leadership of Alexander Mackenzie,

(Canada’s second Prime Minister), to form the new government. Mackenzie immediately called an election in which the Liberals were swept to power in January 1874 with a large majority. During the election campaign, Mackenzie and the Liberal Party declared that the agreement of 1871 with British Columbia was “a bargain to be broken. ” Liberals were determined not to increase the tax burden on Canadians and, at the same time, wanted the railway to be built by the government and not by privat