As chairman of the Ottawa Improvement Commission, he was one of the first to conceive the idea of The Rideau Canal Driveway, and the purchase of the parks, which have greatly enhanced the beauty of the Dominion's Capital City.

The Bates' wholesale business prospered, managing to secure some excellent clients and, as author Dave Mullington writes on p. 64 in his book "Chain of Office: Biographical Sketches of the Early Mayors of Ottawa 1847-1948" (Renfrew, Ontario: General Store Publishing House, 2005), Bate & Co. became "the official food supplier to Rideau Hall, providing the Governor-General and his household with such delights as potted hare and truffles, as well as more mundane items such as ginger ale, toothpicks and flypaper".

In June 21, 1952, evening edition of the Ottawa Citizen (p. 2, Section 3), Madge Macbeth wrote that "the Bate real estate holdings were so extensive in Sandy Hill that it was impossible to identify a person's address by explaining that he or she lived in a 'Bate house'."

Located at 216 Chapel St., and encompassing an entire city block with outbuildings and stables, Trennick House was where Bate and his wife, Catherine Cameron, raised fourteen children (nine of whom survived to adulthood).

"[5] Another son was Thomas Cameron Bate, who while active in the family business was also one of the founders and president of the Diamond Arrow Motor Car Company of Ottawa, which manufactured automobiles.