The federal government’s decision to rename a prominent downtown building to honour Sir John A. Macdonald has drawn praise from Ottawa author Bob Plamondon, but he says the tributes shouldn’t stop there.
On Jan. 11 – the 197th anniversary of Macdonald’s birth – the former Bank of Montreal building was renamed the Sir John A. Macdonald Building.
The renaming was announced by local Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, who said the Bank of Montreal building was chosen because it “possesses the architectural and historical significance to befit a founding prime minister, and it is across the street from Parliament Hill.”
Plamondon, a writer and public policy consultant who recently pushed – unsuccessfully – for Wellington Street to be renamed for Macdonald, says he is happy with the renaming of the building, but that even more should be done to honour the country’s leading Father of Confederation.
He says that the Ottawa River Parkway is also well suited to honouring Macdonald since it’s controlled by the RCMP – the predecessor of which, the North-West Mounted Police, was a creation of Macdonald’s government.
The Parkway also has a view of Parliament, ample room for signage, and falls within federal control, says Plamondon.
Bronwyn Graves, program director of the Historica-Dominion Institute, agrees that Macdonald’s accomplishments are under-recognized and that beyond commemoration, Canadians also need more education.
Graves says that in 2008, Historica-Dominion conducted a “Nation Builders Poll” in which 42 per cent of Canadian adults could not identify the principal Father of Confederation, let alone any of his accomplishments.
Macdonald was prime minister of Canada for 19 years.
It was also recently announced by Heritage Minister James Moore that additional funding would be given to the Historica-Dominion Institute for the creation of Sir John A Day in schools across the country to better educate young Canadians.
The Department of Canadian Heritage will be commemorating Macdonald again in 2015 on what would have been his 200th birthday.