William Lyon Mackenzie King’s remarkable journey through Canadians politics continued on this date in 1909 when he entered Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s cabinet as the nation’s first-ever Minister of Labour. He would hold the post for a little over two-years, until the defeat of Laurier’s government in 1911. Turning to his famous diary some months later, the future Prime Minister had this to say about his work heading the department. “It has all worked out as foreseen years ago.”
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.