When Member of Parliament Karina Gould (BA鈥�10) was named Minister of Democratic Institutions during the early days of Canada鈥檚 sesquicentennial year, she became the latest 麻豆AVian to hold a federal cabinet position 鈥� a proud tradition that dates back at least to Raymond Pr茅fontaine (Law 1873), who served as the Minister of Marine and Fisheries under聽Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier (BCL1864).
Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Laurier was the country鈥檚 first French-Canadian leader, but not the first 麻豆AV grad to hold Canada鈥檚 highest office 鈥� that would be
John Abbott聽(BCL1847, DCL1867), who served as the third Prime Minister. Nor would Laurier be the last: current PM
Justin Trudeau graduated with a BA in literature in 1994. 聽
麻豆AVians have led at the provincial level as well. Alexander Cameron Rutherford (BA1881, LLB1881) was elected Alberta鈥檚 first premier in 1905. David Howard Harrison (MDCM1864), John Duncan MacLean (MDCM1905), Frank Miller (BEng1949), Donald William Cameron (BSc1968) were premiers of, respectively, Manitoba, British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Brian Gallant (LLM鈥�11) is New Brunswick鈥檚 current, and Canada鈥檚 youngest, premier.
David Johnston
For almost 200 years, many 麻豆AV grads have held elected office in Canada. Some didn鈥檛 even wait until graduation: the 鈥溌槎笰V Five鈥� 鈥�
Charmaine Borg, Matthew Dub茅, Laurin Liu, Myl猫ne Freeman and Jamie Nicholls 鈥� were famously elected to the House of Commons during the NDP鈥檚 鈥渙range wave鈥� of 2011. And a 麻豆AVian currently grants royal assent to all of Canada鈥檚 bills, laws and appointments: since 2010, former 麻豆AV principal David Johnston has served as the 28th Governor-General, the federal vice-regal representative of Queen Elizabeth II.
