Kleptocrats in Kingsmere
An unlikely visit by future dictators
Kingsmere, a small secluded area of Chelsea, Quebec, in the Gatineau Hills north of Canada’s capital, has always had a certain cachet about it.
In its heyday, it was the place where members of the Ottawa gentry and political scene summered. A who’s who of wealthy business families with names such as Booth, Southam and Freeman had cottages there.
Later, notable Canadians such as award winning journalist Charles Lynch had a house, as did actor couple Matt Frewer and Amanda Hillwood for a time. Even today there are some well known folks hiding among the hills.
But Kingsmere’s most famous resident was former Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King. The eccentric leader moved to the cottage he named Moorside in 1928, while in his third term. It was here that he received guests such as Winston Churchill and Charles Lindbergh. King left the estate to the people of Canada upon his death in 1950, and the site has been visited by dignitaries and tourists alike ever since.
On a fall afternoon in October of 1954, Minister of Fisheries James Sinclair and his wife Doris, the maternal grandparents of current Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, along with Mrs Maryon Pearson, the wife of Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson, hosted a social event at Moorside for the delegates of the Colombo Plan meetings in Ottawa.
Among the guests marveling at the fall colours and enjoying music from the RCMP band, was a diplomat from the Philippines named Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda. At the time he was serving as the representative of the 2nd district of Ilocos Norte in the Philippine House of Representatives, and was chairman of the House Committee on Commerce and Industry.
Ferdinand would continue in politics and eventually became the president in 1965 — a position he held until 1986.
During that time, the couple would become ruthless and brutal leaders, tainted by corruption, extravagance and allegations of embezzling billions of dollars from the country.
The pair fled to the United States as a result of the People Power Revolution in 1986. Ferdinand died in 1989 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Imelda, now 88, returned to the Philippines in 1991.
Perhaps the ruins, gardens, streams and forests of Kingsmere didn’t have the same calming effect on Ferdinand and Imelda as they did on Mackenzie King.
