COLLINS – Putting together a nation isn’t an easy task

YESTERDAY, we celebrated our country’s 150th birthday. The usual kudos to our great country, lots of fun and frivolity, and, yes, a little controversy too as some of the still-raw sores continue to fester.

John A. Macdonald had a tremendous vision of what this country could be. He worked much of his life to see it come about. Despite his personal demons, and there were many, Macdonald persevered and managed, with the help of a number of others, to lead us into Confederation.

He was able to gather most of the Eastern provinces into the fold, worked with friend and foe to get both Upper and Lower Canada to buy in, and sold the goods to all who saw the advantage of moving together as one large nation.

There was a great fear among many that we would become swallowed up by the U.S. and Macdonald did everything he could to prevent that from happening. Macdonald did not get everything he wanted. He wanted more power concentrated in Ottawa, and a clause that would allow the federal government to overrule the provinces in certain circumstances.

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Doug Collins is the Director of News, Information and Television Operations at CFJC-TV. Doug has been on the air in Kamloops since 1970. He was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada in 2008.