The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Saskatchewan government has set aside a special day to honour the late John Diefenbaker, the only Canadian prime minister to have called the province home. The legislature approved a proclamation Friday to mark Sept. 18 of each year as a day to recognize the man people affectionately called "Dief the Chief." "He fought for the underdog, revitalized western agriculture, pilloried apartheid and helped introduce the Canadian Bill of Rights and the federal franchise for native peoples," reads a CBC biography of Diefenbaker. "This populist politician knew both the pinnacle of popularity and the depths of rejection." A proud Tory, Diefenbaker was prime minister from 1957 to 1963. He passed away in Ottawa in 1979. He was born in Neustadt, Ont. in 1895 but raised near Prince Albert, where he later practised law before entering politics. CBC recently named Diefenbaker one of the top 100 greatest Canadians of all time.
