The Usual Suspects

Leaving the Memorial Chamber, I paused to photograph the other lion carved into the wall here.

The nearby window also caught my eye, as did another of the nearby carvings.

I also took a chance to photograph down into Confederation Hall, as that was where I was going.

Coming down a flight of stairs, I paused to photograph down the hall that leads to the Commons foyer. Portraits of the prime ministers line both walls, and the last members of a tour group were headed that way. Portraits are generally done when a prime minister has left office. The previous PM, Stephen Harper, has not yet had his done. I suspect if he does, it might be a sort of Dorian Gray situation where he stops aging and the portrait captures his inner monster as time progresses, hence the delay. :)

I showed you a couple of the portraits earlier in the series, and I've got four more of them here, hence the post title. John Turner succeeded Pierre Trudeau as Liberal leader and Prime Minister of the country in 1984, spending merely eleven weeks in the job before being turfed out in the election he called.

The man who defeated him was the Conservative leader Brian Mulroney, who would occupy the office from 1984-1993.

The Liberals retook the reins of power that fall, and Jean Chretien won elections as leader on three occasions, serving as prime minister from 1993-2003.

His finance minister and party rival Paul Martin succeeded him in office, becoming Liberal leader and Prime Minister when Chretien retired. In the election that followed, Martin's Liberals lost majority status in Parliament, holding on as a minority government until 2006 when the tables turned. The newly reconstituted Conservatives came back to power, and the dread age of darkness that is otherwise known as the Rule of Stephen Harper, Dark Lord of the Sith, began.