Sunday, October 6, 2013

Alexander Mackenzie, Canada's second PM

Image from Collections Canada

From 1873 to 1878, the Liberal Party governed Canada for the first time, under the leadership of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie.

During his years in office, he oversaw the inception of the Royal Military College in Kingston, the Office of the Attorney General and the Supreme Court of Canada. His government also instituted voting by secret ballot in 1874.

Like Macdonald who led the country before him, Mackenzie was born in Scotland. He arrived in Canada at the age of twenty, in 1842.

Before entering Parliament, Mackenzie edited a newspaper in Lambton, Ontario, a town that he later represented as an MLA. He served at one time as the Minister of Public Works and remained the Leader of the Opposition for two years after his party was defeated in 1878.

In 1992, he died in Toronto and was buried near Sarnia, Ontario.

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