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Canada's first political scandal

Broadcast Date: Jan. 28, 2001

Canada is just six years old when it is rocked by its first major scandal. Treating voters to dinner, a drink and even a $5 bill are common campaign practices in the days leading up to Sir John A. Macdonald's 1872 re-election. As explained in this TV excerpt, money greases all party machines. But when news breaks in the summer of 1873 that Macdonald and his Conservatives received a whopping $350,000 in campaign funds in exchange for a lucrative railway contract, Canadians are outraged.

Evidence suggests Macdonald and his colleagues personally pocketed as much as $25,000 in campaign funds from financier Sir Hugh Allan. In return, Allan is awarded the coveted contract to build the railway to British Columbia. The Liberal opposition accuses the ruling Conservatives of corruption. Although Macdonald denies any wrongdoing, the scandal forces the prime minister and the Conservatives to resign in 1873.

Canada's first political scandal

• The Opposition demanded a vote of censure following the Pacific railway scandal. Recognizing that the vote would go against him, Macdonald announced the resignation of his Conservative government on Nov. 5, 1873. The Pacific scandal handed Alexander Mackenzie and the Liberals a landslide victory in the 1874 general election.
• The scandal forced Sir John A. Macdonald out of office for five years but he was re-elected in 1878. No criminal charges were laid stemming from the scandal.

• The front page of one newspaper read "Pacific Scandal: Astounding Revelations."
• Two groups competed for the contract to build a railway connecting British Columbia to the rest of Canada: Hugh Allan's Canadian Pacific Railway Company and the Inter-Ocean Railway Company. The scandal led to the cancellation of Allan's railway contract. The building of the railway was delayed until 1880. The contract was awarded to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

• Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on Jan. 11, 1815. He died on June 6, 1891, at Earnscliffe, his family home in Ottawa. Macdonald united Canada with his national vision and the construction of the world's longest railway. For more on Macdonald visit the topic: Sir John A. Macdonald: Architect of Modern Canada

• Canada's first Liberal prime minister, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, was born on Jan. 28, 1822, in Logierait near Dunkeld, Scotland. He died on April 17, 1892.

• According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, a scandal is someone or something causing "general public outrage or indignation." A boondoggle is a "government-funded project with no purpose other than political patronage." A white elephant is an "item or property that is no longer useful or wanted, especially one that it is difficult to maintain or dispose of."
• Legend says the king of Siam gave gifts of white elephants to courtiers he wanted to bankrupt. Albino elephants were highly venerated but very costly to maintain.

Canada's first political scandal

Medium: Television

Program: Canada: A People's History

Broadcast Date: Jan. 28, 2001

Duration: 4:40

Last updated:
May 26, 2005