Latest news with #JohnAMacdonald
National Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- National Post
Preston Manning: How to remake Canada after a secession vote
Article content Exploring the potential parallels between the original confederation conferences and any Re-Confederation Conference a little further: who would be the present day equivalents of Charles Tupper and Leonard Tilley, vigorously championing the interests of Atlantic Canada? Who would be the equivalents of George-Étienne Cartier and George Brown, vigorously representing the divergent interests of Quebec and Ontario? Who would be the present day champions of those regions and interests conspicuously absent from the original confederation discussions — the champions of the interests of Canada West, the northern territories, and Canada's indigenous peoples? And would the re-founders include the equivalent of a John A. Macdonald — someone with the stature, skills, lubricating capacity, and luck required to even keep any Re-Confederation Conference from blowing apart, let alone giving birth to Canada Next? Article content Finally, what might be the major demands and concessions that the principal participants in such a conference would bring to the re-confederation table? Article content Article content Quebec would of course be expected to press its sovereignty association demand in one form or another. And this time there is unlikely to be strong and charismatic champions, within or outside Quebec, for 'Please Stay, Don't Leave.' Certainly the current prime minister — an anglophone banker who speaks French poorly and despises nationalism — is ill-equipped to play that role. And under current circumstances, several of the western provinces might be inclined to support Quebec's ultimate assertion of sovereignty, provided one of the terms of its future 'association' with Canada was an ironclad agreement to provide an open energy/transportation corridor across its territory to the Atlantic. Article content Conceding sovereignty association to Quebec, however reluctantly, might also cause Canada West to rethink its own position within any re-confederated Canada. What if Canada West were to simply take Quebec's vacated place within the federation — its 3 seats on the Supreme Court, its 24 seats in the Senate, and the majority of its seats in the Commons? Might Quebec conditionally 'out' and Canada West more effectively 'in,' largely alleviate the strains that both Quebec nationalism and western alienation currently place on the federation? Article content Article content Besides Quebec arriving at any future Re-Confederation Conference with its well thought out sovereignty-association proposition, it would behoove the other major components of the Canadian federation to think through how they would rewrite the constitution of Canada if they had the opportunity to do so. Article content Canada West, in particular, should be prepared to come to any such conference with its own clearly thought out redraft of the current constitution — a redrafted constitution in which any future Senate is made democratically accountable and genuinely representative of regional interests; a redrafted constitution in which the currently inequitable equalization formula is made largely unnecessary because Quebec is now on its own and each of the remaining provinces is sufficiently equipped and responsible to carry its own weight; and a redrafted constitution now completely devoid of those current clauses which give the federal government the means of overriding the constitutionally defined division of powers between the central and provincial governments.
CBC
12-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Sir John A. Macdonald statue at Queen's Park visible to public for 1st time in 5 years
Social Sharing The public can once again see the statue of John A. Macdonald outside Queens Park. The statue had been surrounded by wooden hoarding for the past five years. It was first covered up in 2020 after demonstrators threw pink paint on it amid wave of protests across the country that took aim at Macdonald as Canadians grappled with the history of residential schools. Workers took down the hoarding Wednesday after a legislative committee voted to remove the covering last month. "As Speaker, I recognize the sensitivities surrounding the history of Canada's first Prime Minister and I welcome all Ontarians to express their views — peacefully," Speaker Donna Skelly said in a statement about the removal of the hoarding. "Violence and acts of vandalism will not be tolerated, and the Legislative Protective Service will actively monitor the statue and grounds." Children's shoes that were placed at the base of the statue after the discovery of possible unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools were "carefully and respectfully" removed and stored prior to the removal of the hoarding, the statement says. The question of what to do with the monument of Canada's first Prime Minister has been controversial. Macdonald is considered an architect of the country's residential school system that took Indigenous children from their families in an effort to assimilate them. WATCH | The complicated legacy of Canada's first PM: The controversy around John A. MacDonald's complicated legacy 7 years ago Duration 10:09 Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, has a controversial and complicated legacy. He's called the father of Confederation, but some say his policies that hurt Indigenous people mean he shouldn't be honoured with statues and tributes across the country. The National talks to people on both sides of the debate. The NDP's Sol Mamakwa is a residential school survivor, and the only First Nation member at Queen's Park. He has said the statue is a source of pain. "It's not just a statue," he said last month after the decision to uncover the statue was made. "It's a statue of oppression. It is a statue of colonialism. It is a statue of Indian residential schools." Skelly says she hopes a committee will approve a monument recognizing those who attended residential schools and said Mamakwa would be welcome to join that committee.
Globe and Mail
30-05-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
Doug Ford says he pushed to free Sir John A. Macdonald statue at Queen's Park
Premier Doug Ford says he encouraged efforts to remove a wooden structure that, for five years, has hidden the statue of Sir John A. Macdonald on the Ontario Legislature's front lawn, saying the province has to support Canada's first prime minister and stop worrying about the past. The decision to reveal the statue, pushed by Progressive Conservative and Liberal members of a legislative committee earlier this week, has reignited debate about Macdonald's tainted legacy at a time when the province is facing new tensions with First Nations. Speaking to reporters at Queen's Park on Friday, Mr. Ford said Ontario has to face its past in order to move forward with its future. 'I've been working on getting that box taken off,' Mr. Ford said. 'I can't wait. I'm getting a lot of messages. So yeah, we're freeing John A.' Robyn Urback: A proud country cannot keep its first prime minister in a box Editorial: Understand the past to fight for Canada's future The Premier added that it is not the time to argue about a statue, but rather to come together as a province. 'You have to support our first prime minister. You know, things have happened over a number of years, but we can't just box them up. We have to move on. Stop worrying about the past,' he said. 'Let's start working together as a country.' The Macdonald statue has been covered with grey hoarding since Black Lives Matter protesters splashed it with pink paint in 2020. It is one of several prominent statues of the first prime minister to face vandalism or be removed entirely owing to Macdonald's role in the establishment of Canada's Indigenous residential school system. At present, the Progressive Conservative government is facing vehement opposition from Indigenous leaders over its Bill 5, which would give Ontario sweeping powers to speed up the construction of new mines or other projects. Opposition NDP Deputy Leader Sol Mamakwa, the Legislature's only First Nations MPP – and who attended a residential school – said earlier this week the decision to reveal the statue is disrespectful, especially as First Nations have had to come to Queen's Park to battle Bill 5, which they say violates their treaty rights. He warned that the unboxing of Macdonald could result in protests, vandalism or even the toppling of the statue. He said the government should instead move the statue to a museum, or build a memorial for the victims of residential schools and put up a plaque explaining what Mr. Macdonald means to First Nations. The statue is set to be cleaned and covered in a protective film and unveiled in the summer, said Donna Skelly, the Speaker of the legislature who presides over its debates and the grounds. A sign long posted on the Macdonald statue's hoarding will be 'formalized' and remain on display, Ms. Skelly said this week. It tells visitors that though 'we cannot change the history we have inherited, we can shape the history we wish to leave behind.' The sign also says the Speaker is 'considering how the depictions of those histories in the monuments and statuary on the Assembly's grounds can respect all of our diverse cultures and peoples.' Mr. Ford urged critics to protest peacefully. 'You can come out there and jump up and down and protest all day long, do cartwheels. That's democracy,' he said on Friday. 'Vandalizing property is not democracy.'
Edmonton Journal
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
Lorne Gunter: What's next for Poilievre, and Alberta, after the Liberals' re-election?
Article content First, a few words about Pierre Poilievre. There was a statue of Sir John A Macdonald outside Victoria City Hall until it was taken down recently for 'woke' reasons. The sculpture was there because, at one point, Macdonald lost his seat in Kingston and ended up having to represent the B.C. capital instead. So, while it's a blow to Poilievre to have lost in his own Ottawa-area riding on Monday night, it's not a political death sentence.
