Robert Gordon Robertson

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Robert Gordon Robertson, PC , CC , MA , DU , FRSC (born May 19, 1917) was Commissioner of the Northwest Territories from November 15, 1953 to July 12, 1963.

Born in Davidson, Saskatchewan, Robertson was educated at University of Saskatchewan, University of Oxford and University of Toronto. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1941. From 1963 to 1975, he was clerk of the Privy Council and Cabinet secretary.

In 1970, he won The Vanier Medal of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada.

In 1976 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Gordon Robertson has also performed a further great service to Canada and its political history by writing an outstanding book on his career as a senior civil servant under the successive administrations of five Prime Ministers of Canada: William Lyon Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent, John G. Diefenbaker, Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Eliott Trudeau. "Memoirs of a Very Civil Servant" (University of Toronto Press 2000) is an extremely well-written personal review of Canadian history at the highest levels from Mr. Robertson's perspective and experiences.

As of 2006, Robertson is the oldest living former head of a Canadian Province/Territory, although the oldest living Premier is Dufferin Roblin, who is less than a month younger than Robertson.

Preceded by:
Hugh Andrew Young
Commissioner of the Northwest Territories
19531963
Succeeded by:
Bent Gestur Sivertz
Preceded by:
Robert Broughton Bryce
Clerks of the Privy Council
19631975
Succeeded by:
Michael Pitfield