User:Kevlar67/Canada-UK relations

Canada-United Kingdom relations are characterized by a long history of extremely close ties, although not as equals. Before 1867 Canada was a collection of British colonies, and after that date an autonomous, but not fully sovereign, Dominion. As Canada became sovereign and Britain declined in power, direct bilateral ties were loosened, but both countries continued to be allies, and after the Second World War both countries became junior allies in the American-lead Western Bloc.

History
The history of relations between Canada and the UK well into the 20th Century is really the story of Canada's slow evolution towards full sovereignty.

In 1759 Britain conquered New France and after the Treaty of Paris (1763) began to settle it with English-speaking settlers. British governors ruled these new territories absolutely until the Constitutional Act of 1791 which created the first Canadian legislatures. These weak bodies were still inferior to the governors until the granting of Responsible government in 1848. With their new power the colonies chose to federate in 1867, creating the new state of Canada with the entirely new status of Dominion devised especially for it.

The constitution of the new Canadian federation left foreign affairs up to the Imperial Parliament in Westminster, but the leaders of federal parliament in [[Ottawa invariably had their own viewpoints on some issues, notably relations between the British Empire and the United States. Stable relations and secure trade with the United States was becoming increasingly vital to Canada, so much so that historians have said that Canada's early diplomacy constituted a "North Atlantic triangle".

Most of Canada's early attempts at diplomacy nessisarily invloved "the Mother Country". Canada's fist (informal) diplomatic officer was Sir John Rose sent to London by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald. George Brown was dispatched to Washington by Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie to influence British-American trade talks. The British government desired to formalise Canada's representative abroad rather than deal with so many informal lobbyists, and so in 1880 Alexander Tilloch Galt became the first High Commissioner sent from a Dominion to another Commonwealth Realm.