January 1, Happy New Year’s to all my readers! As we are entering a new year of political history anniversaries, I thought I’d give folks a taste of what 2021 will bring.
First off, we have very special anniversaries to help us illustrate the lives and legacies of two of Canada’s greatest Premiers, Alberta’s Peter Lougheed and Ontario’s Bill Davis. Both became Premiers exactly 50 years ago. Look for those dates to be marked as we get moving through 2021.
And, when we look back to 1961, I know my NDP friends will be happy to celebrate that it will have been 60 years since Prairie legend Tommy Douglas became national leader of the former CCF.
And there will be no partisanship at play when all Canadians mark with pride Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s role 60 years-ago at the Commonwealth conference in the UK. Dief joined with non-white members of the group in leading the charge to have South Africa removed due to that nation’s odious system of apartheid.
And my Liberal friends will surely be pleased when we mark the 100th anniversary, in December 2021, of Mackenzie King first becoming Prime Minister.
And if that wasn’t enough to look forward to, consider that we – at least I ! – will be marking the bicentennials of the births of two of our Prime Ministers, Sir John Abbott and Sir Charles Tupper.
So, all of this is just a small taste of the political history gems we’ll be celebrating, together, this year.
And, it was on this day that Brian Mulroney made history when his Free Trade Agreement with the USA went into effect and it was also on January 1, 1991 that the GST went into effect. While Mr. Mulroney’s Liberal opponents promised to abolish the tax, it is worth noting that, 30 years later, the GST remains in place.
Happy 2021 all.
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.
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. 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.