A dashing young Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, who had recently returned to Canada from the front-lines, took to his feet in the Commons for the first time 85 years-ago today. James Sinclair, who had been sent to the House by B.C. voters in the federal election in March of 1940, was of course, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s accomplished grandfather. Sinclair would go on to serve 18 years in the House and was a leading member of Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent’s cabinet. He passed into history in 1984 at age 75.
You will find Mr. Sinclair’s maiden address at this link: https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.debates_HOC1806_01/39
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.