William Lyon Mackenzie King has always kinda been my secret favourite Prime Minister. This is due 100% to my awesome high school history teacher who told us all sorts of crazy stories about him. He was absolutely batty and I loved it. So today when I was bouncing down a wikipedia rabbit hole through the various Prime Ministers of Canada, I learned quite a few things that I did not know about him.
First of all, at 21 years, he was the longest-serving Prime Minister in British Commonwealth history. That’s pretty hefty. Sir John served 18 years, Trudeau served 15 years, Chretien served 10 years; all child’s play. Don’t waste my time, guys.
Secondly, and more awesomely, you can read his diaries on the internet. This is awesome, because you get to read great stories like the ones that my high school teacher told me, like this one:
When British parliament was bombed, WLMK had some of the stones from the old buildings sent to Ottawa. He proceeded to touch each of the stones and then Canadian parliament in turn, in order to imbue our buildings with British history.
I look forward to reading many similar stories in this archive. This may be the first time that the Canadian government has actually done some good on the internet.
Comments 2