alternatehistory.com

(changes from OTL text in parentheses)

"I expected to find a contest between a government and a people: I found (many) nations warring in the bosom of a single state.
I found a struggle, not of principles, but of races; and I perceived that it would be idle to attempt any amelioration of laws or institutions until we could first terminate the deadly animosity that now separates the inhabitants of (British North America).
A plan by which it is proposed to ensure the tranquil government of (British North America) must include in itself the means of putting an end to the agitation of national disputes in the legislature, by (separating), at once and forever, the national character(s) (which have developed in each) province.
I entertain no doubts as to the (philosophical) character which must be given to (British North America); it must be that of the of British Empire, that of the great race which must in the lapse of no long period of time, be predominant over the the whole of the North American Continent.
Without affecting change so rapidly or so roughly as to shock the feelings or trample the welfare of the existing generation, it must henceforth be the first and steady purpose of the British Government to establish an English (character) to its population, with English (courts and governance) in their provinces, and to trust (each) provincial government to none but a decidedly English legislature, (with allowance to each to decide the nature of its civil, linguistic and religious character, so as to diffuse such national character within the whole of a British one)"

Sir John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, Report on the Affairs of North America (1839)

Lord Durham was headstrong and short-lived as Governor-General, and his proposals were adopted slowly and generally abandoned quickly, but his short governance, and more so, the recommendations of his report, would have lasting impacts on the development on Canadian society. Although his failed almagamated colonies did not survive Confederation, the districts he created within them formed the basis for our current Provinces. Entitling these districts to their own language and religion helped ingrain the existing character of each, and although his intention was eventual assimilation, it laid the groundwork for the multicultural society we have today. In addition, his founding and investment in the Intercolonial Railway ensured that his descendants would be involved as financial investors in Canada for generations, and connected the the St Lawrence lowland to the upper Great Lakes, stimulating migration to the area and exploitation of its mining and timber resources.
And of course, although he did not live to see it, shortly after his death the first BNA colony received responsible government.

-Gzowski, Our Cultural Mosaic (1999)