The Theatre of Regret
The Canadian public largely understands reconciliation as the harmonization of Indigenous–settler relations for the benefit of the nation. But is this really happening? The Theatre of Regret asks whether reconciliation politics will ultimately favour the state’s goals over those of Indigenous peoples. Interweaving literature and art throughout …
Uplift
In 1933, the Banff School opened in the stunning surroundings of Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies. From its beginnings offering a single drama course, it has since grown into the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, a renowned cultural destination. Uplift traces its first four decades as it generated ideals of culture and liberal democr …
Canadian Foreign Policy
Canadian Foreign Policy, as an academic discipline, is in crisis. Despite its value, CFP is often considered a “stale and pale” subfield of political science with an unfashionably state-centred focus. This book asks why. Contributors from both inside and around the field investigate how they came to view themselves as participating in CFP as an …
The Unexpected Louis St-Laurent
Much of Canada’s modern identity emerged from the innovative social policies and ambitious foreign policy of Louis St-Laurent’s Liberal government. His extraordinarily creative administration made decisions that still resonate today: on health care, pensions, and housing; on infrastructure and intergovernmental issues; and, further afield, in d …
Ours by Every Law of Right and Justice
Many of Canada’s most famous suffragists – from Nellie McClung and Cora Hind to Emily Murphy and Henrietta Muir Edwards – lived and campaigned in the Prairie provinces, the region that led the way in granting women the right to vote and hold office.
In Ours by Every Law of Right and Justice, award-winning author Sarah Carter challenges the my …
At the Pleasure of the Crown
Unlike most public servants, top administrators – those who manage thousands of personnel and oversee millions of dollars in public spending – are appointed by the head of government. At the Pleasure of the Crown is a detailed exploration of this central but overlooked aspect of governing. Christopher A. Cooper analyzes the appointment of deput …
Whipped
Canadians often see politicians as little more than trained seals who vote on command and repeat robotic talking points. Politicians are torn by dilemmas of loyalty to party versus loyalty to voters. Whipped examines the hidden ways that political parties exert control over elected members of legislatures. Drawing on extensive interviews with polit …
Big Promises, Small Government
When Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government won a massive majority in British Columbia in 2001, the premier immediately fulfilled his pledge to cut personal income taxes. Big Promises, Small Government reveals the consequences of dramatic tax policy changes on social programs. Campbell expected lower taxes to spur investment and growth. Instead, cu …
Nested Federalism and Inuit Governance in the Canadian Arctic
The Canadian federal system was never designed to recognize Indigenous governance, and it has resisted change. But Indigenous communities have successfully negotiated the creation of self-governing regions. Most of these are situated within existing units of the Canadian federation, creating forms of nested federalism. This governance model is tran …
Queering Representation
Political representation requires participation: voting, joining political parties, running as candidates, acting as politicians. Yet the election of openly LGBTQ people is a relatively recent phenomenon in the West. Queering Representation explores long-ignored issues relating to LGBTQ voters and politicians in Canada. What are the LGBTQ electorat …
The Tenth Justice
The process by which Supreme Court judges are appointed is traditionally a quiet affair, but this certainly wasn’t the case when Prime Minister Stephen Harper selected Justice Marc Nadon – a federal court judge – for appointment to Canada’s highest court. Here, for the first time, is the complete story of “the Nadon Reference” – one o …
Bootstraps Need Boots
For more than four decades, Hugh Segal has been one of the leading voices of progressive conservatism in Canada. A self-described Red Tory warrior who disdains “bootstrap” approaches to poverty, he has always promoted policies, especially a basic annual income, to help the most economically vulnerable. Why would a life-long Tory support somethi …
Contact!Unload
This book is a call to action to address the transition many soldiers face when returning to civilian life. It presents an arts-based therapeutic approach to dealing with trauma, exploring the development, performance, and reception of Contact!Unload, a play based on the lives of military veterans overcoming stress injuries encountered during milit …
Inside the Campaign
Inside the Campaign is a behind-the-scenes look at the people involved in an election campaign and the work they do. Each chapter reveals the duties and obstacles faced during the heat of a campaign. Practitioners and political scientists collaborate to present real-world insights that demystify over a dozen occupations, including campaign chairs, …
Identities and Interests
Identities and Interests offers an entirely new perspective on the role of racial and ethnic identities in Canadian elections. Using a series of experiments, as well as candidate and census data, Randy Besco demonstrates that self-identification matters far more than self-interest, ideology, or policy. The largest minority groups – Chinese and So …
To Be Equals in Our Own Country
“When the history of suffrage is written, the role played by our politicians will cut a sad figure beside that of the women they insulted.” Speaking in 1935, feminist Idola Saint-Jean captured the bitter nature of Quebec women’s prolonged fight for the right to vote. To Be Equals in Our Own Country is a passionate yet even-handed account of t …
Ruling Out Art
In the 1980s, the Ontario Board of Censors began to subject media artists’ work to the same cuts, bans, and warning labels as commercial film. This innovative exploration of how art and law intersected in the ensuing censor wars turns a spotlight on the powerful role that artists can play in the administration of culture. When artists and their a …
The Good Fight
Before official bilingualism was established in 1969, francophones were scarce in the Canadian public service. Marcel Cadieux was one of the few, becoming arguably the most important francophone diplomat and civil servant in Canadian history.
Brendan Kelly’s insightful, entertaining biography draws on extensive archival research and interviews to …
The Way Home
David Neel was an infant when his father, a traditional Kwakiutl artist, returned to the ancestors, triggering a series of events that would separate David from his homeland and its rich cultural traditions for twenty-five years. When the aspiring photographer saw a mask carved by an ancestor in a Texas museum twenty-five years later, the encounter …
The Way Home
David Neel was an infant when his father, a Kwakwa_ka_’wakw artist, died, triggering events that would separate him from the traditions of his homeland on Vancouver Island. When the aspiring photographer saw a mask carved by an ancestor in a Texas museum twenty-five years later, the encounter inspired him to return home and follow in his father …
Gendered Mediation
Despite decades of women’s participation in politics, the gender identities of Canadian politicians continue to attract media and public attention and shape the way they are perceived and evaluated. Gendered Mediation takes an original approach to the study of gender and political communication by examining the implications of intersecting notion …
Métis Politics and Governance in Canada
At a time when the Métis are becoming increasingly visible in Canadian politics, this unique book offers a practical guide for understanding who they are and the challenges they face on the path to self-government. It shows how the Métis are giving life to Louis Riel’s vision of a self-governing Métis Nation through the ongoing application of …
Doing Politics Differently?
Women have reached the highest levels of political office in Canada’s provinces and territories, but what difference has their rise to the top made? In Doing Politics Differently? leading researchers from across the country assess the track records of eleven premiers, including their impact on policies of particular interest to women and their in …
From Where I Stand
An Indigenous leader who has dedicated her life to Indigenous Rights, Jody Wilson-Raybould has represented both First Nations and the Crown at the highest levels. And she is not afraid to give Canadians what they need most – straight talk on what has to be done to collectively move beyond our colonial legacy and achieve true reconciliation in Can …
Give and Take
A book about tax history that’s a real page-turner? Give and Take is full of surprises. A Canadian millionaire who embraced the new federal income tax in 1917. A socialist hero who deplored the burden of big government. Most surprising, twentieth-century taxes have made us richer, in political engagement and more. Taxes make the power of the stat …
Reassessing the Rogue Tory
The years when John Diefenbaker’s Progressive Conservatives were in office were among the most tumultuous in Canadian history. Coming to power on a surge of optimistic nationalism in 1957, the “Rogue Tory” had stirred up more controversy than any previous prime minister by the time he was defeated in 1963. This was nowhere more apparent than …
