As Historian Donald Creighton Observed, John A. Macdonald "Was Trying to Keep As Closely As Possible to the Idea of a Crown Colony" over Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory

In June 1869, Canada passed legislation for the temporary government of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory. The Act, which anticipated the transfer, was terse. There was no mention of control over the West's public lands or resources: it was assumed that Ottawa would administer them. The future territory's lieutenant-governor would need Parliamentary approval for any territorial laws, institutions and ordinances. The residents of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory simply came with the package. As historian Donald Creighton observed, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald "was trying to keep as closely as possible to the idea of a Crown colony."

--Mary Janigan, Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark: The West Versus the Rest Since Confederation (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2012), Kobo e-book.