Today we mark the anniversaries of the birth of two Quebecers who were key friends and advisors to our 15^th Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau. I speak, of course, of Gérard Pelletier (born in 1919) and Jacques Hébert (born in 1923).Before entering politics, Hébert was a ground-breaking and skilled journalist. Most famously, he traveled with Professor Pierre Trudeau to Communist China in 1960 and later penned a fascinating book about their trip, Two Innocents in Red China. Hébert later founded Canada World Youth and co-founded Katimavik, a youth program offering volunteer positions across the country.  Prime Minister Trudeau appointed his friend to the Senate in 1983. Mr. Hébert died in 2007.Gérard Pelletier was also a skilled journalist and served as editor of La Presse. Along with his friend, future Prime Minister Trudeau, he co-founded the influential journal, Cité Libre. Pelletier was elected to the House in 1965 and went on to serve in the Trudeau cabinets. Later Pelletier was named Canadian Ambassador to France and then our nation’s Ambassador to the United Nations. He died in 1997.[caption id="attachment_623505" align="alignleft" width="307"] The Honourable Jacques Hébert, O.C., accepts the 2007 Distinguished Service Award in the Senate Chamber on May 28, 2007.[/caption][caption id="attachment_623508" align="alignleft" width="302"] Gérard Pelletier, co-founder of Cité Libre, and cabinet minister under Pierre Trudeau. Elected MP for Montreal-area riding of Hochelaga in 1965, 1968, 1972 and 1974.[/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.