Articles by Arthur Milnes

Mar 25 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — It was exactly 30-years-ago today that British Columbia’s Kim Campbell announced her candidacy for the PC party’s leadership on this date in 1993. She quickly became the front-runner and was easily elected leader, also becoming Prime Minister, in June 1993. With her victory she became Canada’s first (and so far, only) female Prime Minister. Arthur […]

Mar 24 2023 — Arthur Milnes — Hill Times — David Lockhart: amiable, not inspiring, but a speech that ticked all the boxes. Over the years, U.S. presidential speeches to Parliament have followed a predictable pattern: a nod to the closeness of our friendship and the similarity of our values, a recognition of the uniqueness of our shared border, an expression of admiration for Canada’s […]

Mar 24 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — 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 […]

Mar 23 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Veteran Ontario MPP Ernie Eves was elected his province’s Tory leader on this date in 2002. He was replacing Mike Harris who had stepped down after receiving back-to-back majority mandates from voters in Canada’s largest province. Under Harris, Eves had served as both Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance. Eves officially became Premier of Ontario […]

Mar 22 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Canada’s Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, and U.S. President Richard Nixon spoke on the telephone on this date in 1973. Nixon initiated the call as he and his Administration hoped Canada would remain part of the International Commission for Control and Supervision for Vietnam. Trudeau was under great domestic pressure to order Canada’s withdrawal from the largely […]

Mar 21 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Members of the Red Chamber gathered on this date in 1918 for the first time since the death the previous December of former Senator and Prime Minister Sir Mackenzie Bowell. While his service as Prime Minister was brief, he had been a member of both the House and Senate during his 50-year parliamentary career. “No […]

Mar 20 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Canada’s new Conservative Party had a new leader on this date in 2004 with the selection of Stephen J. Harper as their standard bearer. He received almost 70 per cent of the vote, easily defeating Tony Clement and Belinda Stronach. Two-years later Harper would be elected Prime Minister and the newly merged Conservative Party, a […]

Mar 19 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — United States’ forces, joined by the British, Australian and Polish contingents, began the invasion of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq on this date in 2003. Approximately 160,000 armed forces personnel would be involved in this part of the military campaign. By March 1 President George W. Bush had announced “mission accomplished” and the end of hostilities. Canada, […]

Mar 18 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — It was a big day in the life and political career of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on this date in 2019 as he took to his feet in the House of Commons for the first time. Though elected federal NDP leader in 2017, Singh had been leading his party from outside the Commons. Eventually, he […]

Mar 17 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Sydney Earle Smith, the veteran President of the University of Toronto, was tapped by rookie PM John Diefenbaker to be the latter’s Secretary of State for External Affairs in 1957. A respected scholar, who had also served as Dean of Dalhousie’s Law School, Smith answered the call to duty and entered Dief’s cabinet. It proved […]

Mar 16 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — History was made on this date in 1984 when former cabinet minister John Turner announced he was putting his name forward in the race to succeed Pierre Trudeau. In his ground-breaking new biography of Turner, John Turner: An Intimate Biography of Canada’s 17th Prime Minister, journalist Steve Paikin describes what the future PM brought to the leadership […]

Mar 15 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — One of the most popular Tory politicians of recent years celebrates her birthday today. I speak, of course, of Rona Ambrose, the Alberta MP who served as Leader of the Opposition and Interim Leader of the federal Conservative Party from 2015-2017. Previously she had served in a variety of senior portfolios in the cabinets of […]

Mar 14 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Canadian sensitivities about our southern neighbour kicked into high gear on this date in 1955 after Lester B. Pearson, Canada’s Secretary of State for External Affairs, addressed the Canadian Club of Toronto. In his speech, Pearson described the reality of Canadian-American relations, arguing that Canada depended on the U.S. more than was the reverse. Nationalists […]

Mar 13 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Historians and commentators agree that one of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s greatest legacies is the Acid Rain Treaty he signed, in 1991, with President George H.W. Bush. As Leader of the Opposition and then Prime Minister, Mulroney had used every lever available to him to bring America to the table to jointly combat this environmental […]

Mar 12 2023 — Arthur Milnes — National Newswatch — Upper Canada’s great reformer and rebel leader William Lyon Mackenzie was born in Dundee, Scotland on this date in 1795. He immigrated to British North America when he was 25 and settled in what is now Ontario. In 1834 he was elected Toronto’s first Mayor. A journalist who founded the famed newspaper, The Colonial Advocate, Mackenzie […]