History from the podium
Thomas D’Arcy McGee was one of the great pre-Confederation orators. This speech was delivered three years prior to conferences in Charlottetown and Quebec City, which negotiated the details of Confederation. McGee called for the creation of a new Canadian nationality. His remarks then are worth revisiting now in the wake of Donald Trump's lunatic rumblings about Canada becoming the fifty-first U.S. state.
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 →
It was 150 years ago, on November 6, 1867 that the Parliament of Canada convened for the first time in a made over lumber town called Ottawa. Recently, on the anniversary of that historic day MPs celebrated with former prime ministers Joe Clark, John Turner, Brian Mulroney and Paul Martin looking down from the visitors’ gallery.... 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.
MP Arnold Chan died of cancer in September 2017 at the age of 50. A few months earlier, he rose to speak in the House of Commons. He was to address a motion put forward by the Conservative opposition criticizing the Liberal government’s record on the economy, but he used most of his speaking time... Continue Reading →
Nellie McClung was prominent in advocating for women to get the vote in Manitoba. When she and others met with Premier Rodmond Roblin in 1914, he 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 mock speech.
