It was on this date in 1921 that First World military hero Lord Byng (Julian Hedworth George Byng) became the Crown’s representative to Canada. He was well known to Canadians at the start of his term as he had overall command of the Canadian soldiers at the storied Battle of Vimy Ridge. As Governor General, Lord Byng, joined by his wife Lady Byng, traveled throughout the country more frequently that his predecessors. Both the GG and Her Excellency were avid sports fans throughout their lives and during their mandate at Rideau Hall worked tirelessly to highlight the Canadian sporting world.
In 1925, Prime Minister Mackenzie King, heading a precarious minority government, suddenly asked Lord Byng to grant a dissolution of Parliament to avoid a vote of censure from a Commons’ committee studying a King government scandal. Quite properly, in my view, Byng refused this request and then King did the unthinkable – resigning and leaving Canada with no Prime Minister. At that point Byng invited Arthur Meighen to form a government, which he did, only to see it fall on the floor of the Commons a few days later. Byng, with no options left, then granted Meighen a dissolution. In the ensuing election, King was returned to power.
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Lord Byng/caption
Relations between Governor General Byng and his Prime Minister, Mr. King, were, obviously, never the same after that. Still, when Byng left Canada to return home to England, they did so knowing they had made a positive difference for the country and inspired thousands of Canadians along the way.
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.