Former journalist, Prime Ministerial press secretary and cabinet minister Romeo LeBlanc was installed as Canada’s Governor General on this date in 1995. He made history, becoming the first-ever Acadian to serve as the Sovereign’s personal representative to Canada. At Rideau Hall, LeBlanc brought a special interest in the promotion of the study of Canadian history to his vice-regal post, something historians and high school history teachers appreciate to this very day. His spouse, Diana Fowler LeBlanc, a past social worker, highlighted the work of the un-sung heroes who work in that field. She was decades ahead of her time in doing so.
You can watch CBC’s coverage of the new Governor General’s installation ceremony at this link: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.3332931
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.