A statue of former Canadian Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald stands on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 3, 2021.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

The Toronto District School Board, despite the pleas of historians, is removing the name of Sir John A. Macdonald from one of its schools. The board’s bad choice could not have come at a worse time.

Our country faces challenges to its future as grave as those that confronted Canada’s first prime minister more than a century and a half ago. Macdonald answered by bonding Canadians together in a new dominion.

The writer Pierre Berton called Macdonald’s transcontinental railway – forged with blood and brawn and bribes – a national dream. As U.S. President Donald Trump threatens Canada with tariffs and seeks to force us to surrender our sovereignty, we need a new national dream, one worthy of those who came before us.

If this country is worth saving – and of course it is – Canadians should be turning to the example of Sir John A. for inspiration, not seeking to........

© The Globe and Mail