A heated debate pitting Sir John A. Macdonald against the Iron Duke is now going national as the City of Ottawa wants the Harper government to weigh in on whether Wellington Street should be renamed to honour Canada’s first prime minister.
The campaign to change the name of one of Ottawa’s oldest streets – which runs in front of Parliament Hill, the Chateau Laurier and the Supreme Court of Canada – started with Bob Plamondon, who authored a history of conservative Canadian prime ministers called Blue Thunder. He succeeded in getting the proposal onto the municipal agenda after securing written statements of support from former prime ministers John Turner and Brian Mulroney.
“Placing Macdonald at the threshold of Parliament would inspire generations of Canadians to connect with the man who reconciled English and French in ways that none of his successors have been able to match,” reads Mr. Mulroney’s endorsement.
Jacques Rochard's 1815 miniature painting of the Duke of Wellington.— Reuters
This week, in a 4-3 vote, city council’s planning committee agreed to ask the federal government and other area landowners what it thinks of renaming Wellington Street to either Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard or Macdonald-Cartier Boulevard. That second option would be to acknowledge the role of Sir George-Étienne Cartier, who brought French Canada into Confederation.
The street’s current name, dating back to the 1830s, honours the Duke of Wellington, known as the Iron Duke, who played a key role in the decision to build the Rideau Canal.
“Without Wellington, there’s no Rideau Canal. Without the Rideau Canal, there’s no Ottawa,” said Immanuel Giulea, who spoke against the name change even though he’s the executive director of the Macdonald-Cartier Society.
Councillor Peter Hume, who chairs the committee, said feedback from Ottawa and the National Capital Commission will be key to whether the city moves ahead with the idea.
“If the federal government comes back and says, ‘Bad idea,’ I can say categorically that will be the end of it,” he said.
Wellington Street in Ottawa is home to the Parliament Buildings, the Bank of Canada, the Supreme Court, the Chateau Laurier and Library and Archives Canada.— Pawel Dwulit/The Globe and Mail
The request to Ottawa comes the same week that federal ministers rejected a movement in British Columbia to rename Vancouver’s Stanley Park as Xwayxway – which was the name of a native village in the northeastern part of the current park – on the grounds that the park has an “established name” that has held for more than a century.
But on this issue, the early comments from federal officials are less definitive. Ministerial staff note that while Stanley Park is on federal land, naming streets is a municipal job.
“The federal government and the NCC have no involvement in this matter. The city owns the street and if they wish to rename it, they can,” said James Kusie, a spokesman for Transport Minister John Baird, the minister responsible for Ottawa.
The proposal has sparked a lively debate, with key players lining up on both sides. Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien likes the idea, while Ottawa Centre NDP MP Paul Dewar says the status quo is best.
There is even debate within history organizations. The president of the Historica-Dominion Institute, Andrew Cohen, is strongly in favour of the change, but says his organization simply supports having the debate. A prominent board member of the institute, Rudyard Griffiths, said he hopes Ottawa quashes what he views as a “whitewash” of history, just as it did on the Stanley Park debate.
