MacKenzie, Alexander
2nd Prime Minister of Canada

Ministries:
November 7, 1873 - October 9, 1878

Born:	
January 28, 1822, Dunkeld, Scotland

Died:
April 17, 1892, Toronto, Ontario

Education:
Parish School, Scotland

Occupation:
Stone cutter
Building contractor
Newspaper editor
Author

Marital status:
Married, 1845, Helen Neil (1826-1852)
One daughter, two children died in infancy.
Married, 1853, Jane Sym (1825-1893)

Buried:
Lakeview Cemetery, Sarnia, Ontario


Like many other immigrants, Alexander "Sandy" MacKenzie came to Canada seeking a better life.  MacKenzie arrived in the Province of Canada in 1842 with the family of his future wife.  For a while he lived in Kingston where John A. MacDonald was making a name for himself. But the paths of the two future political opponents would not cross for twenty years.

MacKenzie worked as a stone mason, but left the profession in the 1850's to edit the Reform newspaper, The Lambton Shield.  He was drawn to politics out of admiration for George Brown, the Leader of the Reform Party, and won a seat in the Province of Canada Legislature for the Reform Party in 1861. In 1867, as a member of the Liberal Party, as the Reformers now called themselves, he won a seat in the House of Commons. He continued to hold a seat in the Ontario Legislature until dual representation was discontinued in 1872.

The hard-working, teetotaling MacKenzie came to the Liberal leadership on March 6, 1873 after having recommended several others for the position. He was leader only for a number of months before the Government of John A. MacDonald was forced to resign over the Pacific Scandal. On November 7, 1873, MacKenzie became Canada's second Prime Minister. He was the only one of Canada's first eight Prime Ministers to turn down a knighthood,

Like MacDonald, MacKenzie saw the creation of a continental railway as crucial, and during his five year ministry he assumed the post of Public Works so he could oversee the task himself.  However, by the time his government was defeated in the election of 1878, MacKenzie had only limited success with the railway's development. During his tenure as Prime Minister he did introduce the secret ballot (1874), created the Supreme Court of Canada (1874), and the Office of the Auditor General (1875). 

MacKenzie remained Leader of the Liberal Party until 1880, and stayed on in the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament until his death on April 17, 1892.  He is memorialized by the MacKenzie Tower on the West Block of Parliament. This tower not only bears his name, but has a secret staircase which he had designed so that he might evade favour-seekers who waited for him in his outer office.  Subsequent Prime Ministers have used it for a variety of reasons.
   
Readings:  D.C. Thomson (1960) Alexander MacKenzie : Clear Grit.