John A.: Birth of a Country

The political manoeuvrings in the ten or so years in the legislature of the Province of Canada, comprised of the former Upper Canada and Lower Canada, leading up to the confederation of British North American colonies into one country called Canada in 1867, are presented. The story focuses primarily on three politicians: John A. Macdonald who during that time would assume the leadership of the Conservative Party, his Québec leader George-Étienne Cartier, and George Brown, who is leader of the Liberal Party during much of this time and who is owner of the Globe newspaper in Toronto. Macdonald and Brown not only oppose each other politically - doing whatever needed to gain control over the other - but also refuse to deal with the other solely because of who the other is as a person. Beyond their battles, they also have to contend with the continuing problems of how to deal with the English/French divide in the Upper Canada/Lower Canada union, with the provincial capital moving between Toronto and Québec City every few years to appease both sides. Their personal lives - which for Macdonald includes caring for a young son and an ailing wife within his busy political schedule, and which for Brown would eventually include marriage to a headstrong Scotswoman named Anne Nelson - and the civil war brewing in the United States, the result which could be forcible annexation of Canada into the United States, would lead to Macdonald and Brown needing to decide if they could overcome their long held differences to work together for the greater good of Canada.