There were celebrations that first day, July 1, 1867, for the new “Dominion of Canada.” But neither the date, nor the name nor the designation was a sure thing even a few months before. The celebrations were hardly a spontaneous public outpouring of nationalistic fervour.
Read more...An indispensable “scalawag” is pretty much how many Canadians saw John A. Macdonald, but then Machiavelli said that a good man cannot be great. When in 1887 a Canadian delegation went to Washington to negotiate a treaty with the United States, their hosts treated them to a boat ride on the Potomac. One Canadian delegate arrived early and while waiting for the others struck up a conversation with a lady, the wife of a US senator.
Read more...The fight of the Toronto printers had a second, lasting legacy. The parades held in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers’ strike led to an annual celebration. In a time when the news of labour “strife” is dominated by unemployment and complaints about the disruptive power of unions, history provides a useful perspective on a time when working people had to fight to work less than 12 hours a day.
Read more...January 1, 1835 turned out to be memorable both for Joseph Howe and for Nova Scotia. On that day Howe’s newspaper the Novascotian, published a letter accusing the magistrates and police of taking £30,000 in illegal payments “from the pockets of the poor and distressed.”
Read more...“Send me better men to deal with, and I will be a better man.” Sir John A. Macdonald was not the last prime minister who had to put scandal behind him to win an election.
Read more...It was there that Canada was born. On Monday August 29, 1864 half the cabinet of the Canadian government boarded the steamer Queen Victoria at Quebec. They had heard that representatives of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI were meeting in Charlottetown to discuss Maritime union and they hoped to crash the party.
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