One of the most principled and honest men ever to serve as Prime Minister took office on this date in 1873. Alexander Mackenize, a rugged stone mason who had immigrated to British North America from Scotland before Confederation, took office in the wake of Sir John A. Macdonald’s resignation caused by his involvement in what came to be known as the Pacific Scandal.
Prime Minister Mackenzie would hold Canada’s top political job for five-years and ushered in important reforms such as the secret ballot. His government also established Royal Military College here in Kingston. Unfortunately, his premiership was plagued by a recession that lasted through much of Mackenzie’s tenure. In 1878, Canadians went to the polls to pass judgement on the nation’s first Liberal government and Sir John A. and his Tories rose from the ashes and returned to power, defeating Mackenize along the way.