Though he had long been considered the natural heir to Pierre Trudeau, John Turner shocked many of his supporters on this date in 1979. At a Toronto news conference, Turner, who had served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Justice before leaving cabinet in 1975, announced he would not be putting his name forward in the race to succeed Trudeau.
“Citizen Turner returned to private life and, had events unfolded as expected, might well have disappeared forever from the pages of Canadian political history,” one of Turner’s biographers, Paul Litt, later wrote.
As it turns out, Turner would enter the race for Liberal leader in 1984 when Trudeau resigned for good and cruise to victory.
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.