Category Archives: Politics – Canada – Federal

Participant

Posted on October 13, 2017 by

Came across a draft of a May, 1998 news release by Peter Goldring, the Member of Parliament I had started working for the previous fall. How he went to Quebec City for the provincial ceremony of the unveiling of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Ottawa Reflections, Politics - Canada - Federal | Leave a comment

Relations

Posted on March 8, 2017 by

From a column by Allan Fotheringham, “The mouse, the elephant and the crackers in the bed”, Globe and Mail, January 27, 2001, p. A9: John Kennedy could not stand John Diefenbaker. Instructed to do the ritual tree-planting ceremony at Rideau … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian History, Politics - Canada - Federal, United States | Leave a comment

The people

Posted on February 11, 2017 by

Remaining in memory. Comments of Minister of Defence Barney Danson, on the night of his 1979 federal election defeat: The people are always right. No undermining. No insult to the people’s choice, even if a source of disappointment. Respect for … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Politics - Canada - Federal | Leave a comment

Different History

Posted on September 28, 2016 by

From “Leadership hot unofficial topic”, by Sheldon Alberts, National Post, February 17, 1999, p. A7, in relation to a convention of the United Alternative, a precursor to… …the question of who might lead a new small “c” conservative party in … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics - Canada - Federal | Leave a comment

Preservation

Posted on August 8, 2016 by

From Brian Busby (ed.), Great Canadian Speeches: Words The Shaped A Nation (2008). Extract from a radio address to the nation by William Lyon Mackenzie King, April 7, 1942, in relation to a pending national plebiscite on conscription: When those … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian History, Politics - Canada - Federal, World War II | Leave a comment

Gallery

Posted on June 26, 2016 by

From “The drought is over”, by Douglas Fisher, writing at the age of 81, as published in the Ottawa Sunday Sun, September 2, 2001, p. 6: Consider the press gallery on the Hill, some 400 strong… When I first hit … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalists, Politics - Canada - Federal | Leave a comment

Ideas

Posted on June 4, 2016 by

It’s to say he had ideas, [and] actually believed that ideas mattered, in a way that’s most unusual in Canadian politics and for which no personal equivalent exists since Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and which no party or movement has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics - Canada - Federal | Leave a comment

Dedication

Posted on April 21, 2016 by

Bought a used copy of The Insiders, a 1987 book by John Sawatsky, from a library bookstore. All about lobbyings of the day and prior. Read the credits: It is fitting that my first book on politics is dedicated to … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalists, Politics - Canada - Federal, Politics - General | Leave a comment

Child Lens

Posted on March 7, 2016 by

…with such neutrality of innocence. Came across this 2013 article in the Ottawa Metro newspaper (via the Canadian Press): Attack ads catch backlash from students Canadian Press Ottawa Metro, May 17-20, 2013, p. 9 Some Grade 5 students have some … Continue reading →

Posted in Bullying, Politics - Canada - Federal | Leave a comment

Humility and Good Character

Posted on February 16, 2016 by

Ian McClelland, former Member of Parliament and former Member of the Alberta Legislature, in relation to a parliamentary colleague, 2001: He’s humble, I guess. I lot of us are humble because we’ve got a lot to be humble about. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics - Canada - Federal, Various life philosophies | Leave a comment