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UBC Press has just released âThe Unexpected Louis St. Laurent,â a study of the former prime minister (1948-1957 ), whose title implies that he has been underestimated. He was the first Canadian prime minister that I remember in office and the first whom I met, in his later years, including an interview he graciously gave me for my book about Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis (1936-1939, 1944-1959). St. Laurent is the only such prominent figure I have known of whom I have never heard a negative, or even slightly disrespectful, comment, including from his opponents, Progressive Conservative leaders George Drew and John Diefenbaker (who had nothing but praise for him).
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1851: The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of 1851 was Britain’s glittering shop window and showcase for the world’s attention and admiration. The first and greatest industrial power, the greatest imperial power, and the greatest naval power was, in effect, showing off its extraordinary achievements and at the same time advertising its manufacturing and industrial wares.
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Although William Morris and others were to react negatively to the mass production of everyday utensils, furniture and textiles as depressingly lacking in beauty and originality, the tide could not be turned.
Within the Crystal Palace some 100,000 objects were displayed – taking up ten miles of space – the work of 15,000 contributors. Over half the display came from Britain and its empire, but other nations were invited to participate. In fact, the event was tactfully entitled “The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations”.
Today, the Liberal Party of Canada is nothing more than a center-left catch-all party made of up of progressives and their ilk. But this is a significant departure from its beginnings as a party of radicals committed to a classically liberal ideal.
The Rebellion of 1837 in Upper Canada (modern-day Ontario) was comprised of Canadian reformers who were fed up with the aristocratic elite which had come to rule the colony known as the Family Compact. The rebels were led by the radical republican William Lyon Mackenzie, the first mayor of Toronto. After their eventual loss in the final months of 1837, Mackenzie fled to the Niagara River where he established the short-lived Republic of Canada on Navy Island.
Bilingual and Bi-Juridical -
Canada is a bilingual, bi-juridical and multi-cultural country, composed of 10 provinces and 3 territories. English and French are federally mandated official languages pursuant to the Official Languages Act (Canada). French is the official language in the Province of Québec pursuant to the Charter of the French Language (Québec). The legal system of all provinces and territories (other than the Province of Québec) is based upon the Common Law, derived from England. Québec (like the American State of Louisiana) is governed by the Civil Law system, derived from the French Napoleonic Code, as reflected in the Civil Code of Lower Canada adopted in 1866 (one year prior to Confederation) and replaced as of January 1st, 1994 by the Civil Code of Québec (the “CCQ”).