Canadians were in the midst of a federal election on this date in 1958.  The main protagonists were, of course, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and rookie Liberal Leader Lester B. Pearson. Dief had been leading a minority government that had been in office eight months.  The stakes were high and old Dief did not disappoint either his party or Canadians.  On election night the 13^th Prime Minister had received the largest-ever majority mandate in our history, winning 208 seats.  Part of Mr. Diefenbaker’s appeal to Canadians during the campaign was his articulating, like no previous Prime Minister, of a vision of northern and Arctic Canada.  He invited his audiences, like the one assembled in Winnipeg on this date in 1958, to join with him in exploring the endless opportunities for Canada that our rugged – and mysterious to most Canadians – Arctic held. “Sir John A. Macdonald gave his life to this party,” Dief said. “He opened the West. He saw Canada from East to West. I see a new Canada - a Canada of the North!” Prime Minister Diefenbaker would go on to become the first Prime Minister to travel north of 60. You can read the entire speech at this link. caption id="attachment_54051" align="alignleft" width="360" Former PM John Diefenbaker/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.