Sir John A. Macdonald had been in politics for four decades and prime minister of Canada for three terms, but he’d never seen anything like the apocalyptic year of 1885.

The issues cascaded relentlessly: threats to the sovereignty of Canada from London and Washington; armed resistance in the North-West; the spectre of starvation among Indigenous peoples; financial crises that endangered the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR); protests over Chinese immigration to British Columbia; nationalist dissent in Quebec; a smallpox epidemic that would claim over 5,000 victims in Montreal; and fierce opposition to Macdonald’s drive to expand the right to vote. It was a year like no other in Canadian history.

In this fascinating and authoritative study of a skilled politician at the peak of his powers, political historian Patrice Dutil shows how Macdonald navigated persistent threats to public order, anchored the stability of his government, and ensured the future of his still fragile nation.

What emerges is a compelling portrait of a man who, notwithstanding his personal failings and the sins of his times, was the most enlightened and constructive public figure of early Canadian history.

PATRICE DUTIL is the author or editor of a dozen books, a frequent commentator on political and policy issues, and the host of over 100 podcasts in the Canadian history series “Witness to Yesterday.” He is a professor in the department of politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan University. He founded and for five years edited the Literary Review of Canada and served as president of the Champlain Society for seven years. He is a senior fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at the University of Toronto and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Among his books are Ballots and Brawls: The 1867 Canadian General Election, Prime Ministerial Power in Canada: Its Origins under Macdonald, Laurier and Borden and Macdonald at 200: New Perspectives and Legacies (edited with Roger Hall).

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