History was made on this date in 1962 with future Prime Minister John Napier Turner taking to his feet in the House of Commons for the first time. He had been elected a few months later to represent a Montreal riding after running under Liberal leader Lester B. Pearson’s banner. One of the most decent men to ever serve in the Commons, Turner started his address by paying tribute to the Progressive Conservative he had defeated.
“I should also at this stage like to recall to the memories and minds of hon. members the gentleman whom I replace in this bouse, Mr. Egan Chambers,” the rookie MP said. “Egan Chambers, as all hon. members who were in the House before the last election will agree, was a respected, a useful and a popular member of parliament. At the beginning of the campaign, I knew him to be a gentleman; when the campaign was over, I held the same opinion of him. I know him still to be a gentleman.”
You can read Mr. Turner’s maiden address in full at this link:
https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.debates_HOC2501_01/667
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.