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On This Day in Canada’s Political History: Sir John A. Macdonald’s Final Election Victory (1891)

  • Arthur Milnes

  • March 5, 2021

Today is one of those days on the political history calendar that will unite all Canadian politicos who celebrate electoral greatness, regardless of party.  So, it was on this date in 1891 that Canadians gave the Father of Confederation his sixth – count ‘em! — majority victory at the polls, a remarkable accomplishment likely never to be repeated by a Prime Minister in the modern age. In his Election Manifesto, released during the campaign, the grand old man of Canadian politics proudly recalled the fact that he and his government had done the impossible and united the new country from Atlantic to Pacific via a band of steel called the Canadian Pacific Railway. It remains one of my favourite statements from Macdonald of Kingston.

"We undertook that stupendous work, the Canadian Pacific Railway. Undeterred by the pessimistic views of our opponents -- nay -- in spite of their strenuous and even malignant opposition, we pushed forward that great enterprise ... over the Rocky Mountains to the shores of the Pacific ... I myself experienced the proud satisfaction of looking back from the steps of my (train) car upon the Rocky Mountains fringing the eastern sky."

The 1891 election also marked the only time Canada’s two greatest Prime Ministers, Macdonald and Laurier, faced off against each other as party leaders - thus, a truly historic campaign. It was Macdonald, however, that carried the day with audiences of grateful Canadian voters at his rallies famously shouting “Sir John, you’ll never die!” caption id="attachment_543375" align="aligncenter" width="440" Poster used during Sir John A's final election campaign./caption Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.

Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.