Canada’s Progressive Conservatives lost one of their most important Quebec Tories on this date in 2000 with the death of Jacques Flynn. A lawyer, Flynn was elected as a Diefenbaker Tory in the 13th Prime Minister’s sweep of Quebec in 1958. Later, Mr. Diefenbaker summoned Flynn to cabinet. Following his defeat in the 1962 election, Flynn was appointed to the Senate where he went on to serve with distinction through three decades.
With the election of Prime Minister Joe Clark in 1979, the 16th Prime Minister appointed Senator Flynn as Minister of Justice. When the Clark government was defeated, Flynn served as Leader of the Opposition in the Red Chamber until Brian Mulroney came to power in the fall of 1984.
Flynn remained a Senator until his retirement in 1990. He was later named an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his service to Quebec and Canada.[caption id="attachment_924666" align="alignleft" width="570"]
Jacques Flynn, seated next to the Governor General, at the swearing-in of the Joe Clark government, in 1979[/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.