Sir John A. Macdonald Dinner

 The Sir John A. Macdonald Dinner was initiated in Guelph to honour Canada’s first Prime Minister, who was the  dominant figure of Canadian Confederation.  He was also the only Canadian Prime Minister to win six majority governments, and the major proponent of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which linked Canada from coast to coast and forged a nation of sprawling geographic size.

Sir John A. was a lawyer who learned the arts of argument and persuasion by taking on dramatic cases.  His communication skills served him well in politics and allowed him to become a strong Conservative voice. This event honours him by bringing strong Conservative voices to Guelph.  It is held every January, as close as possible to Sir John A’s birth date.  

Our guest speaker for 2012 is Senator Doug  Finley.  See Upcoming Events for time and location details.  

Our previous guest speakers were:

2002	Senator Lowell Murray, PC
2003	Senator Consiglio Di Nino
2004	Gary Schellenberger, MP
2005	Gary Goodyear, PC, MP
2006	Senator Hugh Segal, CM
2007	Preston Manning, CC
2008	Ralph Klein, AOE
2009	Bill Carroll, Newstalk 1010
2010	Rob Nicholson, PC, QC, MP
2011	Tim Hudak, MPP

To fnd out more about Sir John A. Macdonald and his importance to Canadian history, check out Richard Gwyn’s book, Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald.  According to QMI Agency, this is a superb biography of Canada’s first prime minister that makes it clear that Canada would not exist without Sir John A. Macdonald.  He was determined “to keep Canada separate and free of American domination.”  He fought against British and American politicians who felt that the initial Canadian federation of four British colonies (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) “would soon vanish.  Canadians would not be able to resist the attractive lure and ‘massive weight’ of the United States, nor the higher standard of living that would doubtless follow annexation by the Americans.” (book review by Nancy Schiefer, The Sunday Sun, January 8, 2012).