By the Rev. Dr. Ed Hird
How many remember the late Bobby Gimby’s best-selling song
‘Ca-na-da’ created for the 100th Anniversary of Canada in 1967? Gimby
was known as the Pied Piper of Canada, wearing a cape as he led countless
Canadian parades. Living in Montreal at the time, my sister and I had the
privilege of singing Gimby’s song on TV in both English and French at Expo
67. I went to Expo 67 ten times on the brand-new
Montreal subway. Never will I forget seeing both the US and Russian spacecrafts. I naively picked up and started wearing a red
Russian ‘hammer & sickle’ pin from Expo 67.
Until my public-school teacher pulled me aside and clued me in, I had no
idea of this pin’s political implications.
Fifty years later, we are now celebrating our 150th
Anniversary of this amazing land of Canada.
Who would forget those amazing fireworks displays at English Bay and all
across our nation? On July 1st,
thousands of us gathered in a ‘Voices Together’ celebration on Canada’s 150th
birthday at the Pacific Coliseum. Many
Canadians are unaware that July 1st was originally called Dominion
Day because of our being the Dominion of Canada. Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, a Father of
Canadian Confederation and twice the Lt. Governor of New Brunswick, rose each
morning to start his day with prayer and Scripture reading. As the 33 founding Fathers gathered in 1864
at Charlottetown, PEI, there were many suggestions on what to call this new
nation. That morning, as Tilley read from Psalm 72:8, he became so convinced
that Canada should be a nation under God, that when he came down to the
Conference session, he presented the inspired name “Dominion of Canada”. Our National Motto on our Coat of Arms “A
Mari Usque Ad Mare” (from sea to sea) was drawn once again straight from Psalm
72:8. “He
Tilley came to a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ in 1839
through his Anglican rector, the Reverend William Harrison. His life was so
dramatically transformed that he even became an Anglican Sunday School teacher
and a Church Warden (Elder). Tilley’s
son Harrison became a well-known Anglican priest.
One day, an 11-year old girl ran to Tilley for help, after
her drunken father brutally stabbed her mother to death. Because of this tragedy, Tilley went from
being a quiet pharmacist to becoming the Premier of New Brunswick in his
campaign for alcohol reform. When Tilley brought in actual alcohol legislation,
he was burned in effigy, his house was attacked, and his family’s lives were
threatened.
Tilley the ‘dry’
Anglican was good friends with Sir Charles Tupper the ‘drinking’ Baptist
Premier of Nova Scotia. Both shared a
passion for railways which they believed were the key to the Maritimes’
future. Sir Charles Tupper eventually
became the Federal Minister of Railways, bringing the CPR railway line to
Vancouver, and BC into Confederation. Before the arrival of the railway,
traveling to Vancouver would take all summer by riverboat and stagecoach.
The 1864 Charlottetown meeting was originally intended to
bring a Maritime Union of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, to defend against the
threat of American invasion. But Tupper and Tilley dreamed bigger, inviting
Ontario and Quebec to join them in a new Confederation. Tupper believed in the
greatness of Canada, saying: “The human mind naturally adapts itself to the
position it occupies. The most gigantic intellect may be dwarfed by being
cabin’d, cribbed and confined. It requires a great country and great
circumstances to develop great men.”
Tupper read the Bible fully from cover to cover by the age
of eight. His father Charles Tupper Senior, a prohibitionist, was one of the
founding fathers of the fast-growing Maritime Baptist Churches. While training
as a medical doctor in Edinburgh, Charles Jr discovered Scotch from which he
never recovered. Tupper served as first
president of the Canadian Medical Association.
In 1867 the Halifax Morning Chronicle had described Tupper
as “the most despicable politician within the bounds of British North
America.” Throughout his career Tupper
was variously described as “the Boodle Knight,” the “Great Stretcher” (of the
truth), “the old tramp,” the “Arch-Corruptionist,” and “the old wretch.”.
Tupper has the distinction of being the shortest-serving
Prime Minister in Canadian history, even beating out Joe Clark and Kim Campbell
(67 days!). His marriage, despite allegations of philandering, lasted longer
than any other Prime Minister: 66 years!
Tupper, the longest-surviving Father of Confederation,
served in six federal cabinet portfolios. If there was something that was
really difficult to get done, somebody who needed to be won over, Macdonald
often said: ‘Call Tupper.’ Tupper could make things happen.
In 1883 a British Columbia contractor close to Tupper was
awarded a two-million-dollar job, even though rivals submitted lower bids. The
opposition suspected a payoff. Tupper faced a legal challenge and demands for a
full inquiry. He promptly left his retirement home in Vancouver and sailed for
London, far from the cry of scandal, to take a diplomatic posting.
On our 150th Anniversary, Sir Charles Tupper and
Sir Leonard Tilley remind us that God can use the most unlikely people in
building a nation.
Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Rector
Author of ‘Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit’
2 comments:
Thank you, Ed, for this fascinating piece on Tilley and Tucker - two contrasting individuals - who played a role in our nation's formative history. Yes, it's true, that God can and does use faulted and sometimes failing humans for His divine purposes, as well as shining examples of grace and integrity. It's of His amazing grace that in some small way He even uses Yours Truly, despite his many frailties! :) ~~+~~
Fascinating and meaningful. Thanks, Ed for this. And I sure do remember C-A-N-A-D-A! It was the year we docked in Montreal after immigrating from England. I remember seeing Expo 67 as a wee lass and thinking how wonderfully different the homes were in our new country! And yes, what a good reminder through the fine work of Tupper and Tilley, of how God uses all.
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