Posts Tagged ‘ Governor General of Canada ’

Governor General welcomes President of Iceland on state visit (and we the people wonder about alternative models of Canadian head of state)

May 28th, 2023 | By | Category: In Brief

NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK. RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO, SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2023. For most Canadians the big political drama of May 29, 2023 will be the Alberta provincial election — a duel between two feisty middle-age women on the (almost socialist?) left and (more than almost extreme conservative?) right, which may or may not surprise […]



Epilogue : the near future

May 5th, 2023 | By | Category: Heritage Now

This is the last or concluding draft chapter of Randall White’s political-history work in progress, Children of the Global Village : Democracy in Canada Since 1497. A final version will be published in hard copy by eastendbooks at some point in the near enough future, ****** There is no doubt more than one story of […]



Remembering the London Declaration of 1949 in 2023 : it really shouldn’t be that hard to end the monarchy in Canada?

Mar 1st, 2023 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. MARCH 1, 2023. This morning’s editorial meeting tabled a two-page pdf file headlined “London Declaration, United Kingdom, 1949.” The suggestion was that this is a document not much remembered in the 2020s. But it is nonetheless of serious interest in the current post-Elizabeth II debate on practical alternatives to the increasingly […]



Looking back at 3Q 2022 (as Jeff Pelletier remembers GG Mary Simon’s Nunavik homecoming back in May)

Dec 26th, 2022 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. DECEMBER 26, 2022. Before rushing into the Top 4 counterweights stories in the third quarter of 2022, we just want to note an intriguing piece posted today on the Nunatsiaq News site, called “Reflection: Mary Simon tour a rewarding reporting experience … Jeff Pelletier looks back on covering Governor General’s Nunavik […]



Looking at the old British dominion of Ireland and its new relevance for Canada after the death of Queen Elizabeth II

Nov 29th, 2022 | By | Category: In Brief

ONTARIO TONITE. RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO, TUESDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2022. John Kerrigan, the Cambridge University literary scholar (and convener of the Cambridge Group for Irish Studies), has just published a more than 7000-word discussion of one movie (Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast”) and 15 recent books about Ireland today, in the October 20, 2022 issue of […]



Kudos to Bloc Québécois from hardy believers in “free and democratic” Canadian republic outside Quebec

Oct 27th, 2022 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. OCTOBER 27, 2022. “History has many cunning passages” (T.S. Eliot). And in one of them, in the Canadian House of Commons, yesterday’s very clear defeat of a Bloc Québécois motion to sever ties with the “British monarchy” could somewhat ironically prove the effective first step on a long inevitable journey to […]



The long journey to ending the British monarchy in Canada actually began just after the Second World War

Sep 18th, 2022 | By | Category: In Brief

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. SEPTEMBER 18, 2022. The extravaganza following the death of Queen Elizabeth II has been especially concentrated in the old imperial metropolis across the seas. And there as well the Queen’s state funeral tomorrow will begin at 11 AM BST (or 6 AM EDT here in North America). Whatever else, all this […]



William & Catherine’s tone-deaf trip to the Commonwealth Caribbean (and the myth of “Canada is just America with monarchy US abandoned long ago”)

Mar 30th, 2022 | By | Category: In Brief

ONTARIO TONITE. RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO, 30 MARCH 2022. Strictly by accident, I was in Richmond, Virginia at the time of the wedding of the mother and father of the William who just recently completed “an eight-day tour of Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas during which he and wife Kate were celebrated but also […]



Why Donald Trump will probably never wear the orange jumpsuit he deserves (and Justin Trudeau will in any case appoint a new Governor General of Canada soon)

Jul 4th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK – RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. JULY 4, 2021. [UPDATED JULY 6]. Susan B. Glasser’s credentials are impressive : “… currently a staff writer at The New Yorker … Prior to her joining The New Yorker … she founded the award-winning Politico Magazine … previously served as the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy […]



Eight short stories, early summer 2021 – from socialism in Buffalo and Kiran Ahuja to Pat Riccio, Mike Digout, Larry Olsson, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Jun 24th, 2021 | By | Category: Entertainment

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS, FROM THE EAST TORONTO OFFICE (NORTH OF THE LAKES AS THE OLD AGRARIAN DEMOCRACY USED TO SAY). JUNE 24, 2021. The weather is more than just agreeable here today. The sun is shining. Early summer is in full bloom. And we are cheered, dismayed, and/or puzzled by eight different stories in the recent […]