Monday, March 27, 2017

Canadians Of History

This statue depicts Alexander Mackenzie, the second prime minister of Canada, and the first Liberal leader to rise to that position.


The cornerstone of Centre Block can be found on the east side of the building.


This rather large monument honours Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, both considered Fathers of Confederation (though neither lived to see Confederation enacted). They were co-premiers of the province of Canada (today Ontario and Quebec) starting in 1848, and their work bolstered responsible government and the idea of the colonies taking control of their own domestic affairs. This is the work of Walter Allward, whose masterpiece work was the Vimy Ridge memorial.


George Brown was the journalist, politician, and Father of Confederation who strongly believed in responsible government and argued for Confederation. The sculpture incorporates both English and French translations of the scroll to be found at its base.

31 comments:

  1. Wonderful post, William, and the blue sky makes a lovely background in your photos!

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  2. I like the idea of co-premiers. Were they well received?

    Janis
    GDP

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  3. ...thanks William, I must say that I'm a bit weak on Canadian history!

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  4. love those names. love the hat waving up above his head. ( :

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  5. @Linda: thanks!

    @Mo: they were.

    @Janis: fairly well.

    @Tom: it's a subject I'm well versed in.

    @Beth: they are distinctive names.

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  6. The Vinyl Ridge Memorial is indeed a masterpiece William, Allward is incroyably talented!

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  7. Great men and great monuments. Have a great new week!

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  8. There is much respect for the past with all those memorials.

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  9. These sculptures are a good way for us to know about our history.

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  10. These are the kinds of sculptures I appreciate. Usually, we find primarily sculptures of war "heroes" which I think tend to glorify war. Nice photos, too!

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  11. An important figure in Canadian history.

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  12. I like the first one, the lower statues of the woman and another man give it an extra dimension.

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  13. great statues...and look at that blue sky!

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  14. There are so many fine sculptures up there!

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  15. @Grace: he is.

    @Nancy: thanks.

    @Cloudia: you're welcome.

    @Kate: indeed.

    @Karl: they are!

    @Red: I agree.

    @Lowell: I do have one of those in a couple of days.

    @Halcyon: they all are!

    @Marleen: yes, I think so.

    @Tanya: it was a rare sunny day in February!

    @RedPat: there are quite a number of them.

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  16. Hello, they are great statues and memorial! Enjoy your day and the new week ahead!

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  17. Hello from Poland. Still cold in Ottawa? Wonderful statues. Two premiers sounds good, but I can't imagine it nowadays.

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  18. Fabulous statues and an equally fabulous blue sky too!

    All the best Jan

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  19. Those statues are beautiful. Interesting men back in the days.

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  20. The tulips are gorgeous!!! Interesting memorial!

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  21. @Eileen: thank you!

    @Klara: I don't think it would work these days. At the time, the two colonies, Upper and Lower Canada, being united into one like that, the idea was that it made sense to have premiers from the two regions making decisions. It seemed to work for those years.

    @Jan: thank you.

    @Bill: they were quite accomplished- Mackenzie especially, who came from humble roots, starting his working life as a stone mason.

    @SRQ: they are.

    @Chieftess: it was time for a spring banner, though we're long from the tulips yet!

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  22. Canada certainly honors its historical figures.

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  23. Handsome. And interesting to see them all rendered in black. That is not the usual way for most of our monuments.

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  24. It's nice to see this history in Canada's 150th year. And why, oh why, are dates rendered in Roman numerals? Isn't 1916 a lot easier to carve and read than MDCCCCXVI??

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  25. The 7th picture from top has such a sincere meaning.

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  26. @Mari: we've got a lot of it.

    @Norma: we try to.

    @Jack: it's the material they use, but they keep these fairly clean.

    @Kay: I know, it's irritating to have to figure out all those roman numerals.

    @Carolann: thanks!

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