John Boyko : January 11 is Sir John A. Macdonald’s 200th birthday. There will be cakes, songs, and speeches. Some, however, will not celebrate but castigate. The conflicted commemoration of our first prime minister is as it should be, for there are at least seven ways to see Sir John.

Creator: In the 1860s, Americans were butchering each other over whether to enslave each other and threatening an invasion over their northern border. The bitty colonial Brits with their dysfunctional governments and a mother country more interested in abandoning than embracing them, needed to save themselves by creating themselves. Canada's birth had many midwives, but the conferences and debates that brought it into the world would have failed without Sir John's charm and political acumen. The Constitution creating the state to house the nation, and which is still fundamentally in force, was written largely in his hand.

Saviour: The United States demanded astronomical reparations from Britain for its role in prolonging the Civil War. The Americans offered to trade the cash for Canada. As part of the British delegation in Washington to negotiate what was called the Alabama claims, Macdonald deftly controlled the agenda. He refused to be bribed by the Brits or bullied by the Americans. He left with generous concessions and the swap swept from the table.

Visionary: Macdonald knew Canada must grow or be gone and the only way was west on rails. The idea was ludicrous. It would be the world's longest railway through the world's most inhospitable land. The rocks and impenetrable forests of the Precambrian shield would be hard, the muskeg that could swallow men and machines would be harder, and the snow-peaked Rockies would be impossible. Macdonald told British Columbians they'd have the steel line in 10 years and the money flowed and hammers rang. His will and conniving saw the impossible done and Canada linked from sea to sea.

Centralist: Macdonald put power in parliament. He saw the prime minister as the servant of the House and provinces like municipalities. Parliament could overturn provincial laws deemed to contradict the national interest and he disallowed many. He interpreted parliament's purchase of what is now most of the west as its ownership of the land and resources. When premiers met to complain, he refused to attend.

Charlatan: He was not above political chicanery to get or keep power. Globe editor and Reform Party leader George Brown learned the hard way when Macdonald tricked him into office and then two days later tricked him right back out again. He used patronage jobs to openly and unapologetically reward friends and punish enemies. He was once scandalized out of power when caught linking political donations to railway contracts.

Rogue: No one knew more stories and jokes than Sir John. No one remembered more names or slapped more backs. He never met a voter with whom he disagreed or an opponent he did not try to woo. He once entered his occupation in a hotel ledger as “cabinet maker”. A hard drinker, he once threw up during a campaign speech but then won the election. He told another audience that Canadians preferred him drunk to George Brown sober – he was right. He was a scoundrel but he was their scoundrel.

Racist: He imported Chinese workers for the worst and most dangerous railway construction jobs. With the task done, Macdonald acted to have them kicked out and the door barred. He did not want Canadians to become what he called a “mongrel race”. Native nations were in the way. Macdonald swept the plains by exploiting the death of the buffalo to empty bellies while filling residential schools in a slow-motioned cultural genocide.

It is fitting and proper that we commemorate Sir John. Without him there would be no Canada. Perhaps we honour him best by acknowledging that he was as complex a man as the country he left in our care.