Only a day after the shocking news of the death of Prime Minister Sir John Thompson had arrived in Ottawa, Governor General Lord Aberdeen was a busy man. It was his duty to pick a man to replace Thompson as PM and the GG held hurried consultations with Mrs. Thompson, and various members of the Thompson cabinet. Finally, he made his choice. Aberdeen invited Mackenzie Bowell to his East Block office Afterwards, Bowell himself wrote up a statement to release to the media.
“It was ten o’clock when Hon. Mr. Bowell was summoned by His Excellency to meet him in the Governor General’s office in the East Block, whither he at once proceeded and remained in consultation with His Excellency until eleven o’clock,” the statement read. “The result of his interview, the newspapers are authorized to state, was that His Excellency informed Mr. Bowell that after fully considering all aspects of the situation, he had decided to ask him if he was prepared to undertake and assume the responsibility of the formation of cabinet.”
“Hon. Mr. Bowell replied, in effect, that while fully realizing the difficulties and responsibilities of assuming so important a duty, he could not, appreciating the mark of confidence reposed in him by the request, decline the responsibility of acceding to it, and that he would at the first possible opportunity consult with his colleagues and report to His Excellency at the earliest moment.”
The one-time immigrant to North American shores would now he Canada’s Prime Minister.
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.