John Sandfield Macdonald
We begin our look at the premiers of Ontario with the first to ever hold the office, John Sandfield Macdonald.
While he was a friend to Sir John A. Macdonald, the similar name is a coincidence. They are not related.
John Macdonald was born on Dec. 12, 1812 in Glengarry County, Upper Canada, the first of five children to Alexander and Nancy Macdonald. Alexander had come from Scotland in 1786 and was a member of the Clan Ranald. Nancy was his distant cousin.
When he was eight, Macdonald’s mother died and he was raised by his father. As a child, he received much of his education from Dr. Urquhart at Cornwall.
As a child, Macdonald was known for his independent streak and he twice tried to leave home when he was 11.
When he was 16, Macdonald began to work as a clerk for various general stores before he moved into the legal profession.
In 1832, he began to pursue a law degree, and graduated in 1835 at the top of his class. He then began to article with Archibald McLean.
It was through his work as an assistant to Archibald McLean, who served on the Court of the King’s Bench for Upper Canada, that he met Allan MacNab, Thomas Talbot and William Draper. They would be three men who led him into politics.
In 1840, he was called to the Bar and became a Queen’s Messenger, which involved taking messages from the Lt. Governor of Upper Canada and the British Minister in Washington, that he met Marie Waggaman. She was the daughter of American politician George Waggaman.
The two would marry that year and have three children together.
One year after their marriage, Macdonald was approached by Alexander Fraser and John McGillivray to run for the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. He agreed and easily won his seat.
At the time, he had no firm political views but eventually he began to move towards the Reform group in the Parliament.
He served as Baldwin’s solicitor general for Canada West from 1849 to 1851. During this time, his personal wealth was also increasing as he bought property and expanded his law office. The Toronto Globe wrote of him,
“No barrister, stands higher in the estimation of mercantile men.”
In 1851, Francis Hincks came to power and Macdonald expected that he would be made attorney general for Canada West. This didn’t happen as Hincks disliked Macdonald and felt he was too independent in his thinking. When he didn’t get the post, he resigned as solicitor general.
When MacDonald was re-elected that year, by acclamation, Hincks decided to offer him the Speaker of the Assembly position, which he accepted. Macdonald soon came to dislike this position as he was unable to do much and could not voice opinions or criticize the government for its support of separate schools.
In 1853, he was forced to take a six-month sabbatical due to lung problems brought on by tuberculosis.
In 1854, he was again elected by acclamation and some believed he would be asked to form government. Despite his popularity with many, this did not happen.
For the next few years, relations with Goerge Brown, who had said he would support Macdonald if he were called on to form a government, began to collapse. MacDonald by this point was the leader of the Reform opposition, and he would not support the policies of Brown that included representation by population.
By 1856, the relationship was done and MacDonald was continuing to deal with serious health problems.
In 1857, he lost the use of one lung and had to take time away to cover.
In November 1857, Macdonald again won his riding and the new premier, John A. Macdonald, offered him a cabinet post as he needed the support of the eastern counties were MacDonald was popular. Macdonald said he would only accept a cabinet position if three of the six Upper Canadian seats were given to Reformers. John A. Macdonald said he could not do that, and MacDonald told him he would not take the cabinet seat.
By 1859, MacDonald was splitting with the Reformers after the Toronto Globe urged the dissolution of the union and a complete abandonment of the British parliamentary system. MacDonald was openly against this and that led him to split with Toronto Globe owner George Brown. When Brown called for a Reform Convention in Toronto, MacDonald refused to attend. Many of his supporter delegates also refused to attend.
One year later in March 1860, MacDonald began to work to overthrow Brown as the leader of the Upper Canada Reformers by attending Reform caucuses to gain support. While this didn’t go anywhere, Michael Foley attempted to get Brown and MacDonald to work together but the relationship was far too bitter for that to happen.
On May 24, 1862, after he was asked to take on the role of co-premier of the Province of Canada by Governor General Lord Monck, MacDonald was sworn into the post and also became Attorney General.
The Hamilton Spectator wrote,
“The loud-mouthed admirers of the new government have shown an utter lack of discretion in the course they have taken. It was hard work for them to approve of Sandfield Macdonald, yet when they saw they could nothing better than accept him as premier, they began to chime in one with another, until at length they have actually ventured to praise the man they formerly despised.”
For the next two years, he served as co-premier, during which time he had to deal with tensions with the United States during the civil war that required the defence budget to triple, while also managing the growing tensions among factions in the province. The militia force in Canada had also increased to 25,000 men.
One of the biggest problems for MacDonald was the Scott bill, which addressed the issue of separate schools for the Roman Catholic minority. MacDonald opposed religious segregation f children, but accepted Scott’s bill as it only slightly increased the privileges afforded to the Roman Catholics. The Clear Grits, along with the Protestant Orangemen, hated the bill. Led by George Brown, the bill was carried but did not have a majority. On May 8, 1863, the government was defeated but MacDonald was able to remain in power as co-premier throughout the rest of the year.
He passed two defence bills to create service battalions and reorganize the militia, while increasing the volunteer force by 10,000 to 35,000. Railroad surveys continued under his government with more money going to linking communities to the railroad. Unfortunately, a by-election in February 1864 was lost by MacDonald’s party and that ground everything to a halt. Eventually MacDonald resigned on March 22, 1864.
The Hamilton Spectator wrote,
“A reconstruction will not help the Ministry, for it is quite clear that no member of the Opposition can take office with Sandfield Macdonald. There must be a complete disruption, and another cabinet, with some one else than Sandfield at its head.”
After he resigned, MacDonald raised the idea of creating a coalition.
What became known as The Great Coalition was a major step towards Canadian Confederation. Despite the fact that Macdonald was the person behind the idea, when The Great Coalition was formed by George Etienne Cartier, George Brown and John A. Macdonald, Macdonald was left out of it. This was due to the fact he opposed federalism and a union with the Maritimes. He worried that Toronto would dominate the St. Lawrence Valley region, and he felt that the plan for Confederation was too conservative.
He also wanted the question of Confederation to be something that was ratified or rejected by the voters, not by politicians.
During this time, he also suffered from health problems related to tuberculosis, leading to a collapsed lung.
As 1867 approached and Confederation became an inevitability, he became an ally of Sir John A. Macdonald. It was through this friendship he received the post of Premier of Ontario in 1867.
The Weekly British Whig wrote on July 18, 1867,
“Sir John A. Macdonald went down to Prescott by the morning train and returned here this afternoon. It is said that he met John Sandfield Macdonald at Prescott, on his way to Toronto, to construct the cabinet for Ontario. And the Tories here imagine that the whole thing has been arranged by them.”
The first general election in Ontario’s history was held on Sept. 3, 1867. The Conservatives were led by Macdonald, while the Liberals were led by Archibald McKellar.
Voting in those days was a shady affair and bribes were common. Employers, clergy and community figures would hang around polling stations and bribe people with food and money.
The Conservatives and Liberals finished with 41 seats, although the Conservatives had a higher percentage of the popular vote. The Conservatives under Macdonald were invited to form a government, which they did with help of the 15 Independents who formed a coalition government with him. With the tied vote, the first government for Ontario was called the Patent Combination because it was a mix of two different parties.
Premier Macdonald was the first, and last, Roman Catholic Premier of Ontario until Dalton McGuinty in the 2000s.
Over the next four years, Premier Macdonald brought in several acts and changes to the new province of Ontario. Education aid was provided for the University of Toronto, the District of Muskoka was created to aid in colonization, and an act was created that provided land for homesteaders in the regions of Muskoka, Haliburton and North Hastings. The act also encouraged the extension of the railway into those areas. He would also work closely with the federal government and would build the bureaucratic infrastructure of the new province. His government also established colleges including Ryerson University and the University of Guelph.
As the 1871 election approached, Macdonald was deeply ill, and many wondered how long he would remain in power. Against him was Edward Blake, who had come in to lead the Liberal Party.
In the March 21, 1871 election, Blake and the Liberals gained two seats to finish with 43, while the Conservatives fell by three, to finish with 38. While the seat count had the Liberals winning, the election was considered to be inconclusive, and they did not have a clear majority.
Speaking of the election loss, the Hamilton Spectator wrote,
“One of the principal ones, of course, was the dissatisfaction of our citizens with the real and imaginary shortcomings of Sandfield Macdonald.”
Sandfield, despite his health, was determined to carry on and said he would meet the legislature even if he had to, quote:
“Be carried in on a blanket.”
He avoided calling the assembly into session. Once he did, he ignored votes of no-confidence, and this would prompt Edward Blake to make a move to remove Macdonald from leadership.
A Mr. Prince of Essex, who was elected as an independent, was not a supporter of Macdonald. This would prove to be beneficial to the Liberals. The Hamilton Spectator wrote,
“Mr. Prince of Essex may properly be ranked as an independent, for though a Conservative, he is not friendly to Sandfield Macdonald’s government and will not give it the support which is needed on an emergency, when a test question comes up before the House, and one which would involve a vote of want of confidence.”
The Liberals charged the Conservatives with irregularities in the election of six Conservatives. The Controverted Elections Act of 1871 would then be passed and took electoral irregularities out of committees in the legislature and gave it to the courts. This resulted in by-elections being called for December 1871.
By that month, Blake had mounted a successful attack through back-room maneuvers and a no-confidence motion that led the resignation of Macdonald and Blake becoming the new premier of the province.
The British Whig wrote of MacDonald’s time as leader of the province,
“For a party leader, Macdonald lacked many essential qualities, his personal following being always small, while his intellectual force was not of such weight as to give him a commanding influence.”
While Blake was on his way to leading the province, Macdonald’s health continued to decline but he still attended the Legislature in the early months of 1872.
Sadly, his end was coming near.
John Sandfield Macdonald died on June 1, 1872.
The British Whig wrote,
“By his demise, the people of Canada lose the service of one who for more than 30 years has sat in its Parliament and during much of that time occupied positions of political prominence. Never of robust health, and not seldom ailing, his feeble constitution has at last given away, he having passed his 61st year.”
Among those who attended his funeral were Sir Charles Tupper, future Prime Minister, several senators, his political opponent Edward Blake, Chief Justice Draper, several Members of Parliament and more. The pallbearers were some of the older residents of Glengarry.
Today, the Macdonald Block Complex, a set of office towers used by the Ontario government, are named for him. A statue of Macdonald was also unveiled in 1909 outside of the Ontario Legislative Building in Toronto.
Macleans wrote about the statue that year,
“In the case of the Sandfield Macdonald, it was not enough that the bronze should look like John Sandfield. It does. But to add thereto, the expression chosen, the attitude, the pose of the body, the way the clothes hang upon it, the Scotch dryness and argumentativess and containedness, the lack of all that is uncovivid or dramatic, make the figure a veritable type.”
