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Roderick Benns: Posted on Wednesday, May 02, 2012 9:30 AM
According to a press release, more than 1,000 leaders from all sectors of Canadian society will gather at the testimonial dinner to pay tribute to distinguished Canadians who have made an outstanding contribution to the quality of public policy and public management in our country. If you have $600 to spare, sounds like a great event for political junkies. |
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Roderick Benns: Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 5:22 PM
Macdonald served for 19 years, King for 21. Together, their personalities shaped Canada for four decades. Macdonald was likeable, clever, bold and sneaky. You could also make the case for dishonest, but not for personal gain. |
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Roderick Benns: Posted on Monday, March 26, 2012 12:06 PM
P. B. Waite’s ‘In Search of R.B. Bennett’ is due to be released soon and I’m more than a little interested, based on his previous writings. For instance, Waite’s rendering of John Thompson’s life (The Man from Halifax: Sir John Thompson, Prime Minister) is one of the better political biographies this country has produced. An aside: (Previous historians have taken ‘marks’ from John A. Macdonald’s legacy for not leaving the Conservative party a worthy successor. This is nonsense. |
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Roderick Benns: Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2012 11:48 AM
I almost did a top five list of ‘most progressive Canadian prime ministers on human rights.’ But it’s a mug’s game, in this area of study. Macdonald can hardly be compared to King or King to Trudeau or Mulroney. We are all a product of our times, somewhere along a continuum. Depending on your age, you may remember fine moments by Canadian leaders on human rights questions. I vividly remember the tempest in a teapot about the 155 Tamils who landed on Canada’s shores off the coast of Newfoundland, during Brian Mulroney’s years in power. |
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Roderick Benns: Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 7:55 PM
 The Globe and Mailis reportingthat former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has won the Horatio Alger Award for 2012. It is a distinction given by the U.S.-based Horatio Alger Association which recognizes “individuals in our society whose courage and determination allowed them to overcome the challenges they faced early in their lives and achieve success in their fields.” Like many Canadian prime ministers, Mulroney grew up with no clear advantages, monetary or familial. An electrician’s son from Quebec’s isolated North Shore, he certainly knew how to make a virtue of his unremarkable upbringing. |
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Roderick Benns: Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 9:24 AM
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the date in which all the Commonwealth Prime Ministers drew up statements of racial equality which all members had to adopt to move forward. The all-white government of South African Prime Minister H.F. Verwoerd declared South Africa a republic in 1961, after going to the people in a referendum on the topic -- except he only allowed white people to participate. When South Africa reapplied to join the Commonwealth, Canada’s John Diefenbaker advocated a declaration of principles to be adopted before South Africa could be allowed to be re-admitted. |
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Roderick Benns: Posted on Monday, March 12, 2012 1:03 PM
 I think I’m breaking a story here. Jordan Grondin, the ambitious New Brunswick teen who has long campaigned for a statue of R. B. Bennett on Parliament Hill appears to have gotten his wish. A couple of hours ago he posted on LinkedIn that “I will be speaking at the Official Unveiling of the Statue of the Right Honourable R. B. Bennett and the re-launch of John Boyko's Book "Bennett: The Rebel Who Challenged and Changed a Nation!" More Details to Follow!” Jordan, a 16 year old home educated teen, hopes to be premier or prime minister one day. |
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Roderick Benns: Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 10:16 AM
John A. Macdonald Mackenzie King Lester Pearson Pierre Trudeau Brian Mulroney Do I have to justify any of these? On the other hand, it was difficult to leave Louis St. Laurent off the list or Robert Borden or even Richard Bennett’s activism. And, as much as I love Wilfrid Laurier, his reign was less transformative than it was steady and growth-oriented. |
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Roderick Benns: Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 10:00 AM
 “I’m a representative-government guy,” Chris writes, “and I take that to mean that the government is chosen by, and always accountable to, a majority of the members of the House of Commons. If that majority comes from three or four or seventeen different parties or factions, makes no difference. Governments should be accountable to the House, not to some calculation of what share of the popular vote some party or other got, or what a particular leader’s situation is. |
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Roderick Benns: Posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 11:22 AM
There was a lot of discussion during the minority Harper years about how Parliament works – or at least should work. The Harper Conservatives have tried to advance the clear and simple notion that the party that wins the most seats wins the election – period – as if gaining the confidence of Parliament did not have to be taken into account. Of course, this is silly. However, I also find it silly to consider other extremes – that when the clear will of the people is to eject a government and install a new one, the ‘will’ of Parliament can change all of that. |
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