Justin Pierre James Trudeau, Liberal Party leader, teacher (born 25 December 1971 in Ottawa). BA (McGill) 1994, BEd (UBC) 1998. The eldest son of prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Justin Trudeau initially trained as a teacher in British Columbia.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau, PC, CC, prime minister of Canada 1968–79 and 1980–84, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer, (born 18 October 1919 in Montréal; died 28 September 2000 in Montréal).

William Lyon Mackenzie King, prime minister of Canada 1921–26, 1926–30 and 1935–48 (born 17 December 1874 in Berlin [Kitchener], ON; died 22 July 1950 in Kingsmere, QC [near Ottawa, ON]).

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, first prime minister of Canada (1867–73, 1878–91), lawyer, businessman, politician, (born 10 or 11 Jan 1815 in Glasgow, Scotland; died 6 June 1891 in Ottawa).

"“I feel equal,"” wrote Emily Murphy in 1927, “"to high and splendid braveries."

Thomas Clement (“Tommy”) Douglas, premier of Saskatchewan, first leader of the New Democratic Party, Baptist minister, politician (born 20 October 1904 in Falkirk, Scotland; died 24 February 1986 in Ottawa, ON). Douglas led the first socialist government elected in Canada and is recognized as the father of socialized medicine. He also helped establish democratic socialism in the mainstream of Canadian politics.

Martin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ, lawyer, businessman, politician, prime minister of Canada 1984 to 1993 (born 20 March 1939 in Baie-Comeau, QC).

René Lévesque, premier of Québec 1976-85, politician, journalist, nationalist (born 24 Aug 1922 in Campbellton, NB; died 1 November 1987 in Montréal, QC).

Canada’s history is filled with events rooted in relationships between two people.

Sir Robert Laird Borden, lawyer, politician, prime minister of Canada, 1911–20 (born 26 June 1854 in Grand Pré, NS; died 10 June 1937 in Ottawa, ON).

Julian Hedworth George Byng of Vimy, Viscount, governor general of Canada, 1921-26 (b at Wrotham Park, Eng 11 Sept 1862; d at Thorpe-le-Soken, Eng 6 June 1935). A British aristocrat and cavalry officer, Byng was appointed to command the Canadian Corps in May 1916.

William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, financier, politician, author, publisher (b at Maple, Ont 25 May 1879; d at Cherkley, Mickleham, Eng 9 June 1964). The son of a Presbyterian minister, Beaverbrook later claimed that his religion lay at the root of his worldly success.

Sir Samuel Hughes, teacher, journalist, soldier, politician (born at Darlington, Canada W 8 Jan 1853; died at Lindsay, Ont 24 Aug 1921). A Conservative and an enthusiastic supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald's National Policy, Sam Hughes was elected to Parliament for Victoria North in 1892.

Henri Bourassa, politician, journalist (born at Montréal 1 Sept 1868; d there 31 Aug 1952). His family was one of the most prominent in the province; his father was a well-known painter, and his grandfather, Louis-Joseph Papineau, was a celebrated folk hero of the Rebellions of 1837.

John George Diefenbaker, prime minister 1957–63, lawyer, politician (born 18 September 1895 in Neustadt, ON; died 16 August 1979 in Ottawa, ON).

Joseph-Jacques Jean Chrétien, CC, PC, OM, QC, prime minister of Canada 1993–2003, lawyer, author, politician (born 11 January 1934 in Shawinigan, QC).

Sir Charles Tupper, prime minister, premier of Nova Scotia (1864–67), doctor (born 2 July 1821 in Amherst, NS; died 30 October 1915 in Bexleyheath, England).

Wilfrid Laurier took leadership of the Liberal party of Canada on 18th of June 1887. Frail and intellectual, preferring the privacy of his library to the battlefield of politics, he was uncertain.

On October 23rd, 1837 some 5000 people gathered at Saint Charles, Lower Canada. They came to hear their inspiring leader Louis-Joseph Papineau. It was a new phenomenon in the young democracy, an angry crowd demanding political change.

When in 1887 a Canadian delegation went to Washington to negotiate a treaty with the United States, their hosts treated them to a boat ride on the Potomac. One Canadian delegate arrived early and while waiting for the others struck up a conversation with a lady, the wife of a US senator.

In the judgment of historians, Pierre Trudeau doesn't tend to rank among the big guys - Macdonald, Laurier and King - in the making of Canada.

As the Chrétien government prepared a new Speech from the Throne in which poverty would be a major theme, the Ministers, Members of Parliament and government planners working on the speech could have done worse than to turn to the famous 1971 Report of the Special Senate Committee on Poverty.

Although the Reform (that is to say liberal) Party swept the constituencies like a broom, the principle that the majority party controls parliament was not yet established. Colonial government was still firmly in the grip of the governor, who was appointed by London.