These who's who accolades are written in the present tense.


http://www.canadiangenealogy.net/canadi ... aphies.htm


The bottom snip from the Preface

The interests of Canada demand-that her history should be modeled after her institutions, and viewed from that standpoint, honor should be given to those who made the country great. A man is a constituent of a community; so is the history of an individual a constituent of the history of a country; and that history which best represents the lives of prominent individuals, will best represent the social condition of a country.

In making a selection of names for the Biographical Dictionary, the Publishers have aimed to give a view of the representatives of the various interests of this Province: the Statesmen, the Preachers, the Lawyers, the Merchants, the Manufacturers, the Engineers, Educational and Medical Men, and indeed all who take part in the intellectual, social, and material progress of the people. If all are not represented, it is because our efforts have failed to reach them, or because the parties themselves were not familiar with the importance of the work, and have failed to furnish the necessary information. There are some who, from vain pride, have refused information; they feared that their names might be associated with names which did not come up to their standard ; others again, who are worthy citizens, have from a false modesty refused to give particulars, as they said their lives were not of sufficient importance, thereby accepting the position of being supernumeraries in society, who have no share in the common interest-forgetting that in a few years their names, without a record, will be lost in oblivion, and their posterity deprived of the gratification and advantage of reference to an honorable ancestry.

The Biographical Dictionary will present a galaxy of men whose career will do honor to any country, exhibiting a variety of enterprise and the best illustration of social life ever published. The portraits have the accuracy of photographic art transferred to steel by the ablest engravers of England and America.



They sure do have lots of nice things to say about themselves.
Governments live off of the people
People don't live off the Government.
You could spent a lot of time in here scrolling through the list.