Writing in 1843 at the height of labour unrest on Canada's canals, Charles Atherton, the superintending engineer of the Lachine Canal, attributed the violence to “the delusive expectations which Emigrants have been led to form in leaving their native Land.” Rather than moving onto the soil as farm labour, “yielding the natural remuneration of food, with moderate wages in cash,” they opted for work that offered “temporary high wages payable in Coin. Hence their misery, for the highest rate of wages to be earned at a temporary Public Work, is but poor compensation for a wandering life. Poverty & discontent are the natural consequences of such an error.” While misleading about the amount of opportunity available, Atherton was nonetheless clear on life in canal construction. “Public Works are demoralizing at best, & should … be carried on as far as possible by the local population, & be regarded as the mere helping hand, not the dependence, of the Emigrant.” A more sympathetic Lewis Drummond, Member for Portneuf, agreed that immigrant labourers were poor and dependent. “They were to have found continued employment, and been enabled to acquire means to purchase property of their own,” he chastised Canada's Legislative Assembly in 1845.