Prime Minister Stephen Harper reached across the partisan divide on this date in 2009, appointing the past NDP Premier of Manitoba, Gary Doer, to the crucial post of Canadian Ambassador to the United States.Doer had served as his province’s Premier for a decade before heading to Washington on Canada’s behalf. In doing so he replaced former Finance Minister Michael Wilson who had served in the post with distinction.Ambassador Doer was Canada's Ambassador in D.C. through the rest of PM Harper’s time in office and remained as Ambassador, serving with distinction, through the early months of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first term.Birthday alert: Sending our birthday greetings to BC MP Randall Garrison.[caption id="attachment_581720" align="alignleft" width="300"] Former Manitoba Premier Gary Doer was Canada's 23rd Ambassador to the United States[/caption]Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.