Agnes MacPhail, the nation’s first-ever female MP, was born on this date in 1890. In 1921 the former teacher ran for a seat in the House of Commons under the Progressive Party’s banner and was successful, earning her a spot in Canada’s history books. She would remain on Parliament Hill until 1940. After her service in the Commons, Ontario voters sent her to Queen’s Park for two terms as a MPP.
She passed into history in February 1954.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.