There were brief speeches of welcome to the Prime Minister and Lougheed told the audience that their city’s distinguished guest “was admired particularly for two things which were not always found in statesmen, namely candour and honour. Unlike some other politicians. Sir Mackenzie never tried to deceive or mislead the public as to his policy on any important question. The Premier was then loyally toasted with "He's a jolly good fellow", and three cheers and a tiger.”

It was then Bowell’s turn to address the audience. The Calgary Herald’s story continued.

“He began by modestly acknowledging the compliments paid him by the proposer of the toast and by thanking the Conservatives who had done him the honour of getting up this little dinner. He had begun life as a boy in an office and whatever he had achieved was by being practical, and, as the Senator had put it, candid. Frankness was a quality he had always cultivated, even when conducting a newspaper, and his advice to newspaper men was to be candid and straightforward in dealing with all questions. ‘If," he said, ‘you journalists think the Government is wrong on any question don't hesitate to tell us so. If you think we are right, particularly when we are taking a course which may be temporarily unpopular, support us, and teach the public to think aright on the matter, for then is the time we need your support.’"

“Senator Lougheed had referred to the honours he had received. He could only say that those honours the knighthood, his continued re-elections for 25 years in Belleville, the 16 years he had passed in the cabinet, and the burdens of the Premiership which had been placed on his shoulders, had in every instance come to him unsolicited, and for this reason they were the more to be prized. (Cheers.).”

It was a banner evening the hurly-burly career of Mackenzie Bowell’s.