The Leadership Narrative

Way back when, a few months after the last federal election, I replied to the Susan Delacourt’s “Is the Liberal Party dead?” question, echoed ad nauseum in the nation’s press, with a warning to be wary of forcing Canadian politics to fit a certain narrative. That narrative presupposes the inevitability

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Women in politics: the “squeeze” factor

As any student of Canadian politics knows, Ellen Fairclough was Canada’s first female cabinet minister, appointed by Diefenbaker in 1957 and serving until her defeat as MP for Hamilton West in 1963. I have mixed feelings about Fairclough’s politics: she did good work on the immigration file, but she was

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