The Pierre Trudeau-era in Canadian politics officially got underway on this date in 1968 with the 15th Prime Minister’s swearing-in at Rideau Hall. Trudeau had only recently been elected as Lester Pearson’s successor. Not long after becoming PM, Trudeau called a general election and was awarded that June with a majority mandate from Canadians. Trudeau would remain as PM until 1979 and his defeat by Joe Clark. In 1980, he returned to power and held Canada’s top political job until his retirement from politics in 1984.
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.