Canada’s future national leader of the Progressive Conservative party was born on this date in 1914. Robert L. Stanfield came into the world at Turo, Nova Scotia and went on to earn a degree at Harvard University. Entering provincial politics, he would serve as his province’s Premier from 1956 to 1967. Stanfield was then elected national leader of the federal PCs and held that post until 1976, when he was replaced by Joe Clark. While he was unsuccessful in three federal elections when facing Liberal Pierre Trudeau, he earned the respect and affection of countless thousands across Canada and was often referred to as “the best Prime Minister Canada never had.” He passed into history in 2003.
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.