Quebec’s Union Nationale party and government were thrown into disarray on this date in 1960 with the death in office of Premier Paul Sauvé at age 52. He had only served 100 days after succeeding Maurice Duplessis, who also died while holding Quebec’s highest political office.Paul Sauvé had first been elected to Quebec’s National Assembly in the 1930s when he was only 23. He rose to become Speaker, the youngest in the province’s history. The future Premier was a leading member of the Duplessis cabinets. During the Second World War he served overseas with Canadian forces. One can only imagine how Quebec’s history might have changed had Paul Sauvé lived. Not long after his death the Union Nationale was defeated.Birthday alert: I know folks of all party views will join with us at Art’s History in sending along birthday wishes to federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.[caption id="attachment_600495" align="alignleft" width="288"]
Paul Sauvé[/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.
Paul Sauvé[/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.