About 18 months ago, a national debate was launched in these pages on the renaming of the street in front of Parliament Hill in honour of our first and greatest prime minister. Two former prime ministers — John Turner and Brian Mulroney — and some of the country’s most notable historians — Andrew Cohen, Richard Gwyn, Jack Granatstein — quickly came on board before the esteemed editors of the Ottawa Citizen concluded, “The street belongs to Macdonald.”
After a committee of Ottawa City Council voted to launch consultations, opposition was heard from those who never want to change our historical markers. We were reminded that Col. John By had a hand in the naming of Wellington Street (although there was no street in front of what is now Parliament Hill when Col. By laid out the city).
I am also loath to alter the markings of our ancestors, unless, of course, there is a compelling reason to do so. The bottom line is that there is a payoff to invoking our relationship with Macdonald that we don’t get from the Iron Duke. That’s because Macdonald is as relevant to the challenges we face as a nation today as he was 144 years ago at the time of Confederation.
I still believe that the best way to honour Macdonald is to place him at the foot of Parliament Hill, where parliamentarians and Canadians alike can be forever inspired by his vision and skill. Despite the best efforts of Councillor Peter Hume and a number of his colleagues, the renaming is unlikely to make the agenda of the current administration. As much as I would like them to follow in the footsteps of a predecessor council that turned Maria Street into Laurier Avenue, the focus of the current council is elsewhere.
Regardless of their decision, the national debate featuring Macdonald and Wellington has allowed us to get know both of these giants a little better. Meanwhile, the brilliance of Macdonald is being introduced to a new generation of Canadians. The CBC recently produced an exceptionally good movie titled John A: Birth of a Country. Richard Gwyn’s much anticipated second volume on Macdonald has also just been released.
In the course of the debate on the street renaming, many thoughtful alternatives to Wellington Street were proposed to me directly and on social media.
Some suggested that Macdonald should not be recognized without a link to his sidekick, Sir George-Étienne Cartier. I have resisted the Cartier linkage (as we have done with Ottawa’s airport and a major bridge) to focus on the entirety of Macdonald’s career. Macdonald died in office, 18 years after Cartier’s passing and there are strong reasons to recognize our first prime minister in his own right.
Whatever the options, there is a risk of damning Macdonald with faint praise if the tribute is not significantly grand.
Giving regard to the legitimate opposition by archivists who want to preserve Wellington Street as it is today, as well as the complexity of making a change that involves navigating multiple orders of government, I propose that we rename the Ottawa River Parkway the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.
It is an elegant and prominent route that delivers visitors directly into the parliamentary precinct. It is beautifully maintained by the NCC and patrolled by one of Sir John’s great creations, the RCMP. There are many scenic lookouts, and even a beach.
There are no addresses to change on the parkway. Being a relatively recent addition to our national infrastructure, it has limited historical significance as a promenade. While new, the route into our nation’s capital was no doubt well used in the days around Confederation.
Having spoken with many federal officials, as well as some of the opponents of the Wellington renaming, I believe the parkway by the Ottawa River could be named for Macdonald with widespread enthusiasm and pride.
In 2015 we will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Macdonald’s birth. It would be a wonderful tribute to walk, bike or drive up Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway to launch this capital tribute. He is the man who made us.
Bob Plamondon is the author of Blue Thunder: The Truth about Conservatives from Macdonald to Harper.
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