Canada's first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, has always been ranked among the greatest Canadian political leaders. Born in Scotland and raised around Kingston, Ontario, Macdonald was already a political veteran in 1864, when he played a key role in the making of the Canadian Confederation. He was the undisputed choice to be the first Prime Minister.

A visionary statesman and a determined Conservative partisan, Macdonald was also a brilliant parliamentary tactician and much loved campaign leader. He said he intended to see the gristle of a nation hardened into bone, and his National Policy of tariff protection, westward expansion, and a railroad to the Pacific helped lay the basis of a transcontinental nation. Macdonald died in Ottawa, still Prime Minister, on June 6, 1891, and was buried in Kingston.