It is a pleasure today to mark the birthday of a U.S. President who proved himself, during his two terms, a true friend of Canada. I speak, of course, of the 42nd American chief executive, Bill Clinton of Arkansas. From 1993 through January 2001 Clinton dealt with three Canadian Prime Ministers, Kim Campbell, Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien. And these three past leaders of our country all came away from meetings with President Clinton with the utmost respect and admiration.
Perhaps the greatest campaigner in 20th century American history, the man from Hope, Arkansas enjoyed sky-high approval ratings amongst Canadians his entire time in the White House. In 1999 he demonstrated his friendship with Canada when delivering an address at Mount-Tremblant, Quebec about federalism. Tensions were running high then in Canada’s age-old unity battle and Clinton praised federalism as practiced in both the U.S. and Canada.
“I think the United States and Canada are among the most fortunate countries in the world because we have such diversity,” he told his audience, which included the separatist Premier of Quebec, Lucien Bouchard. “Sometimes concentrated, like the Inuit in the north: sometimes widely dispersed within a certain area, like the diversity of Vancouver. We are fortunate because life is more interesting and fun where there are different people who look differently and find their way to God differently. It is an interesting time.”
Thank-you from a grateful Canadian, President Clinton, and happy birthday from north of the border. Years ago, on one his visits to Canada, former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney arranged for me to have a few minutes in private with the Man from Hope and it was my high honour to present him with one of my books, In Roosevelt's Bright Shadow, a collection of Presidential speeches (including some of his) delivered in Canada.
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.