The first time I remember hearing the name of Sir Alexander Galt, I was about seven years old. Our family was visiting Lethbridge, the city I'd been born in. The trip included a visit to the museum. After we crossed what I thought was the busiest intersection in the whole world, the car stopped at a very fancy red brick building. In the entrance of that building, I saw a very pretty white stone with letters on it.
My mother told me that Sir Alexander Galt built this fancy building and started this whole town. And not only that, he was a Father of Confederation. And that the Fathers of Confederation made the whole country of Canada. Until that day, I had no idea that the town I was born in was founded by a Father of Confederation.
I wasn't too sure what Confederation involved. But I knew it was something very important—and good. I decided that I must be very lucky and special to have been born in a town founded by someone who helped make Canada. And that being a Canadian was a very lucky thing indeed.
I've never shaken that idea. I guess you might say, the seeds of this book were planted on that sunlit afternoon in Lethbridge.
Still, I continued to wonder why a Father of Confederation would found a city on the Canadian Prairie. And to wonder why so many of my fellow citizens didn't seem to know much about Sir Alexander or his family. Nor did they seem to think living in a city founded by a Father of Confederation was all that special. This book is the result of my search for those answers.