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New Dark Ages: The X Gang (The X Gang #2)
by Warren KinsellaThe X Gang face off with Earl Turner, a presidential candidate straight out of their nightmares. It is a dangerous, divisive time in America. A far-right political candidate is seeking the presidency and stirring up hatred against minorities. The X Gang, meanwhile, have lost one of their friends to that presidential candidate — and are encountering manifestations of hate practically everywhere they go. With his band, the Hot Nasties, about to embark on its first North American tour, and several recent murders in the punk scene linked to its gigs, Kurt Blank and the rest of the X Gang have some difficult decisions to make. New Dark Ages is about surviving in a nasty, brutish, and short-sighted time — and whether one should just go along or fight back.
This May Hurt a Bit: Reinventing Canada's Health Care System
by Stephen Skyvington Dr Brian DaySome painful news: Canada no longer has the best health-care system in the world. How might we fix Canada’s health-care system? Why would we want to? What’s stopping us from doing so? These three questions lie at the heart of this in-depth exploration of one of the biggest political and personal issues facing Canadians. Skyvington explains why change has to occur, in light of the implications of doing nothing, and describes how Canadians can and must get involved to save our health-care system. This May Hurt a Bit is meant to provide a blueprint for change once those in charge finally acknowledge the most inconvenient truth — namely, that Canada’s health-care system is in poor health.
Power, Prime Ministers and the Press: The Battle for Truth on Parliament Hill
by Robert LewisAn intimate history of the journalists who covered Canadian history, and made some of their own. The history of the press gallery is rich in anecdotes about the people on Parliament Hill who have covered 23 prime ministers and 42 elections in the past 150 years. Mining the archives and his own interviews, Robert Lewis turns the spotlight on the watchers, including reporters who got too close to power and others who kept their distance. The Riel Rebellion, the Pacific Scandal, two world wars, the Depression, women's liberation, Quebec separatism, and terrorism are all part of the sweeping background to this lively account of how the news gets made, manipulated, and, sometimes mangled. Since Watergate, press gallery coverage has become more confrontational — a fact, Lewis argues, that fails Canadian democracy.
Blamed and Broken: The Mounties and the Death of Robert Dziekanski
by Curt PetrovichA few fleeting seconds, captured on video, led to a frustrating search for justice tainted by ego, bias, and a desire for vengeance. Images of Robert Dziekanski convulsing after being shocked by a Mountie’s Taser went viral in 2007. International outrage and domestic shame followed the release of that painful video. It had taken just twenty-six seconds for four Mounties to surround and stun the Polish would-be immigrant at Vancouver International Airport. A decade later, after millions of dollars spent on an inquiry, and bungled prosecutions laden with bias and interference, the tragic impact of those fleeting seconds on the people involved — Dziekanski's mother and the four Mounties — is at last revealed.
Toronto Reborn: Design Successes and Challenges
by Ken GreenbergAn incisive view of Toronto’s development over the last fifty years. In Toronto Reborn, Ken Greenberg describes the emerging contours of a new Toronto. Focusing on the period from 1970 to the present, Greenberg looks at how the work and decisions of citizens, NGOs, businesses, and governments have combined to refashion Toronto. Individually and collectively, their actions — renovating buildings and neighbourhoods, building startling new structures and urban spaces, revitalizing old cultural institutions and creating new ones, sponsoring new festivals and events — have transformed the old postwar city, changing it into an exciting modern one.
The Sport and Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich Are Stealing Canada’s Public Wealth
by Linda McQuaigWhy are we selling off the impressive public enterprises we often battled as a nation to create? In the early 1900s, thousands of Canadians battled wealthy interests, winning control of Niagara Falls and creating a public power company. Another popular movement succeeded in creating Canada’s public broadcasting system to counter American dominance of the airwaves. And a Canadian doctor established a publicly owned laboratory that saved countless lives by producing affordable medications, contributing to medical breakthroughs and helping to eradicate smallpox throughout the world. But in recent decades, we have allowed our inspiring public enterprises to be privatized and our vital public programs downsized, leaving us increasingly dominated by the forces of private greed that rule the marketplace. In The Sport and Prey of Capitalists, Linda McQuaig challenges the dogma of privatization, which has defined our political era. She argues that now more than ever, as we grapple with climate change and income inequality, we need to expand, not shrink, our public sphere.
A Grander Vision: My Life in the Labour Movement
by Sid RyanA stirring, heartfelt manifesto written by a man who fervently believes in what workers with their civil society allies can achieve for the good of all. Sid Ryan, one of Canada’s most courageous and progressive union leaders, draws on the experience of his varied and colourful life to show what is right with the labour movement, what is wrong, and what has to change if it is to avoid becoming irrelevant. In A Grander Vision, Ryan calls for the adoption of social movement unionism, in which labour forges an alliance with other progressive elements in civil society, taking up the cause of young people, precarious workers, and immigrants. Ryan asserts that a renewed commitment to the NDP — the party that was built by unions — is necessary and that the Leap Manifesto should become the pillar of the movement in Canada.
La Constitution canadienne
by Yan Campagnolo Adam DodekLa Constitution canadienne est un livre introductif sur la loi suprême du pays. La Constitution canadienne rend la loi suprême du pays plus facilement accessible aux lecteurs. Le livre comprend des commentaires visant à expliquer le sens des dispositions des lois constitutionnelles de 1867 et de 1982, un glossaire des termes clés, une brève histoire de la Constitution et une chronologie des événements marquants. De plus, La Constitution canadienne explique le fonctionnement de la Cour suprême du Canada et présente les acteurs et les enjeux liés aux plus importantes décisions constitutionnelles. Yan Campagnolo et Adam Dodek, tous deux professeurs de droit à l’Université d’Ottawa, fournissent un index de la Constitution canadienne et exposent des faits fascinants à propos de la Cour suprême du Canada et de la Constitution. Ce livre est un excellent ouvrage introductif à l’intention des personnes qui découvrent la Constitution du Canada pour la première fois ainsi qu’un ouvrage de référence utile tant pour les étudiants que les experts.
Unconventional Candour: The Life and Times of George Smitherman
by George SmithermanGeorge Smitherman tells all about his successes and failures as a politician — in Ontario's legislature and in Toronto's city hall — and shares the joys and sorrows of his personal life. From modest beginnings, George Smitherman rose to become one of the most powerful politicians in Ontario and then plummeted, defeated by one of the most notorious: Rob Ford. This memoir takes readers on the roller-coaster ride of his career and his personal life as a gay man struggling with the constraints of society and family. Smitherman offers candid insights into the hardball politics of city hall and the provincial legislature, as well as the Liberal government under Dalton McGuinty, including accomplishments like prescription drug reforms and the green energy plan, and the so-called eHealth, Ornge, and gas plant scandals. He reveals how he lost the mayoral race but managed to rebound from that defeat, as well from the suicide of his husband. .
Breakdown: The Pipeline Debate and the Threat to Canada's Future
by Dennis McConaghyIs a national consensus on hydrocarbon development possible? The ongoing debate in Canada over the extraction of hydrocarbon resources and their transportation to markets exemplifies the country’s political polarization. Breakdown explores these tensions through economic, environmental, and political perspectives. The Trudeau Liberals and Alberta’s one-term NDP government attempted to find a compromise that satisfies the concerns of British Columbia, Canada’s First Nations, and environmentalists. But they still could not break the impasse on the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. With new players now at the table, can Canada find a reasonable path forward?
Rebuilding Liberalism: Social Justice with Individual Freedom
by Guy StanleyA blueprint for constructing responsible liberalism Establishing liberalism that offers freedom and social justice is possible. Doing so requires examining the history of liberal ideas and culture over the last two centuries, followed by a major overhaul of existing systems, which includes coming to terms with liberalism’s past and its major limitations, as well as upgrading liberal economics and preparing for technological disruption. Rebuilding Liberalism combines a discussion about liberal ideas in a social context with political analysis, and builds a path forward that can ensure the survival of liberal society.
True Patriots
by Russell FralichA country to kill for … The career of Claire Marcoux, a young naval officer, threatens to come crashing down after she orders the ship under her command to return fire on a boat that she was supposed to rescue. The quiet life of Daniel Ritter, a new professor in a new town, is turned upside down when the celebrity entrepreneur he was unexpectedly invited to meet is found murdered. Thrown together by chance, Claire and Daniel discover that they are involved in the same fight against an unknown enemy — a foe with a plot that endangers the lives of many … and the very existence of the country they both cherish.
Royal Progress: Canada's Monarchy in the Age of Disruption
by D. Michael Jackson Margaret McCainAs Queen Elizabeth II’s record-breaking reign draws to a close, experts on the Crown explore the future of the monarchy in Canada. Queen Elizabeth II is approaching a record-breaking seven decades as sovereign of the United Kingdom, Canada, and fourteen other Commonwealth realms. In anticipation of the next reign, the essays in this book examine how the monarchy may evolve in Canada. Topics include the historic relationship between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown; the offices of the governor general and lieutenant governors; the succession to the throne; the likely shape of the reign of King Charles III; and the Crown’s role in the federal and provincial governments, reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, and civil society. How will the institution of constitutional monarchy adapt to changing circumstances? The contributors to this volume offer informed and challenging opinions on the place of the Crown in Canada’s political and social culture. With contributors National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Brian Lee Crowley, Hon, Judith Guichon, Andrew Heard, Rick W. Hill, David Johnson, Senator Serge Joyal, Warren J. Newman, Dale Smith, and Nathan Tidridge.
Max O'Brien Mysteries 3-Book Bundle: The Kashmir Trap / The Roma Plot / The Tanzania Conspiracy (A Max O'Brien Mystery #3)
by Mario BolducIt’s not easy to have enemies everywhere … but con artist Max O’Brien is a man of the world. Read all three of Max's adventures in this special ebook collection. The Kashmir Trap — Book #1 Professional con man Max O’Brien is on the run from police when he learns that his diplomat nephew has been assassinated in New Delhi. Eleven years earlier, Max’s brother mysteriously disappeared while serving as an ambassador. Determined to find answers this time, Max goes to India, on the verge of war with Pakistan, to unravel a violent past. The Roma Plot — Book #2 When con man Max O’Brien hears that one of his best friends is wanted for the murder of twenty-three people in Romania, he heads to Bucharest to uncover the truth. As Max uncovers secrets reaching back to Europe’s darkest days, he ends up with one foot in the present and the other in the past, scrambling to save his friend?s future. The Tanzania Conspiracy — Book #3 Max O’Brien travels to Tanzania to solve a friend’s murder, but finds himself wrapped up in the murky history of a killing spree of African albinos, and facing the possibility that his friend may have been collateral damage of a gruesome slaughter. Could the connection be real? Even in the face of horror, Max will stop at nothing to find out.
Toronto's Lost Villages
by Ron BrownExplore the vestiges of the hamlets and villages that have been swallowed up by Toronto’s relentless growth. Over the course of more than two centuries, Toronto has ballooned from a muddy collection of huts on a swampy waterfront to Canada’s largest and most diverse city. Amid (and sometimes underneath) this urban agglomeration are the remains of many small communities that once dotted the region now known as Toronto and the GTA. Before European settlers arrived, Indigenous Peoples established villages on the shore of Lake Ontario. With the arrival of the English, a host of farm hamlets, tollgate stopovers, mill towns, and, later, railway and cottage communities sprang up. Vestiges of some are still preserved, while others have disappeared forever. Some are remembered, though many have been forgotten. In Toronto’s Lost Villages, all of their stories are brought back to life.
Blood Washing Blood: Afghanistan's Hundred-Year War
by Phil HaltonA clear-eyed view of the conflict in Afghanistan and its century-deep roots.The war in Afghanistan has consumed vast amounts of blood and treasure, causing the Western powers to seek an exit without achieving victory. Seemingly never-ending, the conflict has become synonymous with a number of issues — global jihad, rampant tribalism, and the narcotics trade — but even though they are cited as the causes of the conflict, they are in fact symptoms.Rather than beginning after 9/11 or with the Soviet “invasion” in 1979, the current conflict in Afghanistan began with the social reforms imposed by Amanullah Amir in 1919. Western powers have failed to recognize that legitimate grievances are driving the local population to turn to insurgency in Afghanistan. The issues they are willing to fight for have deep roots, forming a hundred-year-long social conflict over questions of secularism, modernity, and centralized power.The first step toward achieving a “solution” to the Afghanistan “problem” is to have a clear-eyed view of what is really driving it.
Total Propaganda: Basic Marxist Brainwashing for the Angry and the Young
by Helen RazerA cheeky introduction to Marxism and socialism for everyone fed up with their capitalist woes. Millennials have it bad. They face the problems of underemployment, unaffordable housing, and economists who write crap columns telling them it’s their fault for taking an Uber to brunch. Today the future’s so dark we need night vision goggles, not a few liberal guys shining a torch on a sandwich. Maybe today we could use the light of Karl Marx. Marx may not have had much to say about brunch in the twenty-first century, but he sure had some powerful thoughts about where the system of capitalism would land us. Over time, it would produce a series of crises, he said, before pushing the wealth so decisively up that the top-heavy system would come crashing down with a push. Pushy old communist Helen Razer offers an introduction to the thought of Marx for Millennials and anyone else tired of wage stagnation, growing global poverty, and economists writing desperate columns saying everything would work better if only we stopped eating avocado toast.
Seven Down
by David WhittonIn this quirky, character-driven debut novel seven hotel employees puzzle out the events of a botched assassination attempt — the next read for fans of Fredrik Backman (Anxious People) and Matt Haig (The Midnight Library). Seven ordinary hotel employees. Catering, Reservations, Management. Seven moles, waiting for years for a single code word, a trigger that will send them into action in a violent event that will end their dull lives as they know them. The event has failed: the action was a disaster. Each employee is being debriefed by an agent of an invisible organization. These are the transcripts of these interviews. What they reveal is not just the intricate mechanism of an international assassination, but the yearnings inside each of its pawns, the desperation and secret rage that might cause any one of us to sign up, sell out, and take a plunge into darkness. Both sinister and absurd, Seven Down is a puzzle to be solved, a comedy, and a panorama of life. At once sociological, satirical, and scary, it paints portraits of the mundane human failings behind geopolitical machinations.A RARE MACHINES BOOK
The Lost Prime Ministers: Macdonald's Successors Abbott, Thompson, Bowell, and Tupper
by Michael HillAfter John A. Macdonald’s death, four Tory prime ministers — each remarkable but all little known — rose to power and fell in just five years. From 1891 to 1896, between John A. Macdonald’s and Wilfrid Laurier’s tenures, four lesser-known men took on the mantle of leadership. Tory prime ministers John Abbott, John Thompson, Mackenzie Bowell, and Charles Tupper headed the government of Canada in rapid succession. Each came to the job with qualifications and limitations, and each left after unexpectedly short terms. Yet these reluctant prime ministers are an important part of our political legacy. Their roles were much more than caretakers between the administrations of two great leaders. Personal tragedy, terrible health issues, backstabbing, and political manipulation all led to their eventual downfalls. The Lost Prime Ministers is the dramatic saga of these overlooked Canadian leaders.
A Resilient Crown: Canada's Monarchy at the Platinum Jubilee
by D. Michael JacksonAs the Queen marks seventy years on the throne, this engaging work examines Canada’s constitutional monarchy. As Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and nears the conclusion of her reign, much discussion and debate has taken place about the monarchy in Canada.A Resilient Crown examines a broad range of issues related to Canada’s constitutional monarchy, its present state, and its future. Topics include Crown-Indigenous relations; the foundational place of the Crown in Canada’s system of government; the viceregal offices and the role of the administrator; the Crown and francophone Canada; the prime ministers and the Queen; royal tours; and Queen Elizabeth herself.Drawing from academics, serving and retired public servants, and well-known commentators, this book brings together a rich collection of essays that delve into the Crown in Canada today.
A Very Canadian Coup: The Rise and Demise of Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell, 1894–1896
by Ted GlennA fresh take on the Manitoba schools question and the Conservative Coup that toppled Canada’s fifth prime minister.When Mackenzie Bowell became Canada’s fifth prime minister in December 1894, everyone — including Bowell — expected the job would involve nothing more than keeping the wheels on the Conservative wagon until a spring election.Plans for a quiet caretakership were dashed in January 1895 when the courts ruled that the Manitoba government had violated Roman Catholics’ constitutional rights by abolishing the provincial separate school system. Catholics in Quebec demanded that Bowell force Manitoba to restore the schools, while Ontario Protestants warned him to keep his hands off.Backed into a corner, Bowell tried three times to negotiate a compromise with the Manitoba government over the course of 1895, but to no avail. By January 1896, seven of Bowell’s cabinet ministers had had enough. Convinced that Bowell had tarnished the Conservative brand, the caballers forced the prime minister to resign and make way for a new leader, who they believed could revive party fortunes in time for the coming election—the old Warhorse of Cumberland, Sir Charles Tupper. Ultimately, the coup didn’t matter. Tupper and his conspirators pleaded their case in Parliament and on the hustings, but nothing could stand in the way of Wilfrid Laurier and his Liberals’ historic rise to power in the June 1896 election.A Very Canadian Coup brings fresh sources and new perspectives to bear on the life and times of Canada’s fifth prime minister and his Sixth Ministry.
Carbon Change: Canada on the Brink of Decarbonization
by Dennis McConaghyAn investigation into the scale and costs of transitioning our energy systems to achieve net-zero emissions.Canada and the rest of the developed world have committed to decarbonizing basic energy systems, but do this country’s citizens and governments truly understand the sacrifices ahead and are we willing to accept those sacrifices in the name of reducing the impact of climate change? Will the rest of the developed world take on the necessary costs, and will Canada forge ahead with decarbonization, even if other countries do not? Carbon Change explores this most visceral of public policy choices for Canada, with a deep dive into recent North American energy and climate policy, the enduring impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and political processes across the developed world with respect to dealing with climate change risks. It offers a dispassionate analysis of the scale and cost of trying to realize the aspiration of decarbonization. Dennis McConaghy asks if a more balanced and nuanced approach is possible to mitigate the effects of climate change, while still optimally using hydrocarbons to maximize global human welfare.
South
by Babak LakghomiSouth is a hallucinatory reimagination of life in a world under totalitarianism, and an individual’s quest for truth, agency, and understanding.“A quiet meditation on imagination and reality, absence and presence, and the world around us. Lakghomi achieves a poetic and hypnotic effect with his tightly constructed, spare prose.” — Brandon Hobson, author of The Removed“A Lynchian descent into the paranoia and alienation of totalitarianism, South is a haunting and dreamlike novel” — SHELF AWARENESSB, a journalist, travels to the South of an unnamed desert country for a mysterious mission to write a report about the recent strikes on an offshore oil rig. From the beginning of his trip, he is faced with a cruel and broken landscape of drought and decay, superstitious believers of evil winds and spirits, and corrupt entities focused on manipulation and censorship. As he tries to defend himself against his unknown enemies, we learn about his father’s disappearance, his fading love with his wife, and his encounter with an unknown woman. A puzzle-like novel about totalitarianism, surveillance, alienation, and guilt that questions the forces that control us.A RARE MACHINES BOOK
Reasonable Cause to Suspect: A Mother's Ordeal to Free Her Son from a Kurdish Prison
by Sally LaneIn a story of deceit, betrayal, and injustice, two parents are tried as terrorists for attempting to rescue their son from a Syrian war zone.On September 2, 2014, Jack Letts, an idealistic eighteen-year-old British Canadian, phoned his mother saying, “Mum, I’m in Syria.” Those chilling words from a raging war zone set in train his family’s eight-year-long battle to rescue Jack from his disastrous mistake.When an unscrupulous journalist invented the term “Jihadi Jack,” a false image of Jack spread throughout the world. Sally and John, Jack’s parents, faced the mammoth task of persuading a hostile public that their son was the victim of a smear campaign. He should, they argued, at least be allowed home to face a fair trial to address the claims against him. But the Canadian and British governments had other plans. Jack is currently detained in a Kurdish prison, while the Canadian government claims it doesn’t know if he is alive or dead. This is his parents’ story of their painful struggle to persuade the world to save the son they love.
Toronto Mayors: A History of the City's Leaders
by Mark MaloneyThe first-ever look at all 65 Toronto mayors — the good, the bad, the colourful, the rogues, and the leaders — who have shaped the city.Toronto’s mayoral history is both rich and colourful. Spanning 19 decades and the growth of Toronto, from its origins as a dusty colonial outpost of just 9,200 residents to a global business centre and metropolis of some three million, this compendium provides fascinating biographical detail on each of the city’s mayors.Toronto’s mayors have been curious, eccentric, or offbeat; others have been rebellious, swaggering, or alcoholic. Some were bigots, bullies, refugees, war heroes, social crusaders, or bon vivants; still others were inspiring, forward looking, or well ahead of their time.One Toronto mayor attempted to kill a predecessor, but his pistol jammed. Another simply beat up the councillors he didn’t like. One committed murder, while another carried out a home invasion. And under the threat of capture and certain death, two mayors were forced to escape the city and live for years in exile, while another had 18 kids and cried poor, yet died on a luxury European vacation (minus the kids). One mayor was involved in the brutal torture of an opposition candidate. Another went insane while in office due to acute third stage syphilis.Each mayor is the inheritor of a rich legacy of hopes and dreams, ambitions and efforts, successes and failures. From the first mayor in 1834 — the firebrand rebel William Lyon Mackenzie — to those of the 21st century — Mel Lastman, David Miller, Rob Ford, and John Tory — Toronto Mayors looks at where each came from, how they came to lead the city, what issues they dealt with, and how they steered Toronto’s City Council.