Sir John A. MacDonald

==&nbsp Prime Minister John MacDonald==

Sir John A. MacDonald was one of the Fathers of Confederation and later on he was appointed as Canada’s first prime minister. He was an effective leader and was the prime minister of Canada for 19 years and was good friends with the French leader George-Etienne Cartier who was the most important French politician at the time. While in office MacDonald pursued the “National Policy” which was a policy that covered protectionist tariffs on Canadian goods and a policy that connected all of Canada’s economic centers. After the US bought Alaska in 1867 some British Columbian officials suggested annexing the rest of the continent to the US instead of expanding. In 1868 MacDonald negotiated the purchase of Rupert’s Land from the Hudson Bay Company which turned out to be the largest land purchase in Canada’s history. This land became the provinces of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories (which later split into the remaining western provinces). (GM)