On the world wide web in the summer of 2015 the Wikipedia entry for “United Empire Loyalist” declared that “Loyalists settled in what was initially Quebec … and modern-day Ontario … and in Nova Scotia (including modern-day New Brunswick). Their arrival marked the beginning of a predominantly English-speaking population in the future Canada west and […]
This past January 13, on the Waterloo Region Record site, Â Lee-Anne Goodman wrote : “With the 50th birthday of Canada’s beloved Maple Leaf flag just a month away, some are wondering why there’s been so little fanfare from the federal government.” One possible half-answer is that the Conservative Party of the mid 1960s, led by […]
Some time ago now I was assigned the task of congratulating the new mayor of Victoria, BC, Â Lisa Helps – for declining to swear allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II during Mayor Helps’s inauguration the week before last. Maybe just because I’m getting older and slower, in the midst of the very rapidly gathering holiday season, […]
Wherever they landed in northern North America in 1497, on behalf of the English monarch, Henry VII, John Cabot and the small crew of the Matthew met no other human beings. In 1501 a Spanish expedition visited Labrador, and “claimed to have acquired from the natives with whom they came into contact a fragment of […]
Lawrence Martin’s quite remarkable Globe and Mail column this past Tuesday (November 18, 2014) Â – “A pro-active PM seizes the agenda” – deserves more attention, and debate. The essential argument is nicely (or otherwise) summarized in Mr. Martin’s first paragraph : “If victory goes to the guy who wants it most, Stephen Harper is making […]
This is Part I, Chapter 1 of Randall White’s work in progress, tentatively entitled Children of the Global Village : Democracy in Canada Since 1497. For more on the project see The Long Journey to a Canadian Republic, which also includes drafts of all remaining chapters in this initial prepublication format. The entire book in draft […]
At the end of the 1864 Quebec conference that forged the constitutional beginnings of the confederation of 1867 George Brown, founder of the old Toronto Globe and early Canadian Grit/Liberal/Reform political leader, wrote a hasty letter to his wife. He reported : “You will say our constitution is dreadfully Tory – and it is – […]
“The Long Journey to a Canadian Republic, 1963—20??” is the title of Part IV in Randall White’s current book project, tentatively and still too lengthily called Children of the Global Village – Canada in the 21st Century : Tales about the history that matters. (One inspiration for the title and larger project has apparently been […]
[UPDATED JULY 27, 28]. Maybe it’s just the summer heat going to my head (tho it hasn’t been all that hot where I am). But lately I’ve been thinking about how we are now just over a week away from the 100th birthday of The Guns of August that started the First World War. On […]
Last month’s abdication of King Juan Carlos I of Spain in favour of his son triggered a fierce debate on the future of monarchy in Spain. It also brought out tens of thousands of republicans to rallies in Madrid, Barcelona, and other cities. The rally in the capital drew 20,000 and solidarity rallies took place […]
