Toronto Considers Renaming Union Station after John A. Macdonald

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Toronto City Council is considering to rename its Union Station after the country’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, in time for his 200th birthday next year. The move presented by Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong sought to change the name as it argued that he was “the George Washington of Canada” and alleged that he deserves more recognition in the country’s most populous city. The proposal was accepted by the City Council’s executive committee, after which it directed staff to study the proposal and evaluate public opinion on the idea before reporting back at its July meeting.

Mr. Macdonald was born on Jan 11, 1815, due to which Mr. Minnan-Wong is pushing to implement the name of city-owned station before that date. He mentioned in a statement on Tuesday that “Sir John A. Macdonald was known for Confederation. He was a nation-builder for building a railway from coast to coast.” It was added that “we do not give enough recognition of some of our prime ministers and Sir John A. Macdonald is the George Washington of Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald deserves this type of recognition in terms of his accomplishments and I think Union Station would be a great recognition of his contribution to Canada.”

However, not all Council members agreed with the idea. A councilllor who was not a member of the executive committee, Adam Vaughan, alleged that “I don’t think you obliterate history to honour history. I think you find ways to take things that aren’t named, things that are new and honour someone who deserves recognition in the city.”