The Parliament bombing of 1966
On May 18, 1966, a lone man left the public galleries of the House of Commons during a debate and went to the men’s washroom on the third floor. Then he lit the fuse on a dynamite bomb.
But Paul Joseph Chartier had miscalculated exactly how long it would take the wick to burn. Instead of his likely intended victims—politicians on the floor of the House—the 44-year-old accidentally blew himself up.
A note was found in his pocket, beginning with “When I am president of Canada….” He had written a 23-page letter to the Edmonton Journal saying that, before becoming president, he intended to kill as many members of Parliament as possible. Weeks earlier, he had written to the clerk of the House asking to address MPs from the floor; he was turned down.
He had lived in a rooming house in T...
