Canada’s federal Tories were in shock on this date in 1962 after their party, led by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, lost 89 seats and dropped 16 percent in the popular vote in the general election. Dief the Chief still, however, slightly bested the Liberals under Lester B. Pearson in the popular vote. It is interesting to note, particularly from today’s vantage point, that 79 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots.
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.