Do What You Must: Jesse Brown and Henri Bourassa

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Most of our readers have probably been following the story of CBC host Jian Ghomeshi as more and more women come forward alleging assault from the once-popular CBC host. The story broke last week after months of investigation from a team of journalists at the Toronto Star, Kevin Donovan and Jesse Brown. While Donovan works for the Star, you may have noticed in the byline that Jesse Brown’s contribution is a “Special to the Star.” In fact, Brown is an independent journalist and lately has reminded us of another fiercely independent journalist from the early 20th century, Henri Bourassa.

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The Forgotten Francophonie Canadienne

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A few months ago a reader commented on one of our posts, noting that we had incorrectly called Quebec the “sole bastion of French speakers in North America.” That description was one Quebecois preferred to create (or at least, emphasize) to enhance their own French-speaking identity within the boundaries of their province. In fact, there is a wide spread of French-speaking or French-descended communities across the continent. The division between la francophonie canadienne and the les Québecois was not inevitable. The rise of Quebec neo-nationalism turned the province away from its French-speaking brethren as they focused on what they believed to be the best hope for the survival of French Catholicism in North America: themselves.

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Regional Forces at Play: The 1910 Drummond-Arthabaska By-Election

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Before and after Monday's by-election, Canadian pundits spent pages upon pages debating whether it would simply maintain the status quo or if it was an important sign of things to come for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's majority government. The results were boringly predictable, with the Conservatives winning the two seats they were predicted to win and the Liberals winning the other two. The large number of votes that the Liberals gained in Western provinces was matched by a competitive NDP in Toronto and Montreal, which, before Jack Layton, was the party that received a lot of votes only when Canadians were frustrated with the Liberals – not a contender for 24 Sussex Drive. The answer to the question “Do these results matter?” seems to sway between partisan beliefs. If you're Conservative, they do not. If you're Liberal or NDP, they do. In honour of all this partisan jockeying, let's take a look at one of Canada's most famous by-elections: the Drummond-Arthabaska byelection of 1910.

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Canada's Way

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Clio's Current is launching today, July 1, 2013.   Our first post, since it is Canada Day, looks at Canada and the world.  As we celebrate 146 years since Confederation, it is important to look back towards the Canada that was, but also to look towards the Canada that will be.  Today we examine briefly three ways Canadians thought about the world a century ago and look at some ways Canadians see it in 2013.

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