“I consider it my first duty to tender my congratulations to … the people of Hamilton, for having been the first in the Dominion of Canada to erect and unveil this statue to the eminent statesman whose memory we are to recall today,” the Prime Minister said. “As time goes on other statues will be raised to his memory in various parts of Canada, and yet the grandest thing for his memory will be that his fame needs no monument to extend or to preserve it. At the time of his death, it was poetically and truthfully said, "a nation stands his monument." Of no man of any period can it be more truly said that he was the father and founder of his country.”

Sir John A. great opponent, Premier Sir Oliver Mowat of Ontario, also delivered an impressive address.

“I am pleased to be taking part in the proceedings of today, when there has been unveiled a statue, erected here by his friends in his honour as a memorial to future generations, of the statesman who held the premiership of his country for more years than any other premier in any country ever held a like office, and whose administration of public affairs affected the Dominion and its provinces so largely and so long that he will ever occupy a remarkable place in their history,” he said.