Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin

Canada has no better interpreter than brilliant writer and thinker John Ralston Saul. Here he argues that modern Canada did not begin in 1867; rather its foundation was laid years earlier by two visionary men, Louis-Hipplyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin. Opposites in temperament and driven by intense experiences of love and tragedy, together they developed principles and programs that would help unite the country.

After the 1841 union the two leaders of Lower and Upper Canada worked to cre...