Friday 18 September 2015

Who Are You Voting For?



The Canadian Federal Election will be held next month on October 19th, and there will be new Members of Parliament in many ridings across the country. Here in the archives, we have correspondence with many MPs, but we were curious to see how many Prime Ministers' signatures we could find. Out of the 22 who have held the job, we were able to find 16. Not too shabby!

In order of appearance, we have:

1. Sir John A. Macdonald 1867 - 1873, 1878 - 1891
L AF02.31
1884

2. Alexander Mackenzie 1873 - 1878
L AE12.54
1876

4. Sir John Thompson 1892 - 1894
L AE12.131
1887

7. Sir Wilfrid Laurier 1896 - 1911
ME AE01.20
1909


9. Arthur Meighen 1920 - 1921, 1926
MN AH10.16
1921

10. William Lyon Mackenzie King 1921 - 1926, 1926 - 1930, 1935 - 1948
MG SU03.13
1937



11. R.B. Bennett 1930 - 1935
MN TA01.117
1933

12. Louis St. Laurent 1948 - 1957
MG DS50.64
1948

13. John Diefenbaker 1957 - 1963
MG PO06 54
1957

14. Lester B. Pearson 1963 - 1968
MG PO06.116
1963

15. Pierre Trudeau 1968 - 1979, 1980 - 1984
Papers of Cardinal Carter
1983

16. Joe Clark 1979 - 1980
Papers of Cardinal Carter

17. John Turner 1984
Papers of Cardinal Ambrozic

18. Brian Mulroney 1984 - 1993
Papers of Cardinal Carter

20. Jean Chrétien 1993 - 2003
Papers of Cardinal Ambrozic

21. Paul Martin 2003 - 2006
Papers of Cardinal Ambrozic

Stephen Harper's signature is probably somewhere in the building, but not yet in the archives!

Click here to read the Canadian Bishops' guide to voting in the upcoming election, and click here for information about voter registration. Don't forget to make your voice heard!




Tuesday 8 September 2015

Record of the Week: Reign of Queen Elizabeth II

Tomorrow, Queen Elizabeth II will become the longest serving monarch in British history, supplanting her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years 216 days.

After her uncle King Edward VIII abdicated, Elizabeth unexpectedly became second-in-line to the throne. The queen's reign began on February 6, 1952 when her father, King George VI, died. Elizabeth II's coronation took place on June 2, 1953 and was the first to be aired on television.

At the time of Her Majesty's accession, James Cardinal McGuigan was the Archbishop of Toronto. As the senior cardinal and ranking prelate of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada, His Eminence sent words of sympathy and acknowledgement to the new Queen of Canada. In the archives, we have the monarch's brief response, sent via telegraph:

Cardinal McGuigan finds, MGPO06.99

Telegram, 10 February 1952

"Buckingham Palace London
LTF Cardinal McGuigan Toronto
I am sincerels (sic) grateful for your kind message please assure all those for whom you speak that I deeply value their kindness and sympathy
Elizabeth R"

The queen signs official documents "Elizabeth R". The "R'' stands for regina, which is Latin for queen.