Which Prime Minister’s portrait was on the $10 bill before the Viola Desmond note of 2018?
- Lester B. Pearson
- Sir John A. Macdonald
- Sir Robert Borden
- Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Answer: Sir John A. Macdonald
Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, was on the $10 bill until the Bank of Canada issued the new vertical $10 note featuring Viola Desmond in 2018; Discover Canada still shows Macdonald. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the first French-Canadian prime minister since Confederation, is on the current $5 bill.
Learn more: Macdonald and Cartier
- In 1867 Sir John Alexander Macdonald, a Father of Confederation, became Canada’s first Prime Minister.
- Macdonald was born in Scotland on January 11, 1815, and came to Upper Canada as a child. He was a lawyer in Kingston, Ontario.
- Parliament has recognized January 11 as Sir John A. Macdonald Day.
- Macdonald’s portrait was on the $10 bill until 2018, when the Viola Desmond note was issued. Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s portrait is on the $5 bill.
- Sir George-Étienne Cartier, a Montreal railway lawyer and close ally of Macdonald, was the key architect of Confederation from Quebec.
- Cartier led Quebec into Confederation and helped negotiate the entry of the Northwest Territories, Manitoba and British Columbia.