While not exactly young himself, St.-Laurent said Winston should retire. He then went on to describe to Kent how he thought a veteran leader shouldleave office.

“Very few men in public life hold on to two truths about the decision to retire: it’s the most difficult decision to make; and to make it correctly you have to make it sooner than is necessary,” St-Laurent said. “It is the one decision for which no advice is any help to you. All the people close to you have their own reasons for wanting you to go or wanting you to stay. You must make the decision alone. And therefore, you must decide before it is really time, because if you wait for that, you have then lost the capacity to judge your situation objectively. You can’t overcome the tendency to take an exaggerated view of your own role. I’ve seen that happen to so many people; I’m determined it won’t happen to me. I feel in great condition now, but I won’t remain here for as long as I feel that way. I shall retire while I’m still sure that I don’t need to.”

Of course, St.-Laurent did not follow his own advice. He stayed one election too many and was defeated by a Prairie storm named Diefenbaker in 1957.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.