No Union between this Colony (British Columbia) and Canada Can Permanently Exist Unless It Be to the Material and Pecuniary (Money) Advantage of this Colony to Remain in the Union

J.S. Helmcken (British Columbia, Legislative Council, March 9, 1870): No union between this colony and Canada can permanently exist unless it be to the material and pecuniary advantage of this colony to remain in the union. The sum of the interests of the inhabitants is the interest of the colony. The people of this colony have, generally speaking, no love for Canada; they care, as a rule, little or nothing about the creation of another empire, kingdom, or republic; they have but little sentimentality, and care little about the distinctions between the form of government of Canada and the United States. Therefore, no union on account of love need be looked for. The only bond of union outside of force looked for--and force the dominion has not--will be the material advantage of the country and the pecuniary benefit of the inhabitants.

Love for Canada has to be acquired by the prosperity of the country and [by] our children.

--Janet Ajzenstat et al., eds., Canada's Founding Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 250-251.