A self-made man of wealth, he built one of the world's largest integrated meat-packing empires, P. Burns & Co., becoming one of the wealthiest Canadians of his time.

Burns's 700,000 acres (2,800 km2) of cattle ranches covered so vast an area of Southern Alberta that he boasted about being able to travel from Cochrane to the US border without ever leaving his land.

[4][5] His parents had immigrated from County Mayo, Ireland in 1848 due to the Great Famine,[6] and as part of the naturalization process, the family name was shortened to Byrne and then later to Burns.

[4][7] The family moved from the Oshawa area northward in the spring of 1864 to the small community of Kirkfield, Ontario, where Burns spent a majority of his childhood.

He had intended to save enough money to travel out west, but when it came time for him to collect his pay, he discovered that his employer did not have enough cash to cover the $100 he was owed for his labour and so was instead given two oxen as payment.

They started out by steamer, but when they reached Rat Portage, he feared that if he paid for transportation the rest of the way, he might lack funds on his arrival.

The brothers set out on foot to locate their homesteads and walked 160 miles (260 km) until they found land to their liking just east of Minnedosa, Manitoba.

[10] Burns continued to homestead in Manitoba until after the Louis Riel rebellion but gradually became involved in buying cattle and selling meat.

In 1887, William Mackenzie and his partners Donald Mann, James Ross, and Herbert Holt secured a railway construction contract to drive a line from Quebec through Maine to the Eastern Seaboard.

Mackenzie had grown up in Kirkfield and remembered Burns from their briefly-shared school days and time spent working in their fields.

Burns Manor, on the corner of 4th Street and 13th Avenue SW, designed by Pat's friend, the famed architect Francis Rattenbury, was a grand, 18-room sandstone mansion, visited by the likes of Prime Ministers and Royalty.

With A. E. Cross, A. J. McLean, and George Lane, they arranged $100,000 worth of financing and billed the event as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.

His company, Burns Foods, had abattoirs in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Prince Albert, and Regina with an overall daily capacity of 1,070 cattle, 6,000 pigs, and 3,000 sheep.

One of the Foley, Welch and Stewart, sternwheelers, the Skeena was used for the express purpose of delivering Burns's beef to the railway construction camps in British Columbia.

[11] As part of his western expansion, Burns purchased several thousand acres of land south of Vancouver with the intent of using it for grazing cattle.

[19] Burns constructed the historic 18 West Hastings Street as his regional head office and one of several retail outlets in the city.

Many large cattle drives were brought to the site where the animals were bedded, fed, watered and rested before being herded to the stockyards.

Hull was responsible for building the natural brick two storey Bow Valley Ranche House which was said to be the finest country home in the territories.

After his death, his nephew and business successor Michael John Burns came to live in Bow Valley Ranche House.

[7] Under his supervision, the ranching operation continued to prosper and he also preserved the established tradition of true western hospitality remembered by many Calgarians.

Under George Lane, it had achieved an international repute as a centre of breeding excellence for cattle and purebred Percheron horses.

In making the announcement, Prime Minister Bennett had this to say about him: “Holding your wealth as a trust, you have given generously to every good cause and your life has been an inspiration to the younger generation.” He sat as an independent until he resigned for health reasons in 1936.

The succession duty on his estate, at almost $1 million, was a welcome windfall for the province of Alberta, and the revenue helped to offset the loss from suspending the provincial sales tax in August 1937.

[29] In 1914, Pope Benedict XV created him a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, the first Canadian to receive such an honour.

It was during the Depression days, and the gifts were much needed; 2000 Calgary families received the roasts and 4000 single unemployed dined out at his expense.

[7] Recognizing the value of the trees in Fish Creek Valley, he directed his foreman to erect fences around the groves of aspen and poplar as protection from the cattle.

Along with Burns, the list included former Premier Peter Lougheed, former Mayor and Lieutenant-Governor Grant MacEwan and Famous Five member Nellie McClung.

He purchased large herds of purebred Hereford stock, which he used to help fellow ranchers improve the blood lines of their own cattle.