The commanding Parliament Hill statue of the great Sir Robert Borden, Canada’s leader throughout the First World War, was dedicated on this date in 1957. Both Prime Minister Louis St.-Laurent and newly-minted Leader of the Opposition John Diefenbaker, spoke at the ceremony.
“Canadians were fortunate in those trying years to have as their leader a man of unquestionable integrity, a high sense of duty, a thoroughly trained mind and an exceptional capacity for unremitting hard work," St.-Laurent said. “In the years since his death, we have learned to have a more accurate and deeper appreciation of a great Canadian statesman. And I am sure that all Canadians who gaze upon the statue which has been unveiled today will recall with respect his sincerity of purpose and his selfless devotion to his country."
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.