It is a great personal and professional privilege to send out birthday greetings to my friend Kim Campbell, our nation’s first female Prime Minister, on her special day. She has long been a supporter of my work in the field of political history and I owe her a great deal. My wife and I were honoured to host her at our home where she, of course, performed a ceremonial tree planting in our famous garden. That was in 2015 and her evergreen is well and growing still! Ms. Campbell was first elected to the Commons in 1988 and excelled in all the cabinet posts assigned her by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. When the latter announced his resignation plans in February of 1993, Campbell entered the race to succeed him. Victorious, she was then sworn-in as Prime Minister on June 25, 1993. Today, she remains an inspiration to generations of young women. Happy birthday Kim Campbell!
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.