William Lyon Mackenzie King

So she hopped on an Air Canada flight in the morning by herself in her 80s, went down Boston, saw the Pope, flew back.

But she, just on the politics, which is quite funny, when she was a young nurse in British Columbia, she tended to a broken arm of Mackenzie King.

And we have a letter at my mother's house in Newfoundland that Mackenzie King wrote her.

So we kind of get touched by these weird strains in politics.

Yeah, yeah.

Why did the government of the day want the property so badly?

Well, Mackenzie King was behind the expropriation.

So Prime Minister Mackenzie King, our wartime prime minister, longest serving prime minister, in 1943, essentially ordered his cabinet to approve an expropriation of the property.

So why did he want to do that? Well, one of the reasons is that the properties along the Ottawa River there, along Sussex Drive, were being snapped up by embassies and missions and foreign delegations.

And that was sort of the last private property there.

And by the third day, I don't think you could pull me out of that army.

three years into the war and there is still no war art program from London Vincent Massey Canada's High Commissioner and longtime patron of the Arts presses his friend Mackenzie King for a program the camera he says is necessarily limited in its use Massey convinces King that the work of artists is also required if there is to be an adequate record of Canada's war activities Within months, the first artists, having completed basic officer training, make final preparations to go to Europe.

The director of the National Gallery, H. O. McCurry, is to select the participants with the help of eminent artists such as A. Y. Jackson and Arthur Lismer.

Joining them are the historical officers of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Governor General Lord Stanley dedicated Vancouver's Stanley Park on this day in 1889.

Mackenzie King's Liberals narrowly defeated the Tories to win a minority government in the 1925 election.

And as always, we aired this episode of Today in Canadian History.

Today in Canadian History is produced by CGSW 90.9 FM.

when conflict was erupting around the world.

Just last week, I finished Tim Cook's great book, The Warlords, talking about the wartime leadership of Gordon and Mackenzie King.

And a takeaway for me, which is seeing what Mackenzie King knew in the late 1930s as war beckoned in Europe, but still refuse to make the necessary investments to get the Canadian economy and industry on a war footing.

Because we had that luxury of distance, the world has changed.

We're in a much more globally integrated security environment and it's far from certain as to what the future is going to be.

And in Canada, it means progressive.

But in the context of the party, the large liberal party of Canada has really dominated the country almost since Confederation, though the first prime minister was a conservative, but produced most of the prime ministers, Mackenzie King, Lester B. Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, Trudeau Sr., Justin Trudeau, and now Carney, and others in between.

Right.

It's had a kind of dominance in Canadian politics that is, I think, unfamiliar to us, partially because we have a sort of two-party system, and it's Back and forth over the decades.

And in Canada, it means progressive.

But in the context of the party, the large liberal party of Canada has really dominated the country almost since Confederation, though the first prime minister was a conservative, but produced most of the prime ministers, Mackenzie King, Lester B. Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, Trudeau Sr., Justin Trudeau, and now Carney, and others in between.

Right.

It's had a kind of dominance in Canadian politics that is, I think, unfamiliar to us, partially because we have a sort of two-party system, and it's Back and forth over the decades.