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OTTAWA — One in four Canadians can’t identify Sir John A. Macdonald as the first prime minister of Canada, according to a new poll commissioned by Historica Canada.

Sir John A. — whose 200th birthday is Sunday — isn’t the only gap in Canadians’ knowledge. The poll, conducted by Ipsos Reid, found 28% of Canadians don’t know the year of Confederation and 44% don’t know Canada turns 150 in 2017.

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But Historica president Anthony Wilson-Smith said the results aren’t as discouraging as they might seem.

“We’ve found that Canadians might not necessarily be aware of specific dates, but when asked if they’ll attend a 150 year anniversary event, they’re very into the idea,” he said. “The passion is there, and the appreciation is there, and though the focus on dates isn’t necessarily there, what counts is the spirit behind it.”

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In an interesting tidbit of data, Albertans and Ontarians beat the national average for knowing the year of Confederation, with 90 and 75% respectively. Only four provinces in the country have mandatory Canadian history classes in their curriculum, meaning there are large swaths of the country with very different takes on the same history.