Alexander Mackenzie
| Alexander Mackenzie | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1822-01-28 Logierait, Perthshire, Scotland |
| Died | 1892-04-17 Toronto, Ontario |
| Occupation | Stonemason, contractor, journalist, politician, Prime Minister of Canada |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
| Partner | |
| Children | |
| Siblings | |
Alexander Mackenzie (28 January 1822 – 17 April 1892 (aged 70)) was a Scottish-born stonemason, contractor, journalist, and politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Canada from 1873 to 1878, the first to lead the Liberal Party in that role.
Early life
Mackenzie was born on 28 January 1822 at Logierait, Perthshire, Scotland, the third of ten sons born to Alexander Mackenzie, a carpenter, and Mary Stewart Fleming. His father died in 1836, leaving the family in difficult circumstances. At sixteen Mackenzie apprenticed as a stonemason, and in 1842 he emigrated to Canada with very little money, settling initially in Kingston, Upper Canada.[1]
He worked in construction and contracting around Kingston before relocating to Port Sarnia (later Sarnia), where he established a building business. His early contracts included churches, banks, and government buildings across southwestern Ontario.[1]
Political career
Provincial politics
Mackenzie became politically active soon after arriving in Canada. By 1851 he was secretary of the Reform Association of Lambton County and campaigned actively in support of George Brown. He edited a Reform newspaper and, following a libel suit arising from that work in 1854, was elected to the provincial assembly in 1861, representing Lambton until Confederation.[1]
In the legislature he advocated for representation by population, fiscal restraint, and the separation of church and state. He initially opposed the "Great Coalition" of 1864 but ultimately supported Confederation while remaining wary of coalition politics.[1]
Federal politics and the Pacific Scandal
Following Confederation in 1867 Mackenzie was elected to the House of Commons for Lambton. Over the following years he took on an increasingly central role in the fractured Liberal Party as it sought coherent national leadership following Brown's withdrawal from politics.[1]
The Pacific Scandal of 1873 — which revealed that Conservative leader Sir John A. Macdonald had accepted substantial campaign funds from capitalist Hugh Allan in exchange for the Pacific Railway charter — destroyed the Conservative government. After Macdonald's resignation on 5 November 1873, Governor General Lord Dufferin invited Mackenzie to form a government. The election of January 1874 returned a large Liberal majority.[1]
Prime Ministership (1873–1878)
Mackenzie's cabinet included Edward Blake, Richard John Cartwright at Finance, and regional representatives from Quebec and the Maritimes, though managing French-Canadian relations proved persistently difficult throughout his tenure.[1]
His government introduced several significant reforms. The Dominion Elections Act of 1874 introduced the secret ballot, same-day national voting, and removed property qualifications for Commons candidates. The Supreme Court of Canada was established in 1875, and Mackenzie worked to limit appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain. The Canada Temperance Act of 1878 introduced local option on the liquor trade. A military training college was established in 1874, emphasizing Canadian rather than British command.[1]
On railway policy, Mackenzie inherited the commitment to connect British Columbia by rail but pursued cautious surveying and incremental construction rather than the rapid approach advocated by the Conservatives. Total railway mileage grew from 4,331 miles in 1874 to 6,858 in 1879, largely through completion of the Intercolonial Railway under engineer Sandford Fleming.[1]
Economic depression from 1873 to 1878 constrained his free-trade ideals. George Brown negotiated a reciprocity treaty with the United States in June 1874, but the American Senate failed to ratify it. Successive tariff adjustments in 1874, 1876, and 1877 generated revenue while resisting protectionist pressure, though those debates deepened divisions within the Liberal Party for years afterward.[1]
In 1875 Mackenzie granted amnesty to those involved in the Manitoba provisional government, including a provisional pardon to Louis Riel, and Governor General Dufferin commuted the death sentence of Ambroise-Dydime Lépine.[1]
A patronage controversy arose in 1874 when Mackenzie authorized a large steel rail purchase through a firm in which his brother Charles held a financial interest; he maintained the contract had been awarded on competitive terms. The 1877 Neebing Hotel affair involved a Liberal contractor who sold land to the federal government at inflated prices, with the evaluator — a Mackenzie appointee — approving the valuation.[1]
Defeat and later years
The September 1878 election returned a large Conservative majority. The Conservatives had adopted protectionism as a platform, and Mackenzie underestimated its popular appeal alongside accumulated dissatisfaction over railway policy, the temperance legislation, and regional grievances. He resigned on 9 October 1878 and was replaced as Liberal leader by Edward Blake on 29 April 1880.[1]
Mackenzie moved to Toronto and was elected for York East in 1882, holding the seat until his death. He became the first president of the North American Life Assurance Company (1881–1892). In 1882 he published Life and Speeches of Hon. George Brown, a literary tribute to his political mentor and a defence of the Reform tradition.[1]
Personal life
Mackenzie married Helen Neil on 28 March 1845 in Kingston, Upper Canada. She died in 1852, having borne him two daughters — one of whom died in infancy — and a son who also died young. He married Jane Sym on 17 June 1853; they had no children together. His surviving daughter, Mary, remained close to him throughout his life.[1]
Mackenzie was a committed Baptist, austere in personal habits, and deeply egalitarian in outlook. He spoke extemporaneously in the Commons with a Scottish accent and was known for blunt honesty and strict personal economy — reportedly lamenting as Prime Minister the expenditure of $128 on a political banquet.[1]
Death
Mackenzie died on 17 April 1892 in Toronto. He was buried in Sarnia, Ontario, the town where he had built his early career.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 ""Mackenzie, Alexander," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 12 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1990.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)