Sir John A. Macdonald of Kingston and his Tories returned from the political wilderness on this date in 1878. The Father of Confederation was sworn-in as Prime Minister once again after defeating the Liberals under Alexander Mackenzie the previous month. Back in office, Macdonald would never lose power again, earning three further majority mandates from Canadians before passing into history, still serving as PM, in 1891.
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.