Posts Tagged ‘ Governor General of Canada ’

Warren Harding — once thought America’s worst president — wasn’t as bad as Donald Trump (and then let’s get real on Canada’s constitution again, very gradually)

Oct 15th, 2024 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS. GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2024. What to say in the midst of assorted disturbing numbers for the great cause of the free and democratic society in the USA today? Even if Michael Moore now (or still?) believes the Harris-Walz Democrats will win in the end on November 5. And more to the […]



MPs killing bill that would make oath to Charles III optional just marks the start of real debate on future of monarchy in Canadian House of Commons

Apr 12th, 2024 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON, CANADA. FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2024. For some among us (ourselves included) it is hard to believe that as we approach the second quarter of the 21st century in the modern Canadian confederation “MPs break into ‘God Save the King’” — after the defeat of a private Member’s bill, that would have […]



Remembrance Day 2023 in an old-city corner of Toronto, Canada — these are troubling times in which many of us are looking for something to hang onto …

Nov 12th, 2023 | By | Category: In Brief

RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2023. When I first moved into the east Toronto waterfront neighbourhood where I still live — many, many years later — I went to the Remembrance Day commemoration (Veteran’s Day in the USA across the lake), at the cenotaph by the edge of a local park (or […]



If Justin Trudeau’s party took old Liberal approach to Canadian sovereignty, urging goodbye to British monarchy, it might do better in polls (& India too?)!

Sep 15th, 2023 | By | Category: In Brief

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 19, 2023. 2:30 AM ET. RANDALL WHITE, TORONTO. Yesterday Canadian PM Justin Trudeau provided some deep background on his most recent disagreements with PM Narendra Modi in India. (Note my original post here for September 15, far below!) See, eg, John Paul Tasker at CBC on “Trudeau accuses India’s government of involvement in […]



Summer 2023 : some small good news from Westminster in the UK

Jul 23rd, 2023 | By | Category: In Brief

RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SUNDAY JULY 23, 2023. There was a time in these parts when more than a few citizens of the modern Canadian democracy still looked up to the political culture of the United Kingdom. In my mind (in casual gear at any rate) all this is still vaguely reflected in the […]



Governor General welcomes President of Iceland on state visit (and we the people wonder about alternative models of Canadian head of state)

May 28th, 2023 | By | Category: In Brief

NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK. RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO, SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2023. For most Canadians the big political drama of May 29, 2023 will be the Alberta provincial election — a duel between two feisty middle-age women on the (almost socialist?) left and (more than almost extreme conservative?) right, which may or may not surprise […]



Epilogue : the near future

May 5th, 2023 | By | Category: Heritage Now

This is the last or concluding draft chapter of Randall White’s political-history work in progress, Children of the Global Village : Democracy in Canada Since 1497. A final version will be published in hard copy by eastendbooks in the near future. * * * * [UPDATED 12 OCTOBER 2024]. There is no doubt more than […]



Remembering the London Declaration of 1949 in 2023 : it really shouldn’t be that hard to end the monarchy in Canada?

Mar 1st, 2023 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. MARCH 1, 2023. This morning’s editorial meeting tabled a two-page pdf file headlined “London Declaration, United Kingdom, 1949.” The suggestion was that this is a document not much remembered in the 2020s. But it is nonetheless of serious interest in the current post-Elizabeth II debate on practical alternatives to the increasingly […]



Looking back at 3Q 2022 (as Jeff Pelletier remembers GG Mary Simon’s Nunavik homecoming back in May)

Dec 26th, 2022 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. DECEMBER 26, 2022. Before rushing into the Top 4 counterweights stories in the third quarter of 2022, we just want to note an intriguing piece posted today on the Nunatsiaq News site, called “Reflection: Mary Simon tour a rewarding reporting experience … Jeff Pelletier looks back on covering Governor General’s Nunavik […]



Looking at the old British dominion of Ireland and its new relevance for Canada after the death of Queen Elizabeth II

Nov 29th, 2022 | By | Category: In Brief

ONTARIO TONITE. RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO, TUESDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2022. John Kerrigan, the Cambridge University literary scholar (and convener of the Cambridge Group for Irish Studies), has just published a more than 7000-word discussion of one movie (Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast”) and 15 recent books about Ireland today, in the October 20, 2022 issue of […]