Noteworthy: Feeling extra Canadian these days? Have I got a book for you

By Bruce Penton on May 14, 2025.

I’ve never been much for book reviews – and it’s not going to become a habit – but if you’re into Canadian history in rapid-fire, short doses, a book put together by the Toronto Globe & Mail staff might be one for you.

Titled ‘A Nation’s Paper,’ the book features 30 chapters on a wide array of important events in Canadian history, going back to 1844 when the newspaper was founded in pre-Canada Toronto. Name an important event in our country’s history – development of the west, two pandemics (100 years apart), residential schools, a history of business in our country, crime and punishment, the Quebec situation, sports highlights, a good dose of politics and so much more – and there is a chapter devoted to it. Specific people or events (such as Terry Fox, Tommy Douglas and Medicare) are missing.

I thought I knew everything there was to know about Canada and its past, but these 30 essays, seven to eight pages apiece, are written by Globe & Mail staffers who went deep into the newspaper’s archives to pull out background information of which I wasn’t fully aware. And the paper pulls no punches when it comes to self-criticism.

It often describes how the newspaper and its editorial staff was wrong in its approach to a particular story and is quick to admonish its journalistic forebears for taking an editorial stance that would be frowned on today.

Politics played a major role in the founding of the newspaper, which started seven years before the New York Times. The Globe’s founder George Brown, a devoted Liberal, used his editorial vehicle to lambaste Canada’s leading Father of Confederation, the Conservative Sir John A. Macdonald, for a variety of perceived sins. Some say that political bias remains today, and if it does, it’s certainly not as strong, or obvious, as it was 181 years ago.

Brown, later a Father of Confederation, was also this country’s “obstetrician,” says the book’s final chapter, “and the Globe was the forceps he used to yank the newborn country into being.”

A Nation’s Paper sells for $45 Canadian but it was free for me thanks to the Medicine Hat Public Library.

â€¢ Tale of two coaches: Advantage to the Spokane Chiefs after two games of the Western Hockey League final, but whoever wins the series and advances to the Memorial Cup will be a great representative for the league. While the on-ice product has been similar in skill level and speed, the behind-the-bench differences between coaches Willie Desjardins of Medicine Hat and of Spokane have been stark.

Desjardins spends the full 60 minutes rocking back and forth on his feet, hardly ever standing perfectly still. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just his style, and it’s been the same for his entire coaching career. Lauer, on the other hand, is about as mobile behind the bench as the Saamis Tepee. I think – not sure, but I believe this to be true – I saw him blink once midway through the second period when the TSN cameras zoomed in for a closeup on the Humboldt, Sask., native.

The two teams met last night in Spokane and will have two more games in the Washington city this week before the best-of-seven final returns, if needed, to Medicine Hat for games Sunday and Monday.

â€¢ I wonder if anyone in the White House knows, or even cares, that travel by Canadians to the U.S. has substantially declined in the last few months? There were certainly anecdotal indications that Canadians were angered by Donald Trump’s talk of annexation and steep tariffs, not to mention the weak Canadian dollar, but official statistics are coming out which show the travel decline is more factual than anecdotal.

Canadian vehicle traffic heading north from the U.S. showed a 35-per-cent decline in April from the same period 12 months ago. It was the fourth straight month that the numbers were down from a year ago. It’s not just a one-way decline, though. The number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada has also gone down, as tensions ramp up between the normally friendly neighbours.

It was interesting to watch some of the Blue Jays’ recent games in Seattle and notice the obvious lack of Canadian fans in attendance. In past years, the Mariners’ home games vs. the Blue Jays would draw thousands of Canadian fans, mainly from the Lower Mainland of B.C. There was still a Canadian presence last week in Seattle, but nowhere near the normal number of Canuckleheads.

â€¢ Short snappers: The silliest comment on the internet last week: “Finally, a Pope who probably knows who the Smashing Pumpkins are.” … For people interested in the stock market, Monday was a ‘tariff’-ic’ day. … Be nice to your teacher because, well, you never know. After 50 years at New College of Florida, a wealthy professor by the name of Cris Hassold left her life savingsÂ to 36 people, including 31 of her favourite students. Gifts ranged from $26,000 to more than half a million dollars. … The popularity of fast food is certainly not declining. McDonald’s recently announced it plans to open 900 new locations in the U.S. alone.