HREQ 3125 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Pacific Scandal

• School: York University
• Department: Human Rights and Equity Studies
• Course: HREQ 3125
• Professor: James Laxer

Document Summary

By this point in the drive for confederation, no other british north american politician was nearly as effective as macdonald. It is, therefore, noteworthy that he has come to the present generation of canadians as something of a slick operator, and a periodic drunk who made under the table arrangements with american railway promoters. There is more than a s(cid:373)atteri(cid:374)g of truth i(cid:374) all of this as joh(cid:374) a. "s (cid:271)outs with al(cid:272)ohol a(cid:374)d the pa(cid:272)ifi(cid:272) (cid:272)a(cid:374)dal of the early 1870s attest. Despite his flaws, however, macdonald was a gifted, far-sighted political leader whose charisma and steadiness of vision drew others to him. Given his gigantic achievements over a forty-year period, it is surprising that macdonald remains so relatively underrated. Had he been an american with a record even close to his, he would have been accorded demi-god status, with a monument on the washington mall. But since canadians are skepti(cid:272)s rather tha(cid:374) hero worshippers, i"(cid:373) (cid:374)ot (cid:272)o(cid:373)plai(cid:374)i(cid:374)g.