It is a pleasure today to mark the birthday of a U.S. President who proved himself, during his two terms, a true friend of Canada. I speak, of course, of the 42^ndAmerican president, William Jefferson Clinton of Arkansas. From 1993 through January 2001 President Clinton dealt with three Canadian Prime Ministers: Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell and Jean Chrétien. These three past leaders of our country all came away from their meetings with President Clinton with the utmost respect and admiration. Perhaps the greatest campaigner in 20^thcentury American history, the man from Hope, Arkansas enjoyed sky-high approval ratings amongst Canadians during his entire time in the White House.  In 1999, President Clinton demonstrated the depth of his friendship with Canada when delivering an address about federalism at Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.  At the time, tensions were running high in Canada’s age-old unity battle and Clinton made a point of using the occasion to praise federalism as practiced in both the U.S. and Canada. “I think the United States and Canada are among the most fortunate countries in the world because we have such diversity,” he told his audience, which included the separatist Premier of Quebec, Lucien Bouchard. “Sometimes concentrated, like the Inuit in the north: sometimes widely dispersed within a certain area, like the diversity of Vancouver. We are fortunate because life is more interesting and fun where there are different people who look differently and find their way to God differently. It is an interesting time.” Thank-you from a grateful Canadian, President Clinton, and happy birthday from north of the border. To view a video of President Clinton’s Mont-Tremblant speech click here. Birthday alerts: Sending out birthday greetings to MP Kyle Seeback, and Senators Tony Dean and Donna Dasko. caption id="attachment_579820" align="alignleft" width="450" President Bill Clinton, speaking at the Forum of Federations Conference/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.