Category Archives: History and Policy

Education for Sale: The Culture Industry and the Crisis in University Education

Britain’s investment in post-secondary education was, not unlike Canada’s, a post-war phenomenon that saw university education entrenched firmly within the public sector as part of the new welfare state. Since then, we’ve seen Britain move from largely free university education after World War II to the imposition of moderate tuition fees in 1998 and then to the current tripling of that figure to 9,000£.

Alberta’s Oil Spill History

      4 Comments on Alberta’s Oil Spill History

By Sean Kheraj On Friday, 29 April 2011, Plains Midstream Canada quietly issued a press release, informing the public of a crude oil spill from the Rainbow Pipeline east of the Peace River in northern Alberta near Little Buffalo, AB. Four days later, following the Canadian federal election, Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) announced that 28,000 barrels of crude… Read more »

Can Ontario Overcome Bob Rae’s Legacy?

      6 Comments on Can Ontario Overcome Bob Rae’s Legacy?

Can one leader single-handedly sink an entire political party?

The Morning After Canada Voted

      2 Comments on The Morning After Canada Voted

This morning we now know that the Liberal Party, once known as Canada’s so-called “governing party”, has been reduced to the third party in the House of Commons for the first time in Canadian history. This, of course, was not the first time that one of the traditional political parties in Canada was reduced to third party status.

April 14th Public Lecture: “From a Pastoral Wetland to an Industrial Wasteland, and Back Again? An Environmental History of the Lower Lea River Valley, the Site of the 2012 London Olympics.”

A reminder to our readers that you are all invited to the second lecture in the Mississauga Library System’s ‘History Minds’ series, co-hosted with ActiveHistory.ca. The second talk will be on Thursday, April 14th at 7:30PM in Classroom 3 at the Mississauga Central Library (see below the cut for directions). “From a Pastoral Wetland to an Industrial Wasteland, and Back… Read more »

From Fukushima to Chernobyl: Bringing the Past to Bear on the Future

A historian’s reflections on the long-term consequences of the world’s four major nuclear energy disasters.

Quite the World, Isn’t It? Why Wisconsin Matters to All of Us

It’s one thing for a political leader to take a principled stance against the power of public employee unions in state and local politics. It’s another thing entirely when you threaten to unleash a military force against them. And in raising the specter of calling out the National Guard in a possible showdown with public employees in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker has touched one of the most painful scars in American labor history.