Series 4 - Executive Assistant, Minister of Finance

0.48 m of textual records

Brian Land’s appointment as executive assistant to Walter Gordon in May, 1963, occurred at a time of promise and potential peril for the new Liberal government of Lester Pearson. In power after a highly charged election, the government did not have an overall majority and was especially vulnerable to attack if one of its ministers slipped up. Walter Gordon’s first budget, presented on 13 June, caused a major row in the House of Commons because he had used advisers from outside the government and because some measures were very controversial. He was constantly under attack through the summer and the government embarked on a series of revisions and retreats. While the budget was approved in principle within two weeks, the Finance Minister was soon forced to bring in a number of changes and final approval did not take place until August. His second budget was presented in March, 1964, by which time Land’s appointment as the new Director of the School of Library Science had already been announced. Land left Ottawa at the end of May.

While this series contains correspondence, memoranda, and appointment schedules relating to Land’s activities generally as Gordon’s executive assistant, the emphasis is on the 1963 and 1964 budgets, especially the former. The records include correspondence, memoranda, discussion notes, notes, and drafts of budget speeches; notes for and drafts of Gordon’s post-budget speeches and answers to questions in the House; addresses by him, press releases from his office, weekly summaries of press reports from the office of the Prime Minister, and press clippings.

B1997-0024/006(11)-(12): 1962-1964
B1997-0024/007(01)-(09): 1963-1964
B1997-0024/008(01)-(10): 1963-1965
B1997-0024/009(01)-(07): 1963-1964
B1997-0024/010(01)-(03): 1963-1964

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