Prime Minister of Canada

“ The prime minister was told that it could not be done. On the other hand, if it were not done, irretrievable disaster stared Canada in the face. For if the Canadian Pacific Railway went down, what of the future of the North-West? what of the credit {125} of Canada itself? This was perhaps the supreme moment of Sir John Macdonald's career. With a divided Cabinet, an unwilling following, and a hostile Opposition, it is no wonder that even his iron resolution shrank from going to parliament with this fresh proposal, which seemed an absolute confirmation of the prophecies of his opponents. ”

“ The last thing Canadians expect is for me to come down and lecture another country on how they choose to govern themselves. My role and our responsibility is to continue to govern in such a way that reflects Canadians' approach and be a positive example in the world. ”

“ From 1841 to 1867 the office of first minister was what might be called in commission, that is to say, there was a prime minister for each section of Canada. If an Upper Canadian were called upon to form a Ministry, his chief colleague from Lower Canada shared with him much of the authority, and also a good deal of the prestige and honour, of the office. Were a Lower Canadian summoned, his principal Upper-Canadian colleague was associated with him in the leadership of the Government. ”

“ Under the inspiring influence of responsible government Canada has developed in 1902, not into an independent nation, as predicted by Lord John Russell and other British statesmen after him, but into a confederation of five millions and a half of people, in which a French Canadian prime minister gives expression to the dominant idea not only of his own race but of all nationalities within the Dominion, that the true interest lies not in the severance but in the continuance of the ties that have so long bound them to the imperial state. ”

“ The first Prime Minister of Ontario was the Hon John Sandfield Macdonald, the Lieutenant-Governor being the Hon. William P. Howland. The majority of the people of the Dominion were content to give the new constitution a fair trial, except the people of Nova Scotia. In the first parliament elected after the union, the members from that province were nearly all opposed to confederation, and had to be quieted by the grant of “better terms.” In 1868, steps were taken to get possession of the vast territory held by the Hudson Bay Company in the North-West. ”

“ Macdonald died at his residence, Earnscliffe Hall, near Ottawa, on 6 June 1891. Besides having been once premier of the old Canada of two provinces for a brief while, he had been during a period covering in all twenty years prime minister of the Dominion of Canada. During his final administration (1878-91) he was regarded as the foremost statesman on the American continent. His sphere of activity was the organisation of civilisation throughout Canada. ”

“ And we know that by working together, by ensuring the continued effective integration of our two economies, we are going to be creating greater opportunities for middle-class Canadians and Americans now and well into the future.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I agree with that 100 percent. We have a very outstanding trade relationship with Canada. We’ll be tweaking it. We’ll be doing certain things that are going to benefit both of our countries. It’s a much less severe situation than what’s taking place on the southern border. ”

“ A copy of this resolution was forwarded by them to the Prime Minister and Governor General of Canada.
⁠Without going into the causes of this agitation, we feel that it is financially impossible for us to take the responsibility of moving these people out and making their land available to you.
⁠We are however prepared to make available all Provincila land within the area to the Department of National Defence, according to our first proposal, with the understanding that the Dominion Government deal directly with the settlers within the area. ”

“ No two countries share deeper or broader relations than Canada and the United States. We are bound together by our history, our values, our economy, our environment, and our resolve to improve the lives of our citizens. ”

“ That is the belief that binds Canada's loyalty to the monarchical idea—though Canada would as soon call it the presidential idea as the monarchical idea. She does not care what name you tag it by so long as she delegates to the selected and elected few the power to rule. She believes the selected few are better than the unwinnowed many as rulers. She would sooner have a mathematical school-teacher as finance minister than a saloon keeper or ward heeler. She believes that the rule of the select few is better than the rule of the thoughtless many. ”

“ Our countries deserve our full commitment to increased economic growth, which we will deliver. The partnership between the United States and Canada will continue to be unique and a model for the world. ”

“ While men were being actually driven out of Canada by the governing ring on the charge of disloyalty, the colonial minister of England was sending secret dispatches to the Governor General, instructing him plainly that if independence was what Canada wanted, then the mother country, rather than risk a second war with the United States, or press conclusions with the Canadas themselves, would willingly cede independence. ”

“ The delegates to the Quebec conference, held the following positions in their respective provinces:
Canada: Hon. Sir Etienne P. Taché, M.L.C., premier; Hon. John A. Macdonald, M.P.P., attorney-general of Upper Canada; Hon. George Etienne Cartier, M.P.P., attorney-general of Lower Canada; Hon. George Brown, M.P.P., president of the executive council; Hon. Alexander T. Galt, M.P.P., finance minister; Hon. ”

“ With an available acreage estimated at over one hundred millions, and a rapidly increasing population, he would be a bold pessimist who would deny the coming greatness of the Canadian west as a dominant factor in the world's wheat markets. Under such conditions, it is well that the government of the Dominion rests in the hands of a strong administration, led by a statesman of commanding ability and exceptional breadth of view. Courage and wisdom to build not merely for the present were never more vitally necessary to the well-being of Canada. ”

“ The government of Canada is practically more republican than that of the mother country and nearly as republican as that of the United States. Our government is also notoriously much less expensive. Our public officers are also, practically, much more responsible to the people, though indirectly, because they are appointed by a Colonial Ministry who are elected by the people, and whose popularity depends in a great degree on the selections they make and upon their watchfulness over their conduct. ”

“ While it is in alliance with the Liberal party of the Dominion and lends its support to the Liberal administration, it does so in the full conviction that the principles of that party are in the best interests of the country, and that the government at present in power is not only the best which could be chosen from our parliamentary representation, but in point of ability, honesty and progressiveness is equal, if not superior, to any which Canada has yet possessed. ”

“ It is for you, Electors, to give the answer.
You have one day in four years, on which your sovereign voice can be heard. To this day you have now come. Let the great voice of the people thunder, let its breath drive away all those men of narrow and retrograde views who look in the history of old Europe to find the future of young Canada; and who seeks to impose upon a society perfectly democratic, the forms, the semblance, the budgets, the taxes, the patronage and the corruption, the centralization and arbitrary power, of a monarchical government. ”

“ Standing here, on United States ground, beneath that flag under which we are proud to live, I repeat that no people was ever more loyal than are the Canadas to their Queen; and it is the purpose of the present Ministers of Her Majesty's Government to make the people of Canada so prosperous and happy, that other nations shall envy them their good fortune. ”

“ I have never heard of any party in Canada taking the ground, "Here—you have been in long enough; it's our turn." I have never heard a suggestion as to tenure of office being confined to "one term" for fear of a leader becoming a Napoleon. If a leader be efficient—and it is thought the more experienced he is, the more efficient he will be—he can hold office as long as he lives if the people keep on electing him.
The Cabinet—or inner council of advisers to the Governor-General—must be elected by the people and directly responsible to the House. At its head stands the Premier. ”

“ Constitutions and systems of government are good or bad according to the kinds of people to which they are applied, the stage of development which they have reached, and the particular circumstances existing at a given time inside and outside the land. It was only with much hesitation that representative institutions had been given to Canada; and one governor and another, bearing in mind the conditions which had preceded the War of Independence, had laid stress on the necessity of having a strong Executive, and on the growing danger of colonial democracy. ”

“ Each province has a lieutenant-governor and a single legislative chamber, with a representation of four members in the Senate and five in the House of Commons of the Dominion parliament. The control of the public lands is retained by the general government on the ground that it has been responsible for the development of the country by railway construction and emigration. With the rapid increase of population, production in Canada also greatly increased ”

“ The Western issues are now so weighty that only the greatest prudence and wisest statesmanship will maintain the equilibrium between the conflicting forces of the East and the West of our broad Dominion. Canada now stands at the parting of the ways in its home and foreign policy. Every true and patriotic Canadian is proud of the progressiveness of these new Provinces beyond our great Lakes and anxious to see them bring their contributions to the Commonwealth by sharing in the direction of its government. ”

“ We belong to a great world Empire. This connection we value and mean to cherish, but our Imperial relations do not in the slightest degree infringe upon our liberties. The Government of Canada is autonomous. Forty-six years ago the four provinces of Canada were united into a single Dominion with representative Government of the most complete kind. Canada is a Democracy, and in no Democracy in the world does the will of the people find more immediate and more complete expression than in our Dominion. ”

“ Experience has shown that the central {63} government should have full authority to deal with foreign affairs so far as they can be differentiated, and should have a wide measure of control over commerce and industry, which more and more are nation-wide in scope. But, this secured, it has been found equally essential that the provinces should be given wide power and responsibility. Fortunately Canada has only nine provinces, as against forty-eight states in the United States, so that authority is less divided here than in the Republic. ”

“ Even in the political and economic change no man and no party had a dominating share. The Canada of to-day is the creation of millions of hands, of the known or unknown few who toiled primarily for their country's advancement, and of the many who sought their own private ends and made national progress as a by-product. Yet if statesmen {325} are, on the one hand, not directly responsible for good harvests or bad, on the other, they are not 'flies on the wheel.' The powers confided to them are great for good or ill. ”

“ Then possessed only of a small population, enjoying liberty under the aegis of a narrow constitution, now we see in her a great and growing people, self-governed at home, proud of the freest form of constitution, and able to use in association with her own representative the diplomatic strength of a great empire for the making of her commercial compacts with other nations. With us there is no party which would invite incursions or change of government. No man has a chance of success in Canadian public life, no one is countenanced by our people, who is not a lover of free institutions. ”

“ Give the people back their old laws and customs in civil matters, let them feel thereby secure in their property, take a few Canadians into the service of the Crown, enlist in the King’s forces ‘a few companies of Canadian foot, judiciously officered’, ‘hold up hopes to the gentlemen, that their children, without being bred up in France, or in the French service, might support their families in the service of the King their master,’ and, at any rate, some proportion of the French Canadians would be found loyally attached to the British Government. ”

“ It is a striking fact that since Canada attained to a united voice on public questions, since confederation imposed upon her the necessity of dealing with internal difficulties and forming a large judgment on common affairs, not only has no serious difficulty arisen with the Colonial Office, but the deliberately expressed opinion of the Canadian Government has, as a rule, given a general direction to British policy in dealing with external matters which concerned Canada. ”

“ Canada has been greatly retarded in its progress by such causes, and this will in a great measure account for its backwardness when compared with the United States, without attributing the difference to the different forms of government. It was manifestly the intention of the British government, in conferring representative institutions on Canada, that the people should enjoy all the privileges of their fellow-subjects in the mother-country. ”