Canadian Political History Conference at York University
I've noticed that a number of people have landed at my site because many months ago I posted a call for papers for a Political History Conference at York University.…
Matt
On Royal Rebranding
In light of this week's ministerial command to "hang the Queen" in Canada's embassies abroad here are some comments from me in a story by Sarah Boesveld in the National…
Ontario Election: GSAs, Greens and Catholic Schools
The issue of gay-straight alliances in Catholic schools in Ontario has heated up again, this time in the Toronto Catholic District School Board, which voted this week to place denominational…
Ontario Election: NDP gives up on Guelph, saves me a decision
I try so darned hard to support the NDP. I am sympathetic to their message of social justice, of social welfare programs, of equitable treatment for Canadians. I have had…
Symbols Matter – Canadian Forces Edition
Symbols matter. Traditions can be invented. Nationalism is the product of collective will to create an imagined community. All of these concepts (which are debatable, of course) are vitally important…
Graham Fraser’s So-called Secret Shoppers
Graham Fraser, Canada's commissioner of official languages, has kicked off a bit of a kerfuffle in the nation's capital over a recently announced plan to investigate the state of bilingualism…
Federalism – It’s not just for Centralizers any more!
As an addendum to yesterday's post, I see that Nycole Turmel has re-stated her commitment to federalism, and plans to end her membership in the sovereignist Quebec Solidaire. But here's…
Nycole Turmel, meet Jean Lapierre
Gosh, the Twitterverse is atweet today with spin and counter-spin on Daniel Leblanc's article in the Globe and Mail about interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel's very recent membership in the…
Canada Day 144
As long-time readers of this blog may know, I spent many years researching the history of Canada Day celebrations, especially the ones funded by the federal government and those hosted…
Rating the Prime Ministers
Just a quick post to link to this Maclean's article by Stephen Azzi and Norman Hillmer in which they discuss the results of a poll rating Canada's Prime Ministers, past…
Bryan Hayday (1952-2011)
I'm going to be away from blogging, probably for a while. My Dad, Bryan Hayday, passed away suddenly on Thursday night, at the age of 59.His obituaries are in the…
Cabinet and Senate: Ongoing bad behaviour is stability, of a sort
I don't have much to observe about today's developments in federal politics, except to say that I am profoundly unsurprised, unlike the madly twittering press corps. Harper's favorite cabinet ministers,…
Quebec NDP: The Kids [Could Be] All Right
Monday was an exciting night for Quebec university NDP clubs, as a number of members of their executives were elected to the House of Commons, amidst a wave that elected…
Don’t blame Guelph. We voted for Kodos!
Bah! Our electoral system has given a party that won 40% of the vote from the 61% of eligible voters who cast ballots a majority of seats in the House…
Election-day shenanigans in Guelph
Like a good citizen, I headed out bright and early this morning to my local polling station to vote this morning. There was no line-up, but a steady flow of…
Election Prediction? Beats Me!
Well, this election has turned into quite the roller-coaster ride, hasn't it? Depending on your pollster of choice, we're either headed for an historic NDP breakthrough or a Conservative majority.…
In Memoriam: John T. (Jack) Saywell, 1929-2011
I was saddened this morning to learn that Jack Saywell, the widely-acknowledged founder of York University's history department and an emininent legal and constitutional historian, passed away last week. Saywell…
NDP in Quebec: Who are these prospective MPs?
With all the excitement/panic/drama surrounding the apparent NDP wave in Quebec, it's fair to wonder who might suddenly become the new crop of MPs from Quebec if polling data translates…
An Orange Revolution in Quebec: The NDP in la belle province
I'm somewhat surprised by the latest CROP and Ekos polls coming out of Quebec, showing the NDP cruising into first place, and the Bloc vote steadily falling. But as I'll…
Election 2011: Thoughts on "Truthiness" and Evidence-Based Policy
Just a quick post today to link to a blogpost I was invited to contribute to canada.com's Decision Canada election website. In it, I reflect on recent Conservative changes to…