When I worked at Queen’s Park as a young political assistant in the 1980s, I was fascinated by the portraits of the past Premiers that adorned the Ontario Legislature. And for whatever reason, seeing the portrait of Ontario’s first (and only) United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) Premier, Ernest Drury, left me with a great interest in this long forgotten Premier.Drury and his party came to power in the aftermath of the First World War.  A loose coalition, they did not even have an official leader when they found themselves with the most seats after the 1919 Ontario election. A respected leader in the farming community who had co-founded the UFOs, Ernest Drury was prevailed upon to serve as Premier, later winning a seat at Queen’s Park.Not surprisingly, Drury and his government made great strides in bringing electricity to rural Ontario and also laid the groundwork for the continent’s first-ever reforestation program.  His government also legislated a minimum wage for female workers and improved worker’s compensation benefits.But, Premier Drury called an election in 1923 and was defeated. He returned to farming and penned his memoirs, Farmer Premier, very late in life.Born on this date in 1878, Drury passed into history at age 90 in 1968.  Readers can learn more about this fascinating Premier at his biography featured in the Canadian Encyclopedia on-line at this link.It is also a great personal pleasure to send out birthday greetings to my friend and fellow fan of political history, Leader of the Opposition Erin O’Toole, as he marks his 49th birthday today.  (He was born in Montreal.)caption id="attachment_604240" align="alignleft" width="220" Ernest Drury/captioncaption id="attachment_335119" align="alignleft" width="301" Conservative MP Erin O'Toole speaks during a news conference, Wednesday October 11, 2017 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld/captionArthur 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.