History from the podium
Following the First World War, drought, low prices, and a general distrust of old line politicians gave rise to agrarian populist parties. They were anti-politician, agitating against rigid party discipline and patronage. They argued against protective tariffs, which they believed pampered Canadian industries, and in favour of free trade, which they said would benefit farmers.... Continue Reading →
In 1921, Agnes Macphail became the first woman elected to the House of Commons. She represented the United Farmers of Ontario, an agrarian populist group which refused to become a political party or to ally with any of the existing ones. Macphail believed that agriculture was the economic bedrock of the country but that farmers... Continue Reading →
. Lawyer and legal scholar Mary Eberts was a founder of LEAF ( Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund). The organization was created in 1985 to ensure Canadian courts protect the equality provisions Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. LEAF has often appeared in courts to advance equality for women and girls. On October 18,... Continue Reading →
Thérèse Casgrain was born into an affluent Québec family, but she relentlessly championed women’s equality. Her speech to the League for the Rights of Women in 1941 occurred one year after women in Québec won the right to vote. Each year for more than a decade, Casgrain and other women found a sympathetic member of... Continue Reading →
Adrienne Clarkson had a successful career in broadcasting and diplomacy prior to being appointed as Canada's governor general in 1999. She served in the role until 2005. Her speeches were elegantly written and skilfully delivered. In her installation speech, she talked about Canada, her family's history and her childhood experience as an immigrant from Hong... Continue Reading →
Maclean’s magazine hosted its annual Parliamentarians of the Year Award in Ottawa early in November 2017. The magazine presented a lifetime achievement award to Monique Bégin, who served as an influential cabinet minister in Pierre Trudeau’s governments, most notably as the minister of health and welfare. After leaving politics in 1984, Bégin pursued an academic career, including... Continue Reading →
Agnes Macphail, in 1921, was the first woman elected to Canada’s House of Commons. She was a progressive and a renowned orator. These are brief excerpts from speeches Macphail made in the House of Commons regarding divorce laws.
Lady Ishbel Aberdeen was a force of nature and just happened to be the wife of Canada's governor-general. She pushed the envelope on the role of women in Canadian society. Here she spoke to the founding meeting of the Local Council of Women in Victoria in 1894. “A golden link uniting women in bonds of sisterhood”... Continue Reading →
Activist Nellie McClung was prominent among those advocating for women to get the vote in Manitoba. When she and others met with Premier Rodmond Roblin in 1914, he flatly refused their request. The following evening that meeting was turned into a piece of guerrilla theatre. McClung played the premier’s role and mimicked his inflated rhetoric in a... Continue Reading →
Great Canadian Speeches 