Dec 9 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Sir Winston Churchill was in his final period as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in December 1951. He had returned to power in late October and would serve as PM until his final retirement from politics in 1955. In December of 1951, learning that Canada’s Secretary of State for External Affairs, Lester Pearson, was […]
Dec 8 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — With only weeks left in the Obama Presidency his Vice President, Joe Biden, was welcomed with open arms by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government on this date in 2016. Biden traveled to Ottawa and was feted by Trudeau and his team. “We are the closest of friends, steadfast partners, and unwavering allies,” the […]
Dec 7 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Canada’s 22nd Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Stephen J. Harper, was in South Korean on this date in 2009. He made history on his visit in becoming the first-ever Canadian PM to address South Korea’s national assembly. In his address, Harper recalled Canada’s proud service in the cause of freedom during the Korean War. “Canada […]
Dec 6 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Canada’s 15th Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Pierre Trudeau, was in Washington on this date in 1971 for talks with President Richard Nixon at the White House. Besides bilateral issues and irritants, Trudeau and Nixon also discussed the President’s unprecedented upcoming trip to China. “The President then gave an account of the Peking trip, emphasizing the […]
Dec 5 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — The “Man from Halifax,” as Sir John Thompson of Nova Scotia came to be known, was sworn-in as Canada’s 4th Prime Minister on this date in 1892, replacing the retiring Sir John Abbott. Thompson was the first Roman Catholic to serve as PM. Thompson had been recruited to federal politics in 1885 by John A. […]
Dec 4 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau was in Washington on this date in 1974 for his first bilateral meetings with an American who would soon become a close Trudeau friend, President Gerald R. Ford. In political retirement Trudeau would say that Ford, who hailed from Michigan, was a very true friend of Canada, a personal friend, […]
Dec 3 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Two Prime Ministers, one sitting and one from the past, were together in Toronto on this date in 1957 for a special dinner organized by the Canadian Club. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker had come from Ottawa for the event to praise one of his predecessors as both PM and Tory party leader, the Right Honourable […]
Dec 2 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — After 26 years of being a proud Dominion – like Canada – within the British Empire, Newfoundland’s government dissolved itself on this date in 1933. After almost 80 years of responsible government, the future Canadian province became a Crown colony once again. Newfoundland was once again governed directly from London. Newfoundland’s economy had been crushed […]
Dec 1 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — It had taken six months of negotiations with the Hudson’s Bay Company but on this date in 1869 the new Dominion of Canada acquired Rupert’s Land. Sir John A. Macdonald had entrusted talks with the HBC to two of his most valuable ministers, George-Étienne Cartier and William McDougall, to achieve the deal which saw Rupert’s Land’s 3.9 […]
Nov 30 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Canada’s only female Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Kim Campbell, was honoured on this date in 2004 with the ceremony in Centre Block celebrating the unveiling of her Official Portrait. You can read the speech she delivered that historic day below. Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell: First of all, I want to say how proud I […]
Nov 29 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was at the White House on this date in 1989 where he gave President George H.W. Bush and senior members of his Administration an in-person briefing about his recently concluded talks with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow. Bush, who would depart for Malta the following day for his first talks with the […]
Nov 27 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier joined a large gathering in Canada’s capital on this date in 1905 to protest the pogroms the previous month in Odessa in Imperial Russia that left hundreds and hundreds of Jews dead. In his forceful address the Liberal PM said “When we read of the cruelties, of the barbarities … […]
Nov 26 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Prime Minister Mackenzie King appointed a past Premier of Saskatchewan as his new Minister of Finance on this date in 1929. Charles A. Dunning, born in England in 1885, emigrated to Canada in 1901, at the age of 16. He would later hold his province’s top political job from 1922 until 1926, served in Finance […]
Nov 25 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Canada’s fourth post-Confederation Governor General took office on this date in 1878. His Excellency was only 33 and his full name was John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll. Lorne’s wife was none other than Princess Louise, a daughter of Queen Victoria itself. Both Lorne and his Princess were accomplished artists. […]
Nov 24 2022 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — When the leader of Canada’s national Progressive Conservatives, Colonel George Drew, got to his feet in the Commons on this date in 1952 he had the Crown on his mind. With the coronation of the new Queen on the horizon (it would take place in June 1953), Drew looked forward to a new Elizabethan age. […]