The 17th Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. John Turner was born in England on this date in 1929. One of the most passionate Canadians of his generation, he passed into history in 2000. I was privileged because Mr. Turner became important mentor to me, right up to the end of his life in 2020. We spent many hours in conversation over the 25 years I knew him. This is a picture of an idealistic first-year university student with Mr. Turner that was taken on Parliament Hill in 1985. He's now up there in the great House of Commons in the sky so it is a great pleasure to celebrate his special day today.
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.