America’s 42nd President Bill Clinton was in Canada’s capital on this date in 1999. His duties on his visit to us included dedicating the impressive new U.S. Embassy building in Ottawa.
“The United States and Canada have benefitted from sharing our continent,” Clinton said in his remarks. “We, in particular, have learned from you -- a parliamentary democracy with two official languages, many distinct cultures, an inspiring commitment to social justice and solidarity. Our culture is richer, much richer, for the writings of Robertson Davies, the photographs of Yousuf Karsh, the magnificent music of Oscar Peterson -- and for those of us who are country music fans, we were thrilled when Shania Twain was named the Country Music Star of the Year.”
You can read President Clinton’s address in full at this link, courtesy of the Clinton Library in Arkansas: https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/WH/New/html/19991008_2.html
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.