Born in Glasgow, Scotland January 11, 1815 died June 06, 1891 genre politics edit data Sir John Alexander Macdonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada (1867–1873, 1878–1891) and the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation. When Macdonald was a boy his family immigrated to Kingston in the Province of Upper Canada (today in eastern Ontario). As a lawyer, he was involved in several high-profile cases and quickly became prominent in Kingston, which elected him in 1844 to the legislature of the Province of Canada. By 1857, he had become Premier. Less