Editing Durham Report (section)

==Recommendations==
Durham made two main recommendations:
* that Upper and Lower Canada be united into one province, and
* the introduction of responsible government for all colonies in British North America

The British Parliament implemented the first point immediately but not the second. Responsible government was only granted to these colonies after 1848.<ref name="ce_durhamreport">{{cite web |author=David Mills |publisher=Historica Foundation of Canada |url=http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002473 |title=Durham Report |access-date=2006-05-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060330014601/http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002473 |archive-date=30 March 2006 }}</ref>

===Implementation of recommendations===

The proposed merger would benefit Upper Canada as, whereas the construction of canals would to a considerable debt load, access to the fiscal surplus of former Lower Canada would allow that debt to be erased.

The newly created Legislative Assembly of the [[Province of Canada]] was required to have equal representation from Canada East and Canada West,<ref>''Union Act, 1840'', s. 12.</ref> even though the population of Canada East was considerably larger.  In 1840, the population of Canada East was estimated at 670,000, while the population of Canada West was estimated to be 480,000.<ref>[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/province-of-canada-1841-67 "Province of Canada (1841–67)", ''Canadian Encyclopedia''.]</ref> Lord Durham had not recommended this approach and had instead proposed that the representation should be based on the respective populations of the two regions.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/lorddurhamsrepor02durhiala/page/324 ''Lord Durham's Report'', pp. 323–324.]</ref> The British government rejected that recommendation and instead implemented equal representation, apparently to give the English-speaking population of the new province a dominant voice in the provincial government, furthering the goal of assimilating the French-speaking population.