The Hill Times’ List of 100 Best Books in 2020
Acadian Driftwood: One Family and the Great Expulsion, by Tyler LeBlanc, Goose Lane Editions, 184pp., $19.95 A History of My Brief Body, by Billy-Ray Belcourt, Penguin Random House Canada, 192pp., $25 An Alphabet for Joanna: A Portrait of My Mother in 26 Fragments, by Damian Rogers, Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 344pp., $32.95 An Autobiography of […]
‘By far the most powerful hidden element of party discipline is the social pressure on MPs to toe the party line’: Alex Marland on his book Whipped
Alex Marland has delivered another banger of a book. The award-winning author and Memorial University political science professor, who has carved out a niche as an expert in political communications, political marketing, election campaigning, and Canadian political parties, dishes up another delightful read in Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada, published by UBC Press. In it, he delves into […]
In new book, Roche offers recovery for a wounded world in the new Biden era
The Biden era has begun. Are we ready to make the most of it? Just when it’s needed, Recover: Peace Prospects in the Biden Era, comes along to help guide Canadian leaders through the maze of rigorous, practical decisions, not only to lead the world away from the deep damage caused by outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump, […]
The definitive history of Canada’s role on the United Nations Security Council
Canadians no longer have to delve through old news reports and obscure academic works to understand how their country operates at the United Nations Security Council, though this reporter is not sure many have tried. A highlighter, pencil, and 190 pages of Adam Chapnick’s Canada on the United Nations Security Council: A Small Power on […]
‘Tinkering’ won’t fix legal system, communities need Indigenous jurisdiction, says former lawyer in new book
Indigenous people must reclaim their jurisdiction over legal matters because healing communities and equal justice are impossible outcomes in Canadian courts and prisons, concludes Harold Johnson in his latest book. In Peace and Good Order: The Case for Indigenous Justice in Canada, Mr. Johnson excoriates the legal system and the people working to sustain it, […]
Many Canadians have been ‘naïve at best and self-delusional at worst’ in dealings with China, says journalist and author Manthorpe
As Canada approaches the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with China—and as politicians in both countries continue to grapple with the fallout from the recent detention of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in British Columbia and the ensuing arrests of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor by the Chinese government—journalist and author Jonathan Manthorpe calls it […]
Stand and deliver: Godbout does a deep dive on party discipline and the influence of government in Parliament
ST. JOHN’S, N.L.—In recent years, a Université de Montreal trailblazer has been publishing sophisticated research about the history of party discipline in Canada. Jean-François Godbout compiles and analyzes complex datasets. His findings have appeared in a number of highly regarded journals to bring attention to the operations of legislatures in multiple countries, particularly the Parliament […]
Jury reform ‘not nearly enough,’ says law professor in book meant to fill gaps after no appeal in Stanley acquittal
When Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley was acquitted of second-degree murder in the death of Colten Boushie, the major missteps made in that courtroom proved to law professor and author Kent Roach that jury reform was only one step in the “fundamental change” needed to make the legal system fair for Indigenous people in Canada. The […]
Canada’s first female chief justice still hasn’t shaken the impostor syndrome
Former Supreme Court chief justice Beverley McLachlin’s journey to the highest position on the highest court has been nothing short of extraordinary. From humble beginnings as a bookish Prairie girl, growing up in the 1940s in the small town of Pincher Creek, Alta., where she was raised by deeply religious parents whose educational opportunities were […]
Canada long overdue for ‘more populist voices’ to take up cause of ‘expendables’, says economist Rubin
Economist Jeff Rubin’s prescient book about the hollowing out of the middle class, or the “expendables,” as he’s phrased it, couldn’t have landed at a more opportune time. The pandemic-induced panic that led countries en masse to shutter their borders, to limit, and even ban, exports of critical personal protective equipment, and to shore up […]
