You Don’t Say… February 16, 2012
I’m not saying that I knew Whitney Houston well or that I will mourn for days now that she is gone, but the world lost a talented performer and one…
Matt
The Good, Bad, Ugly and Meh of Monday Night Raw: February 13, 2012
The Good…Triple H and Shawn Michaels’ emotionally-charged encounter that was the highlight of the show for me. It gave new intrigue to the impending Undertaker/Triple H match at Wrestlemania and…
Remembering My Dad, Bryan Hayday
Today would have been my Dad’s 60th birthday. We had been planning to hold a huge celebration, because making it to sixty years old was going to be a really…
Pot-smoking hippie monarchists
Or as they like to call themselves, “The Liberal Party of Canada”. I see from my twitter feed that the monarchy resolution has been defeated by a wide margin. Surprise…
Canada Day and the War of 1812
In a story in today’s Toronto Star and CBC from Canadian Press, the federal government has hired a consultant to inject a War of 1812 theme into the noonday and…
Monarchy – Such a great idea, none of the kids are doing it
So, it would seem that the Liberal equivalent of the NDP’s name-change resolution and Conservative party’s abortion/gay rights/pick-your-social-conservative-issue resolution at this year’s party convention will be a youth wing resolution…
Anniversary Post and a Call for Political Advice
Pample the Moose is seven calendar years old today. I’m not sure how old that is in blog years. My posting has become more erratic in recent years, but I’m…
Long-form Census – Festive Edition
A random thought occurred to me today, as I take my first day off for Christmas vacation. The biblical-era Roman census, which required that Mary and Joseph return to his…
Partisan dreck: Seat Redistribution Edition
The new seat redistribution bill recently passed the House of Commons, awarding new seats to Ontario, Quebec, BC and Alberta. Rarely have I seen commentary about legislation so thoroughly skewed…
Publications!
Just a quick post today to announce two new publications that I’m excited about. The first is my new edited collection, Contemporary Quebec: Selected Readings and Commentaries, which I co-edited…
History and the Santa Claus Parade Weekend
There’s a history connection here, just wait for it! This weekend is Santa Claus Parade weekend in Toronto, where I grew up, and coincidentally in Guelph, where I live. It’s…
Official Bilingualism, Officers of Parliament and Supreme Court Justices
Much ink has been spilled of late about the decision of Stephen Harper to appoint a unilingual Supreme Court Justice (Michael Moldaver) and a unilingual Auditor-General (Michael Ferguson) in recent…
Rick Mercer, the Globe, Bullying and Gay Visibility
This post is my response to the recent public debate about Rick Mercer’s Rant and the subsequent Globe and Mail editorial attacking his position on the need for gay adults…
New Directions in Political History – Post-Conference Observations
Last week, I attended a great conference on Canadian political history, held at York University (full disclosure, I was one of the organizers). About a hundred participants discussed a truly…
Ontario Election 2011 – Tight Races, Bedtime for Me
As I head to bed at 11 PM, the Liberals are one seat shy of a majority government in Ontario, with a handful of seats still teetering in the balance.…
Canadian Political History Prizes / Prix en histoire politique canadienne
A few years ago, I helped organize and launch a Political History Group within the Canadian Historical Association. One of the group's initial objectives was to promote the recognition of…
Chess, the Cold War and Musical Theatre
So... I know this blog is supposed to be about things political and historical in nature, but allow me a brief diversion into the world of theatre. If you insist,…
Ontario Election: Guelph Update
I unfortunately missed the all-candidates debate on social policy last week in Guelph, as a nasty cold took hold of me. I had been looking forward to checking out the…
Camera-test your ties – Ontario Leader’s Debate Edition
So, despite a deep-seated desire not to inflict pain on myself, I tuned in this evening to the Ontario election leader's debate. To make this a productive hour and a…
John A.: Birth of a Country
Last night, the CBC aired John A.: The Birth of a Country, a dramatization of the eight years of Canadian political history leading up to the formation of the Great…