History from the podium
The British were embarrassed by a rebellion against their colonial administration in Lower Canada (now Quebec) in 1837. Lord Durham was sent to Canada to study the situation and he decided assimilation of the French Canadians was the best solution. He proposed a single government for Upper and Lower Canada, which would have only English... Continue Reading →
I belong to a group called the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians, and they have a publication called Beyond the Hill. Their current issue carries an interview with me by Wade Morris about my recent book Speeches That Changed Canada. He asks not only about the book and the political speeches contained within it, but... Continue Reading →
Canadians celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21 and Canada Day ten days later. The first national observance of Dominion Day, as it was known then, occurred on July 1, 1927, which was the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1867. The centrepiece in Ottawa was a radio address by Prime Minister Mackenzie King. To... Continue Reading →
This site is devoted mainly to Canadian speeches. This is not one of them, but it is the most inspiring speech by a politician that I have heard in a long while. On March 15, an Australian man walked into the Al-Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand and began shooting with semi-automatic rifle. In that... Continue Reading →
George Brown was the founder and editor of the Toronto Globe and leader of the Reform Party. Brown was a fierce opponent of John A Macdonald and the Conservatives and he advocated free trade and representation by population. Brown also believed that any close union with Lower Canada (Quebec) was an obstacle to the future... Continue Reading →
On a cold February day in Ottawa a crowd of ten thousand gathered as Canada’s new flag rose above the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill for the first time. The preceding debate had been long and acrimonious. Lester Pearson believed that Canada needed a distinctive new flag, while opposition leader John Diefenbaker was passionately committed... Continue Reading →
In 2019, some Indigenous leaders in northern British Columbia refuse to allow workers into traditional territory to carry out pre-construction work on a pipeline carrying liquefied natural gas to the coast. Disputes over land and resources between Indigenous peoples and others are nothing new. Back in August 1999-2000, there was a conflict over Aboriginal fishing rights in New Brunswick.... Continue Reading →
Hundreds of government representatives are meeting in Katowice, Poland to agree on how to enforce action to limit further global warming. Sadly, some of the world’s largest oil and gas producers -- the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait -- are trying to block progress at Katowice. Canada’s most prominent environmentalist David Suzuki has been... Continue Reading →
In 2001, I had never heard of Lawrence Johnstone Burpee, but he was to become an inspiration for me. I was writing speeches for Saskatchewan premier Lorne Calvert, who maintained a prodigious schedule. When I broke for lunch after a morning of composing, I would often wander over to the nearby public library in Saskatoon... Continue Reading →
