John Diefenbaker (1895–1979) led Canada as its 13th Prime Minister,
serving from June 21, 1957 to April 22, 1963. He was the only
Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead it
to an election victory, doing so three times, although only once with a
majority of the seats in the Canadian House of Commons. Diefenbaker was
born in southwestern Ontario in 1895. In 1903, his family migrated west
to the portion of the Northwest Territories which would shortly
thereafter become the province of Saskatchewan. Diefenbaker contested
elections through the 1920s and 1930s with little success until he was
finally elected to the House of Commons in 1940. In the House of
Commons, he was repeatedly a candidate for the party leadership. He was
finally successful in 1956, and led his party for eleven years. In
1957, he led the party to its first electoral victory in 27 years and a
year later called a snap election and led it to one of its greatest
triumphs. Diefenbaker appointed the first woman minister to his Cabinet
and the first aboriginal member of the Senate. During his six years as
Prime Minister, his government obtained the passage of the Canadian
Bill of Rights (which he introduced on July 1, 1960) and granted the
vote to members of the First Nations and Inuit peoples.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Diefenbaker>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1569:
The Union of Lublin was signed, merging the Kingdom of Poland and the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Lublin>
1867:
The British North America Act came into effect, uniting the Province of
Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into the Canadian Confederation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Act%2C_1867>
1916:
World War I: The first day of the Battle of Albert , the opening phase
of the Battle of the Somme, became the bloodiest day in the history of
the British Army, with 57,470 casualties of which 19,240 were killed or
died of wounds.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/first_day_on_the_Somme>
1997:
The United Kingdom transferred sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's
Republic of China, ending over 150 years of British colonial rule.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_of_sovereignty_over_Hong_Kong>
2002:
The Rome Statute entered into force, establishing the International
Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against
humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_Statute_of_the_International_Criminal_Cou…>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
incessantly (adv):
In a manner without pause or stop, especially to the point of
annoyance; not ceasing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/incessantly>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There are two kinds of truths: those of reasoning and those of fact.
The truths of reasoning are necessary and their opposite is impossible;
the truths of fact are contingent and their opposites are possible.
--Gottfried Leibniz
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gottfried_Leibniz>