The History of Canada with Christopher Pennington and Ron Graham

Thursday, April 28, 2011 - 12:00pm

National Arts Centre - Fountain Room
53 Elgin Street
Ottawa, ON
K1P 5W1

Allen Lane Canada presents three compelling authors that bring our history to life and highlight the important questions that shape our nation’s future.

It was Sir John A. Macdonald’s last campaign. His Conservatives had dominated Canadian politics since Confederation. The Liberal leader, Wilfrid Laurier, was new in the job and uncertain that a Roman Catholic from Quebec had any chance of winning votes outside his home province. But Macdonald’s decision to hang Louis Riel had split the country, the economy was in the doldrums, and a movement in support of free trade with the United States gave the Liberals hope. In The Destiny Of Canada , Christopher Pennington spins a colourful tale of a country poised to make a momentous choice and of nineteenth century politics at both its most principled and its most corrupt.

The Night of the Long Knives, was the culmination of more than a decade of constitutional debates, triggered in large measure by the advent of Quebec nationalism, the electoral triumph of the Parti Québécois, and the first referendum. It also coincided with the rise of some of the most powerful premiers in Canadian history, formidable men who were pressing for a more decentralized federation. And, of course, it is about the struggle between them and Pierre Trudeau. The Last Act by Ron Graham gives this remarkable event a full dramatic historical narrative to establish what really took place.
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For tickets and further information, please see http://www.writersfestival.org/events/the-history-of-canada.