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| 1849, June 26 |
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| Abolition of the British Navigation Acts, removing restrictions on foreign shipping. Following the abolition of the Corn Laws in 1846, this action led to an acute economic depression in Canada and to a short-lived agitation for annexation to the United States (Annexation Manifesto, Oct. 10, 1849). Beginning in the 1830s, nearly 40,000 French Canadians left the seigneurial districts for the U.S. The numbers escalated over the next two decades. | 1 |
| Four leading English newspapers in Montreal pushed for annexation to the U.S. in the wake of the impact of British free trade legislation on the Canadian economy. The journalists also advocated annexation as a protest against the Rebellion Losses Bill of 1849, which compensated Lower Canadians for losses in the rebellion of 1837. | 2 |
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| 1854, Jan |
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| The Great Western Railway opened, linking Niagara Falls, Hamilton, London, and Windsor. | 3 |
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| June 5 |
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| The Elgin Treaty established reciprocity between Canada and the United States. This was abrogated by the United States in 1866. | 4 |
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| Sept.–Dec |
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| A law converted clergy reserves into a special fund to be distributed to counties and cities for secular purposes. Another law abolished seigneurial tenure; feudal dues were converted into cash rents. | 5 |
| The Grand Trunk Railway was incorporated to build a railroad from Toronto to Montreal. | 6 |
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