This is a big day for all Canadian economics geeks to celebrate!  And so, it was on April 28, 1868 that the first-ever federal Budget was revealed by Sir John A. Macdonald’s Minister of Finance, Sir John Rose (1820-1888).  Rose, who served as the MP for Huntington, Quebec, is largely forgotten today but his work in this crucial period helped set the young Dominion on the proper financial course and footing. Interestingly, while Rose was the first Finance Minister to table a budget for Canada, he was not the new country's first Finance Minister; that honour belongs to Sir Alexander Galt, who held the post from July 1, 1867, but resigned just over four months later, following a disagreement with the Prime Minister. In yet another interesting twist, in 1869 -- just 18 months after tabling Canada's first budget -- Rose opted to move to London, UK, where he practiced law and served as an unofficial representative of the Canadian government.  Since Canada did not yet have a foreign affairs department at the time, Rose reported directly to Canada's Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Rose was thus the first former Finance Minister who later had the honour to serve as Canada's  (albeit, in his case, unofficial) representative to the United Kingdom!  (For fans of political trivia, other former Finance Ministers who later went on to serve as Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom have included: the afore-mentioned Sir Alexander Galt (1880-83); Donald Macdonald (1988-91); and Ralph Goodale (2021-). The Dictionary of Canadian Biography describes how Rose was respected by his colleagues and friends. “Of all Sir John Macdonald’s political associates in his later years,” wrote Sir Joseph Pope (Macdonald’s loyal personal assistant), “I am disposed to consider that, personally, he was most attached to Sir John Rose. . . .” British newspaper editor John Morley (who later earned renown as an MP and statesman) wrote of Sir John Rose: “He was one of the many Scots who have carried the British flag . . . over the face of the globe; his qualities had raised him to great prominence in Canada; he had enjoyed good opportunities of measuring the American ground; he was shrewd, wise, well read in the ways of men and the book of the world, and he had besides the virtue of being pleasant.” So happy first Budget Day to all! caption id="attachment_553027" align="aligncenter" width="413" Sir John Rose (1820-1888)/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.