Just a few days ago on “Art's History,” we took time out to commemorate the day in 1868 that Canada lost to an assassin's bullet the great poet of Confederation, Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Today, however, we get to mark this passionate Canadian's 1825 birthday, an ocean away in his beloved Ireland.Back in the day, Canada's Tories always hired a piper to celebrate McGee on this date on Ottawa's Sparks Street. And back in my own days in the Parliamentary Press Gallery in the early 1990s, McGee's birthday was always a big day on the calendar and we would hold a party in his honour at the National Press Club and leave a wreath at his statue or Sparks Street plaque.