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Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister, was, as all Canadians should know, leader of the Conservative Party. But in today's Toronto Star, James Stewart, a teacher of Canadian history, argues that, if Sir John were alive today, he would find his political home in the Liberal Party. Now we all know that the Liberal Party fancies itself the Natural Governing Party of Canada, but this is a new wrinkle: the Liberal Party retroactively claims Canada's first Tory PM as its very own.
On what basis is this claim made? Well, not much, really. Mr Stewart manages to fill his column with vague generalities, unsubtle jabs at current Conservative leader Stephen Harper—but almost nothing in the way of solid argument and evidence. Not surprisingly, he overlooks many aspects of Sir John's career that contradict his thesis. He also badly prejudices his case by switching back and forth between "liberal" and "Liberal" virtually at will. Mr Stewart seems to think that only Liberals can be liberal.
Sir John, says Mr Stewart, had all kinds of vaguely Liberal/liberal qualities: he was moderate, progressive, tolerant, and, well, liberal. Most of the column consists of variations on this theme, but he does manage to slip in one or two actual political issues in support of his claim that Sir John is really a Liberal. The first is - - - (you'll never guess) - - - gay marriage. I must confess I laughed out loud when I read that. In contrast to Sir John's alleged liberalism, "Harper's party opposed gay marriage–the liberal litmus test of our times . . ."
If Mr Stewart really believes that, then his times must be rather short indeed. It was in June 1999 that the Canadian Parliament voted 216-55 to uphold the traditional definition of marriage. Among those voting in favour were the great majority of the Liberal Party caucus, including the current Liberal PM Paul Martin. (Is this fellow really old enough to be a teacher?) What's even funnier, though, is the implication that Sir John would support legalisation of same-sex marriage.
A much better test of where Sir John might fit into Canadian politics today is an issue on which Sir John actually took a clear stand and which is still a live issue in Canada today: free trade with the United States. One of Sir John's fundamental principles when he led Canada into Confederation and then led the Conservative Party in several general elections was that Canada must preserve its economic independence from the United States and guard against economic encroachment from our southern neighbour. To that end, Sir John championed the National Policy that maintained high tariff barriers against American trade. The 1891 election was fought on that very issue: Sir John's Conservative Party was pitted against a party that favoured much freer trade with the United States—the Liberal Party (yes, really, those Liberals!). The Conservatives won.
To top it off, today's Liberal Party is even more favourably disposed to free trade than was the 1891 version of the Liberals.
This rather elementary observation about politics in Canada's early years leaves Mr Stewart's thesis in tatters. (But, to be honest, it was never very plausible to begin with.)
This is, of course, not to claim that Sir John would feel any happier in today's Conservative Party. The fact is that both of Canada's leading national parties are more liberal than Sir John was. David Orchard, and the rest of what remains of the Red Tory tradition, know just how he would feel.
Finally, yet another photo from our Summer 2004 vacation. Imagine our surprise to see this bust of Sir John A. Macdonald in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. Sir John was born in Glasgow, died in Ottawa, and buried in Kingston, but for some reason this memorial was placed in the crypt at St Paul’s. Here’s the text of the inscription:
The Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald.
For nineteen years Premier of the Dominion of Canada.
Born 1815, Died 1891.
"A British subject I was born, A British subject I will die."
"Dominion of Canada"? "British subject"? How unLiberal can you get!
