“A nation which shows respect for her public men and for the memory of her illustrious dead, is a nation which possesses within itself one of the elements which make a strong, rich and happy people,” Bowell said. “Canada possesses to a great extent that qualification which we find among the powerful peoples of the earth. Canada has not forgotten her dead; Canada has not forgotten Sir John Macdonald, the great statesman, the most illustrious of her sons.”

“The history of Sir John Macdonald's life is the history of Canada. If you read one you read the other. His name is connected with every step which Canada has made in the great highway of development, progress and prosperity,” Bowell continued. “Looking around, we Canadians must experience within our breasts a feeling of pride and satisfaction when we consider that when Sir John Macdonald came into public life for the first time, long before the union of the provinces in 1840, he found Canada all divided; he found one province arrayed against the other province, he found Englishmen believing that it would be impossible to govern Canada on account of the Frenchmen, and he found Frenchmen believing that it was impossible to form a contented, prosperous and happy people because these divisions existed. But, sir, from the moment his great mind grasped the difficulty, he saw what was required to make Canada what Canada is today. He felt that it was imperative with any statesman deserving of that name to be the of union between the races, and he immediately undertook that great work which, to my mind, is the greatest work of his life. He went to work and became the apostle of conciliation among these different races.”