I know that readers of Art’s History, regardless of party, will join with me in wishing our 20th Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, a happy birthday. The Little Guy from Shawinigan turns 90 today, putting him in the rarest of categories in the Prime Minister’s Club. He now joins John Napier Turner, Louis St.-Laurent, Sir Mackenzie Bowell and Sir Charles Tupper in reaching his 90s.
He first entered Parliament in 1963 and served in the cabinets of Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau. In 1980 he was in the trenches fighting for Canada at the time of the first Quebec Referendum. Afterwards, he played a key role in the repatriation of Canada’s Constitution, with a Charter of Rights.
In 1993 he was elected Prime Minister and would serve a decade in Canada’s most important job. Even the most partisan of his opponents could never question his love for Canada.
Vive le Canada! Vive Jean Chrétien on this, his milestone 90th birthday!
And of course, it is also the official birthday of Canada’s greatest Prime Minister (equaled only by Sir Wilfrid Laurier) Sir John A. Macdonald. Happy birthday Sir John A.!
Video: Premier Doug Ford wishes Jean Chretien a happy 90th!
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.