It was on this date in 1909 that one of Canada’s greatest-ever Parliamentary performers, future Prime Minister Arthur Meighen, first took to his feet in the Commons. Legend has it that another of the nation’s greatest Parliamentarians, Sir Wilfrid Laurier himself, watching Meighen’s maiden address, turned to his seatmate and said, “Borden has found a man.” Meighen, who would twice be called upon to serve as Prime Minister, would go on to serve in both the House and Senate and his place in history as legendary orator is secure. You can read Meighen’s maiden address at this link to Hansard: https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.debates_HOC1101_02/320
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.