Ottawa Citizen Editorial, May 15, 2010

We vote for Sir John A.

The Ottawa Citizen

Canadians are accused of being neither knowledgeable nor passionate about their history. The animated, national debate -- begun on these pages -- over the name of a certain Ottawa street suggests otherwise.

Wellington Street is the most important stretch of road in the country. The institutions that make up our government rest on it: the Parliament Buildings, Supreme Court, Prime Minister's Office and others. If visitors to the national capital learn the name of only one street, it is Wellington.

Some months ago, author and Citizen contributor Bob Plamondon suggested, on the Arguments page opposite, that the time had come to re-name Wellington Street after Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister.

He meant no slight to the Duke of Wellington, the British military hero in whose honour the street is currently named. The street between Island Park Drive and Booth could still bear the name Wellington, as it does now. But the majestic boulevard in front of Parliament should more properly become a tribute to Sir John A.

Andrew Cohen, another Citizen contributor and author who has written widely on Canadian history and identity, agreed heartily. Yet other Citizen writers, among them Dan Gardner and John Robson, disagreed -- all of it playing out in these pages. This week, the Globe and Mail's editorial board joined the conversation, siding with the pro-Wellington constituency.

Now it is our turn: Sir John A. deserves the honour that Plamondon, Cohen and others want to confer on him.

This is not to deny that Canadian history begins long before Confederation. It does. And, yes, our origins are as a British colony. We must acknowledge that, loudly and proudly.

But the name of our founding political leader -- our first prime minister -- deserves a place of proper prominence, which it does not yet have. The street belongs to him.

Ottawa Citizen