involved in the politics of Newfoundland at the informal request of leading federal politicians in the late 1940s. He was instrumental in supporting Newfoundland's pro-Confederation movement although he had no prior connection to the island. He entered the Canadian Cabinet as Secretary of State for Canada in 1953 and was named Minister for Citizenship and Immigration in 1954. In 1956, when he addressed First Nations at a banquet following a reburial ceremony, he suggested that the First Nations chiefs present should take jobs that would make them independent of government support. When the Liberal government was defeated in the 1957 election, Pickersgill was re-elected as an MP. He became a leading tormentor of the new government of John Diefenbaker from the opposition benches. With the 1963 election and the coming to power of Lester Pearson as Prime Minister, Pickersgill returned to Cabinet, first as Secretary of State for Canada and Government House Leader and then as Minister of Transport. In 1967, he retired from politics to become president of the Canadian Transport Commission. Honours He was sworn in as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on 12 June 1953. This gave him the Honorific Prefix "The Honourable" and the Post Nominal Letters "PC" for Life. On 18 December 1970, he was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Canada and was invested into the order on 31 March 1971. This gave him the Post Nominal Letters "CC" for Life. He was later bestowed the Honorific Prefix "The Right Honourable", usually reserved in Canada for Prime Ministers, Governors-General and Chief Justices, as recognition of his service. As a currently serving Member of Parliament He received the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967. As a recipient of the Order of Canada He received the Canadian Version of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977. He was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) by the University of Manitoba on 25 May 1967. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Winnipeg in 1982. Writings He and D. F. Forster authored the four volumes of The Mackenzie King Record, which was based on King's diaries. Pickersgill was a literary executor for King's diaries. Pickersgill is also the author of three political memoirs — My Years with Louis St. Laurent (), The Road Back (), and Seeing Canada Whole () — as well as a