OTTAWA—There is a small plaque on Queen Street in Ottawa, two blocks south of Parliament Hill. It is not that prominent and easy to miss. It commemorates the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, “considered one of the eloquent of the Fathers of Confederation” (that is what is on the plaque), who was shot nearby on April 7, 1868. The event remains, to the best of my knowledge, the only political assassination in Canadian history. Some would cite the murder of Quebec labour minister Pierre Laporte by the FLQ in 1970, although that is perhaps better described as an act of terrorism (not that terrorism and assassination are mutually exclusive).