A birthday, especially an important one, needs more than a day to celebrate. That’s why, on the road to Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017, the Government of Canada is encouraging the celebration of the things that make Canada the united, strong and free country we are today – including the contributions of our nation’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald.

In 2001, the government officially declared January 11 to be Sir John A. Macdonald Day. A child immigrant from Scotland, Sir John A. Macdonald served as Canada’s Prime Minister from Confederation in 1867 to 1873, and again from 1878 until 1891. He solidified our fledgling country so successfully that upon his death in Ottawa in 1891 at the age of 76, many Canadians imagined that no one else could take his place.

The Historica Dominion Institute, Canada’s largest independent organization devoted to Canadian history and citizenship, includes a biography of Sir John A. on its website. It notes that in the years since his death, Sir John has “ceased to be merely a brilliant party politician and come to incarnate the nation itself.”

“Canada is a hard country to govern,” Sir John A. Macdonald once said. Even today, many believe that nobody did it better. But his leadership skills and techniques began long before Confederation in 1867. He mastered the legislative process and honed his leadership techniques in his early career as a representative of his adopted hometown of Kingston, Ontario, in the colonial legislature. Once he became Prime Minister, he painstakingly designed each one of his government’s policies with the intent of making our young country stronger, and cementing Ottawa’s role – and that of his Conservative Party – in governance.

Some of those policies involved intricate negotiations with Britain and the United States, acquiring the northwest, building the transcontinental railroad, and developing a national policy on tariff protection.

The Government of Canada believes we all need to be reminded of the things that have made us the great country we are today. It is important to invest in projects and commemorations that contribute to the collective identity that defines who we are as Canadians.

This year, as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald’s birth, Canadians will have an opportunity to learn from and celebrate the important contributions our first Prime Minister made in shaping our nation.

Our government has provided both the Sir John A. Bicentennial and the Historica-Dominion Institute with funding from the Commemorate Canada component of the Celebration and Commemoration Program for a range of activities that will increase public awareness of our first Prime Minister. This program of the Department of Canadian Heritage supports initiatives of national significance that commemorate important aspects of Canada’s history.

For more information on the accomplishments of Canada’s first Prime Minister, please visit: www.pch.gc.ca, www.historicacanada.ca and www.sirjohna2015.ca.

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