The government felt that a monument should be erected in the capital of Canada expressive of the feelings of the Canadian people as a whole to the memory of those who had participated in the Great War and had lost their lives in the service of humanity."[30] In response to a statement by Murray MacLaren that the central column of Confederation Hall (the main entrance) of the new Centre Block already had an inscription noting the service of Canadians who had fought overseas, Mackenzie King said the inscription made reference to many other events in Canadian history and, as such, was never meant to act as a national war memorial; he elaborated: "there is, as of yet, no monument of a national character in the capital of the Dominion" and what the Cabinet proposed was "intended to be a national monument in the national capital."[30]