Neither a dictator nor a bully

The archives at Queen’s University holds a quirky little volume entitled “Kingston Election, 1861,” in which electors ( all men) are listed. On the right are two columns, “MCD” and “M,” that record by strokes how a person voted. As a result of the practice of “oral voting,” we know that William Franklin, for instance, favoured John A. Macdonald and that, just after him, William Vince declared himself for Oliver Mowat. Further down the list, one can see that Thomas Lynch “Objected” and that both Paul Hugg and William Wales “Refused.” Protests were rare, and Macdonald beat his former protégé ( and future Liberal premier of Ontario) handily.

The 1861 election was hard fought, as the Liberals finally worked out their internal differences and confronted the Conservatives as a solid alternative, but the Tory coalition of Conservatives and “Bleus” won anyway, taking 70 of the 128 seats in the province of Canada. Macdonald would remain in cabinet. He’d already been in politics for 18 years.

While the practice of open balloting was ended in 1874, Macdonald never lost the early habits he adopted in noting who supported him and who did not. Since his beginnings in politics in 1843, he knew his electors by name and even when he could not put a face to a name, had an innate sense of what people wanted from their politicians.

As prime minister of Canada, he won the first election of 1867 and was re- elected in 1872, 1878, 1882, 1887 and 1891. A gravely divided Canada in 1867 gave the Macdonald government over 50 per cent of the vote. He was defeated once, in the election of 1874, when it was revealed that he had sought the financial support of the backers of the CPR in 1872 ( he still took over 45 per cent of the vote).

Was he corrupt? He certainly played dirty that year. He feared that his support had eroded in the Maritimes as a result of the Washington Treaty he had reluctantly negotiated. He won the election handily with 50 per cent of the vote — there was no evidence that the money made any difference; it was later revelations that triggered an early dissolution of the Commons and threw the country into a new election, the only one Macdonald lost as prime minister.

Macdonald was resoundingly returned to power in 1878 with over 52 per cent of the popular vote and consistently earned more than half over the next three elections.

How did he do that? He listened. He watched. He delivered what people wanted. He stabilized the banking system, he legislated the legalization of trade unions, he investigated the abuses of workers by industry. Yes, sometimes he played on their economic insecurities as he did in 1878 when he introduced the notion of protective tariffs for Canada against American imports.

He listened to what the workers in Ontario factories and British Columbians had to say about Chinese migrants and reluctantly introduced a bill to limit their presence in Canada and to deny them the vote in 1885. At the same time, he argued vehemently that women and Indigenous Canadians (even those who had been involved in the uprisings led by Louis Riel) be allowed to vote. He was turned down on the last two, but never stopped advocating for it. He ensured that a national enfranchisement law be enshrined so that the right to vote was uniform across the country.

Macdonald won the support of the people all through his 47-year political career, and when he died in 1891 he was as most popular as he had ever been. He even beat the Liberals led by Wilfrid Laurier in terms of the popular vote in Quebec in 1891. That’s why statues in his honour were erected in Montreal, Kingston, Toronto and Hamilton within years of his passing. He was the peoples’ favourite.

Canadians today need to remember why Macdonald was popular in his day and stop second guessing what his contemporaries con

Macdonald won the support of the people al through his 47-year political career.

sidered just. Yes, his government made mistakes, but he always respected the democratic system of his country. He was not a dictator or a bully; he knew too well that those tactics would not cut the mustard in this country. That makes Macdonald singularly different from the people who destroyed or damaged the statues that were erected in his honour. He spoke for people: English or French; Catholic or Protestant ( that win in 1861 was mostly because Kingston Catholics rallied to him); Easterner and Westerner; rich or poor.