Canada should shut up about Chinese violation of human rights, its government grumbles. On June 22, Zhao Lijian, a Chinese spokesperson, publicly told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “China urges the relevant Canadian leader to earnestly respect the rule of law, respect China’s judicial sovereignty and stop making irresponsible remarks.” I agree. It’s time to stop […]
Tag: Canada
1867: The First Canada Day welcomes Confederation
As midnight broke on July 1, 1867, there was neither peace nor quiet across the land, on the first day of Canada’s Confederation. From Halifax to Windsor, guns boomed, bells chimed, rifles, pistols, and muskets were fired, bonfires were lit, as millions of Canadians poured out into the streets of towns and villages to […]
Inflation soars after First World War
The weekly food bill for Canadian families averaged $16.48 in July 1920, Canadian Press reported, October 1, 1920. Food costs had more than doubled from $7.75 per week in December 1913, thanks to rapid inflation induced by the First World War. The average family budget in July totalled $40.76 per week, according to data from […]
Ottawa is Victoria’s capital secret
In London, on the last day of 1857, Queen Victoria chose a new capital for Canada. Five cities had fought fiercely for the honour and economic benefits. Four—Toronto, Kingston, Montreal and Quebec City—had at one time or another served as a capital in what was then called Canada East (Quebec) and Canada West (Ontario). […]
Killer cholera enters North America
Pandemics 1832-1847 From my book, About Canada, Toronto, Civil Sector Press, 2012. Some 52,000 immigrants, mostly destitute Irish, arrived at Quebec in 1832, carrying with them the cholera pandemic to first reach North America. An estimated 9,000 people died of cholera in Lower and Upper Canada in the first pandemic. By 1872, an estimated 20,000 […]
Teetotallers curb booze
Booze 1829 — 1920 From my book, About Canada, Toronto, Civil Sector Press, 2012. Curbed by a holy war waged by temperance advocates and teetotalers, Canada’s nineteenth century booze pandemic peaked in the 1820 and 1830s. Hundreds of temperance societies sprang up within a few years. They were led mostly by Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians […]
Britain wins Canada in naval battle
Adapted from my book, About Canada, Toronto, Civil Sector Press, 2012. It was not at the Plains of Abraham, in either the first or second battles in 1759 and 1760, that the destiny of the continent was determined. It was determined two months after Wolfe’s forces won the first battle and more than five […]