Walter Gordon was born on this date, in 1906, in Toronto. Today’s anniversary of the birth of Canadian economic nationalist allows us to recall the life and legacy of this very important and impactful political leader from the 1960s.In 1957, as Chair of the Royal Commission on Canada’s Economic Prospects, Walter Gordon had warned of the dangers of increasing foreign investment in Canada’s economy. A businessman and public servant, Gordon formed a close friendship with Lester Pearson, and played an important role in bringing his friend to power in 1963.Pearson appointed Walter Gordon as his Minister of Finance in 1963. Unfortunately, Gordon’s first budget was widely opposed and in short order Prime Minister Pearson reversed some of its most contentious provisions.In 1965, confident the Liberals would return with a majority mandate, Gordon strongly advised his friend to call an election. Unfortunately for both men, voters again gave Pearson a minority victory and Gordon resigned, taking the blame. On the backbench, the relations between Pearson and Gordon further decayed, despite the latter returning to cabinet in 1967. Gordon chose not to run again in the 1968 election.Freed from the constraints of politics, Gordon famously served as one of the founders of the Committee for an Independent Canada, again warning of the dangers of too much foreign ownership of the Canadian economy.Along the way, Gordon served as a mentor and example to prominent Canadians such as Keith Davey and Tom Axworthy. Though Walter Gordon passed into history in 1987 his remarkable legacy lives on through the Gordon Foundation, established by he and his family in the 1960s.[caption id="attachment_604246" align="alignleft" width="261"] Walter Gordon[/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.