[1] As a writer Foster contributed to Canadian periodicals such as the Daily Telegraph, the Canadian Monthly and National Review, The Grumbler,[1] and wrote scathing editorials in J. W. Bengough's humorous Grip, where his stance against Oliver Mowat's Ontario Liberal Party provided a balance to Bengough's position.

The group opposed Louis Riel and the Métis resistance to joining Confederation that resulted in the Red River Rebellion in 1869–70; Foster may have authored the editorials in the Daily Telegraph that announced the execution of Thomas Scott by Riel's government and incited calls for retribution against the "dirty, ignorant, miserable half-breeds [the Métis]".

[1] The volume inaugurated a series of such nationalist books that continued with Nicholas Flood Davin's British Versus American Civilization in 1873.

[4] As the Pacific Scandal unravelled, the Canada First movement tried to promote a new party with nationalist ideals called.

[1] The party met for the first time on 6 January 1874[5] and promoted trade protectionism, the secret ballot, and other reforms.