"Queen Victoria Done Good!" a Ottawa Travel Page by yooperprof

That is, Queen Victoria Done Good in choosing Ottawa to be the governmental center of Canada. It was in 1857 that she was asked to decide where the permanent seat of the Canadian National Assembly. At that point, Canada was still very much a "province" of the mother country - not yet a Dominion - that would come in 1867. And in recent years, the administrative center of "Canada" had frequently shifted: from Kingston to Montreal to Quebec City and Toronto. But many residents of British North America recognized the need for a permanent location - and a new one at that.

Queen Victoria - with Prince Albert's guidance - did her homework well. Pouring over maps, studying geographical accounts, studying the history of the region in military and administrative terms, she came to the conclusion that Canada would be most benefitted by establishing its capital on the border between Upper and Lower Canada, in this beautiful region of the Ottawa River Valley.

Canada's Parliament - a shining beacon on a hill?

Ottawa is a city of many public monuments dedicated to the memory of those who have played a part in the history of this city and of this country. It's fitting that Queen Victoria should be remembered here - on Parliament Hill - as well - and interesting that the creator of this sculpture was a French-Canadian, Louis-Phillipe Hebert.