In my view, those Canadian leaders who have served as Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition do not get the respect they deserve.  It is an often-thankless job but one that is the leading part of the essential role Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition plays in our Parliamentary system of government. It was on this date in 1873 that Alexander Mackenzie became the first-ever official Canadian Leader of the Opposition.  Not long before, this immigrant to Canada had been declared leader of the Liberal Party.  This proved to be excellent timing as it was only nine months later that Mackenzie was invited to form a government after Sir John A. Macdonald left office over the Pacific Scandal.  And so, Mackenzie served as the second prime minister of Canada, from 1873, to 1878.  He won a majority in the 1874 election, handing Macdonald a decisive beating,  and continued the nation-building that Sir John A had begun, most notably by establishing the Supreme Court. In my lifetime I’d suggest that two of the greatest Leaders of the Opposition were the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark and the Rt. Hon. John Diefenbaker, both masters of the House of Commons with unmatched debating skills.  The Rt. Hon. John Napier Turner would be another I’d give a nod to, as did his opponent, the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney who faced Mr. Turner for years from across the floor. caption id="attachment_543389" align="aligncenter" width="308" Alexander Mackenzie, Canada's first official Leader of the Oppositiuon and 2nd Prime minister of Canada/caption 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.