Sir John Alexander Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, is widely praised as a great Canadian hero.1 We didn’t have his determination and tenacity, our great country would not be the same as it is today.

2 Born in Scotland on January 11, 1815, John immigrated to the New Country with his parents at a very young age. The exact year of his arrival is unknown. He soon began working under a local lawyer in 3 Kingston, his mentor died before he could complete his apprenticeship. Young Macdonald was not quite old enough to take over the 4 practice, however, this didn’t stop the ambitious lad. He immediately opened his own practice.

5 He had several high profile cases, John quickly became a prominent figure in legal venues. This notoriety prompted the young man to run for a legislative seat in the House of 6 Commons, he won in 1844.

Just like John, the country was struggling to make a mark on the 7 world, in 1877, Mr. Macdonald was awarded the position of Premier of the United Province of Canada. However, at this point, Canada was far from being 8 united, much less a real province.

The political state was in shambles. The efforts of the King of England to populate the country was a dismal 9 failure the people in the west had no interest at all in joining what politicians were calling “Canada.” None of this deterred John’s ambition of creating the country of his dreams. He developed the Canadian Pacific Railway and created the Mounted 10 Police; convincing British Columbia, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island to join the confederation.

Even at the age of 60, Macdonald did not slow down 11 one bit, in 1885, he engineered the first National Park in Alberta. Believing that he could attract the attention of tourists to 12 Canada, so he gathered the country’s best architects and construction workers to design one of the world’s most beautiful destinations.

Sir John A. Macdonald served as the Prime Minister of Canada from 1867 to 1873 and then again from 1878 to 1891. He was given the honor of knighthood for his dedication to crown and 13 country, people today still travel on the Macdonald Cartier highway every day!