Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Louis St. Laurent

Image from kids.britannica.com

Louis St. Laurent was a well-respected Canadian lawyer who represented his country at various international conferences.

His first political post was that of Liberal Justice Minister; he served the government of Mackenzie King in this role from 1941.

During his term of office as Prime Minister, from 1948 to 1957, he oversaw the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a Canada-US effort, as well as the Trans-Canada Highway. He was also involved in the creation of the Canso Causeway, which joins Cape Breton Island to mainland Nova Scotia.

In addition, St. Laurent was behind the negotiations that brought Newfoundland into Canada as the 10th province (1949) and the man who determined that Canada would send troops to South Korea after North Korea invaded.

Prime Minister St. Laurent, nicknamed "Uncle Louis" by Canadians, was also the one who settled on 24 Sussex Drive as the official Prime Ministerial residence.

When the time came for St. Laurent to appoint a governor-general, he chose Vincent Massey, the first Canadian to hold the position.

No comments:

Post a Comment