Louis St-Laurent is the prime minister that I knew least about going into this. I had even heard of Mackenzie Bowell’s name once or twice, but I had never heard of “Uncle Louis”, as the media dubbed him. And upon reading about him, he seems like one of Canada’s most stable and apt prime ministers. However, aptness doesn’t always make for spellbinding stories.

Uncle Louis was born on February 1, 1882 in Compton Quebec, which is in the Eastern Townships. His father was French Canadian while his mother was Irish and he grew up completely bilingual, an asset that really helped him in his future career. There were little details about his childhood, other than his father was a die-hard Liberal and a huge fan of Wilfrid Laurier, instilling staunch Liberal principals into young Louis.

He went attended St. Charles Seminary in Sherbrooke before getting a law degree at Laval University, graduating in 1905. He, like so many before and after him, was a prime minister with a law degree. He was offered a Rhodes Scholarship after graduating from Laval but turned it down (!!!) in order to start up a law practice.

There are also relatively few details in comparison to other PMs about Louis’ love life. He married Jeanne Renault in 1908 and they had three daughters and two sons - a nice happy family. Yet I’m not sure where they met. I would actually love to know how Louis proposed. I'll spend some time reading into that and get back at ya!

Louis didn’t head into politics right away. In fact, he led a fairly apolitical lifestyle for the majority of his life, focusing on is law career and his family life. He garnered quite a reputation as one of Quebec’s leading lawyers. He was so well reputed that Arthur Meighen offered Louis, a die-hard life-long Liberal, a cabinet position in his Tory government. Louis declined this and the an appointment on the Supreme Court in the 1920s.

He tiptoed his way into public service in 1941, when he was nearing 60 years old, at the behest of William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had a huge respect for the lawyer and used “patriotic duty” to convince Louis to enter politics. He was elected to the House of Commons by a by-election in 1942, and immediately held some prominent posts, including Minister of Justice and Minister of External Affairs.

He quickly became Lyon’s right hand man and best confidant during Lyon’s third stint as PM, and as Lyon was thinking of retiring, he saw Louis as his natural successor. And when he did retire in 1948, the Liberal Party agreed with Lyon and quickly made Louis leader of the party and thus prime minister of Canada.

Overall, he was in office for right years, from 1948 to 1956, at a time that was prosperous of Canada. The country had one of the strongest economies after World War 2, and started the groundwork for some social programs that we are now famous for, such as health care. He made future PM Lester Pearson his right had man and Secretary of State and together the two executed a strong foreign policy era. Pearson helped diffuse the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956, winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

Uncle Louis was the first prime minister to really use the media to his advantage, kissing babies, shaking hands and appearing as a common, relatable Canadian that helped his image. It is what led to his nickname of Uncle Louis - or Papa Louis in Quebec.

He was a hard worked during his time in office and accomplished a few massive feats, such as incorporating Newfoundland as Canada’s 10th province. Maybe the one accomplishment of his that I adore with all my heart is the TransCanada highway. He made that a reality in his time, and that highway and I have had some times together. He was also the first prime minister to live at 24 Sussex Drive, which has since become the official residence of the Canadian prime ministers.

All in all, Louis was a good guy and a strong leader and gave us the TransCanada Highway. Uncle Louis!!