Paul Tuns on Canada's second Prime Minister:
Busy with the offices of prime minister and minister of public works, and focused on making government work while revenues were down and his most able colleagues were absent from cabinet, Mackenzie neglected his role as party leader. The Liberals were losing byelections, donors and public support. This led Brown, then a senator, to petition a bank for funds, which resulted in a series of minor scandals for the government that contributed to its defeat in 1878.
Although he only served one term, Mackenzie created a number of lasting central institutions, including the North West Mounted Police (1873) which became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Supreme Court of Canada (1875), and Royal Military College (1876). He enacted laws to help govern and settle the northwest, the territory between Manitoba and B.C.
Along with being the most honest man ever to occupy that high office he was also, with the possible exception of Laurier, the most pro-freedom Prime Minister in Canadian history. Naturally he was defeated after one term.
Comments