fearless vision and how Canadians across the continent came together in a noble quest to create a nation.
And then there’s what actually happened.
This is the second instalment in our series on the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the founding of Canada. Paid supporters can listen to it immediately. And if you aren’t already supporting us, please consider joining The Hatchet family, it’s only $11 a month.
In this episode, we're looking at what happens when the most powerful politician in the land gets into bed with the richest man in the country. And how the workers caught in the wake of their machinations end up paying the price.
Prime Minister John A. Macdonald promised to build a railroad that would unite Canada, and went so far as to rig an election to get his way. But the robber barons who financed his corruption ended up turning on him. They blackmailed Canada’s first prime minister and plunged the country into a crisis.
And after the rich and powerful were done destroying each other, thousands of workers risked life and limb to build an industrial marvel that would benefit everyone except them. Many of the men who crossed an ocean to do this work wouldn’t make it home alive. And even those who survived saw their rights stripped away, year after year.
This is the story of how Canada was really built — political corruption, exploitation and a willingness to sacrifice everyday people at the altar of the progress.
Sound familiar?
The final episode in our series will be available to paid supporters tomorrow.
Featured in this episode: Stephen Bown
To Learn More:
Dominion: The Railway and the Rise of Canada by Stephen Bown
The Diary of Dukesang Wong: A Voice from Gold Mountain by Dukesang Wong, David McIlwraith & Wanda Joy Hoe
The North-West Is Our Mother: The Story of Louis Riel's People, the Métis Nation by Jean Teillet
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The Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.
Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque