John A. Macdonald and Irish Catholics Scottish Protestants

Celtic Lightning: While taking a nip of Scotch or raising a glass or two of Guinness at McGee pub, tall tales come easily, according to The Chronicle Herald. It even possible to imagine that over 150 years ago, on Oct. 3, 1863, lightning struck when D’Arcy McGee of Montreal, Canada East, crossed the floor to shake hands with a Scottish Upper Canadian, John A. Macdonald of Kingston. He emerges in Ken McGoogan latest offering, Celtic Lightning, as the fiery catalyst for a Canadian federation forged not through a French-English rapprochement but by way of an unlikely alliance of Irish Catholics and Scottish Protestants. That Celtic lightning, like McGee orations, so the story runs, lit up the sky with dreams of a new nationality. That is, until your head clears and you begin to miss the critical pieces on the road to federal union: George-Etienne Cartier and the cultural compact, George Brown dramatic political reversal and the railway promoters’ dreams for an inter-colonial customs union. The author of Celtic Lightning, one of Canada most highly acclaimed popular historians, is such a talented storyteller he almost pulls it off. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.