The Liberal Party of Canada: The Past is Less Important than the Future

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The Liberal Party of Canada: The Past is Less Important than the Future

The Liberals are one of the most popular political parties in Canadian history. Their seemingly hegemonic power, careful electioneering, and (some) luck, has helped them dominate Canada’s political theatre. Undoubtedly, Liberals have greatly shaped the Canada we live in today. In our initial Political History Series post, we examine the ideological system that has guided Canadian Liberals: liberalism.

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The Secret to Laurier's Success: Political Leadership During Tough Times

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Bruce Yaccato recently wrote for the National Post comparing the leadership of Justin Trudeau with that of old Liberal leader Sir Wilfrid Laurier.  “Layabout to legend,” he wrote of both, explaining that if Laurier could turn himself a country lawyer to one of our greatest Prime Ministers, so too could Justin Trudeau go from teacher to leader of the country.  Yaccato’s piece has some good points, but spends little time actually explaining why Laurier was a good political leader.  What allowed Laurier to lead his party 30 years and serve as Prime Minister for 15 of them?

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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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