Canada’s future Governor General, Acadian Roméo LeBlanc was born on this date in New Brunswick, in 1927k. He would go on to study at universities at home and also in Paris. This led him to journalism where LeBlanc served with distinction at Radio Canada bureaus in the UK, the United States and in Ottawa. Later, he served as press secretary to both Prime Minister Lester Pearson and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
LeBlanc was first elected to the Commons in 1972 and remained an MP until his appointment to the Senate in 1984. Along the way he served as a ground-breaking Minister of Fisheries and also later held the portfolio of Minister of Public Works.
In late 1994 PM Jean Chrétien recommended to Her Majesty LeBlanc’s appointment as Canada’s 25th Governor General. In Vice Regal office, LeBlanc put a special emphasis on volunteerism and the teaching of Canadian history, establishing awards in both areas. He left office in 1999 and returned home to New Brunswick.
In his waning years, LeBlanc suffered from Alzheimer’s. He passed into history in 2009.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.