IELTS Reading Passage 3 - Trí Đức English TRÍ ĐỨC ENGLISH Chuyên Mục IELTS Reading - Bài Tập & Phân Tích Chuyên Sâu (Passage 3: Canadian Settlement & Migration) 1. Bài Đọc (Reading Passage) [Paragraph A] By the mid-1870s, most of Canada’s population was in the eastern part of the country. The western part of the country was sparsely populated, with no major cities or rural settlement areas. As a result, the federal government implemented a plan to encourage agricultural settlement in the West. Western rural settlement was desired, as the eastern agricultural land was already nearly filled to capacity and the large expanses of available land in the West offered great agricultural opportunities, including opportunities for Canada to grow its economy. [Paragraph B] In an effort to get people to settle in the West and to increase the country’s agricultural output, the Canadian government took measures to secure land there. The Dominion of Canada purchased Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1870. Soon after in 1872, the federal government enacted the Dominion Lands Act, an act that enabled settlers to acquire 160 acres of free land as long as they remained on the land for a minimum of three years, made specific minor improvements to the land, and paid a $10 registration fee at the beginning. The government also created a Mounted Police Force in 1873 and then sent the Mounties west to secure areas for the future settlers. The initiatives implemented by the government worked, attracting settlers not only from Eastern Canada, but also from Europe and the US. The area of Manitoba was an area that particularly attracted an influx of people with the desire to start a new life. [Paragraph C] The Canadian government had decided that the sure-fire way to protect the Canadian territory and to eventually achieve the goal of joining British Columbia with the rest of the country was to get large numbers of people to settle in the West. The settling of the West would then make the construction of a transcontinental railway a necessity; once that was established, the West could ship its agricultural products to feed the burgeoning urban industrial areas of the East. In turn, the East could ship its manufactured products to the West, creating a vibrant East-West economy. [Paragraph D] During this immigration period, Winnipeg became the metropolis of the West. Its growth resulted from land speculation, a growth in housing, and the federal government’s decision in 1881 to make Winnipeg a major stop along the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). With this decision, Winnipeg stood at the junction of three transcontinental railway lines which subsequently employed thousands of workers. With its access to transportation, Winnipeg also became the major processor of agricultural products for the surrounding areas. [Paragraph E] Most of the people who settled in and around Winnipeg during this period were Protestant English-speaking settlers from Ontario and the Britis...