Reading For Father's Day

  Here are some suggestions for some Canadian-related nonfiction books. Given that good CANCON can be hard to find, among the dwindling number of books that are not romantasies, they may be useful. It is also the case that most books are now unreviewed, so the synopses provided will be helpful, even if they are written by those associated with the books and the prizes. That the two top books garnered a total of  $100,000 should mean that they are worth something, even if those are Canadian dollars.
   If you are looking for an escape I will say only that these works do not escape the Zeitgeist.
   If you are looking for the books in London, I note when they are found in our libraries. The London Public Library does a fine job, even though much of the acquisition budget probably has to go to the more popular works of fiction. Those in the Western Libraries perhaps have not yet had the time to order these new books, or have the funding to do so. Or, it may simply be that books are too much of a bother and that the library space is better used for other purposes. In any case, do your own searches and, of course, Amazon will probably be able to deliver the book to your door by the time I finish typing this. 

[N.B. About The Bonus at the bottom.  It is below the Sources and I have been told no one ever makes it to the "Sources." Admittedly, the bonus is often frivolous, but in this case it is about the serious issue of the potential abolition of Father's Day and even Mother's Day! Perhaps you missed the related news items, or just thought them frivolous.]

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing 
"Rewarding the Best Political Writing"

   To learn about the Award see The Writers's Trust of Canada.

   The Wikipedia entry is also useful: Shaughnessy Cohen Prize.
 I did a post about Elizabeth Shaughnessy Cohen who was born in London and died in the House of Commons in 1998 at the age of 50. 

The Winner: 
1. Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community, Maggie Helwig. London Public Library has several, Western Libraries, not available.

"The housing crisis plaguing major urban centres has sent countless people into the streets. Encampment tells the story of how some of them found their way to the yard beside the Anglican church in Toronto’s Kensington Market where Maggie Helwig is the priest. An outspoken social justice activist, Helwig has spent the last three years getting to know the residents and battling various authorities that want to clear the yard and keep the results of the housing crisis out of sight and out of mind. The book also introduces readers to the Artist, to Jeff, and to Robin: their lives, their challenges, their humanity. It confronts society’s callousness in allowing so many to go unhoused and demands, by bringing their stories to the fore, that we begin to respond with compassion and grace."

The Finalists:

2. On OIL, Don Gillmor LPL has copies. WL n/a

"Don Gillmor worked as a roughneck on oil rigs during the seventies oil boom in Alberta. On Oil examines how the industry has changed over the decades and illustrates the ways our dependence on oil has led to regulatory capture, in Canada and elsewhere, and contributed to armed conflict and war across the world. Gillmor documents the many ways oil companies have misdirected environmental action and misinformed the public about climate concerns. He illuminates where we went wrong and how we might yet change course."

3. On the Ground: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent​. Brian Stewart

About the Book LPL has copies.  WL n/a

"Brian Stewart is a trusted voice who brought stories of the world home to Canadians for decades on CBC’s The National. He saw it all firsthand and bore the responsibility of shining a light on the most exciting and most horrifying moments of the late 20th century, including the Gulf War and the Ethiopian famine. He spoke with world leaders, armed militants, activists, aid workers, and more. Now, Stewart shares his experience of the cost, both personal and professional, of bringing truth home from around the world."

4. On Book Banning​: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy LPL has copies. Copy at FIMS at WL

"From the destruction of libraries in ancient Rome to today’s state-sponsored efforts to suppress LGBTQ2S+ literature, book bans arise from the impulse toward social control. Using a survey of legal cases, literary controversies, and philosophical arguments, Ira Wells illustrates the historical opposition to the freedom to read. He argues that today’s conservatives and progressives alike are warping children’s relationship with literature and teaching them that the solution to opposing viewpoints is outright expurgation. At a moment in which democratic institutions are buckling under the stress of polarization, On Book Banning is both rallying cry and guide to resistance for those who will always insist upon reading for themselves."

5. Women Who Woke up the Law: Inside the Cases that Changed Women’s Rights in Canada, Karin Wells, LPL has copies. WL n/a

"Karin Wells pulls readers into the lives and legal trials of a group of women integral to the advancement of women’s rights in Canada. Eliza Campbell, Chantale Daigle, Jeannette Corbiere Lavell — these Women Who Woke Up the Law often had no idea what they were facing in the courts or the price they would have to pay. Some never saw justice themselves, but they left a legal legacy. From the award-winning author of The Abortion Caravan and More Than a Footnote, Wells’ new book chronicles the bold determination of Canadian women, which she argues is something we need now more than ever to guard the hard-won gains in women’s rights. "

The Donner

  The website is here: The Donner Prize

   "The Donner Canadian Foundation, one of Canada’s largest foundations, was established in 1950 by businessman and philanthropist William H. Donner to support projects that advance the common good in Canada by encouraging private initiative, independence and individual responsibility."

The Winner:

1. Borderline Chaos: How Canada Got Immigration Right, and Then Wrong by Tony Keller (Sutherland House Books) LPL on order - not at WL

   "How did Canada turn one of its most admired policy achievements into a source of public anger and institutional damage? Tony Keller’s Borderline Chaos answers that question with precision and force. In sharp, concise prose, it traces how a once-stable, broadly trusted, rules-based immigration system, built on skilled permanent residents and disciplined selection, was overtaken by a coalition of business interests, provincial incentives, and federal political ambition. The result is incoherence, housing strain, labour-market distortion, and eroded public confidence. Jurors celebrated the book’s clarity of thesis and its insistence on evidence-based policymaking, calling it compelling and infuriating in equal measure — essential reading for any policymaker confronting the aftermath of that period.

The Runners-Up:

2. Breaking Point: The New Big Shifts Putting Canada at Risk by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson (Signal) LPL has a copy. WL does not - Ibbitson is a W. grad.

   "Canada is not collapsing — but it is bending. Breaking Point makes a compelling case that the pressures accumulating around housing, productivity, regional grievance, immigration mismanagement, and generational inequality are converging in ways that threaten national cohesion. Bricker and Ibbitson’s great strength is synthesis: they pull together disparate anxieties into a single, coherent story about national fragility. Grounded in polling data, demographic trends, and economic indicators, including long-term survey data showing declining national pride, the book offers decision-makers both a lens on public mood and a strategic overview of the risks Canada faces if current trends continue. Jurors praised it as a timely and accessible contribution that translates complex policy debates in a way everyday Canadians can appreciate."

3. 21 Things You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-Government: A Conversation About Dismantling the Indian Act by Bob Joseph (Page Two) LPL - several at WL. One copy at FIMS in WL.

   "One of the central unresolved questions in Canadian public life is how to move beyond the Indian Act. Bob Joseph’s focused volume takes that question seriously and answers it with clarity, conviction, and practical grounding. Structured around 21 short chapters, it demystifies the core concepts of jurisdiction, inherent rights, fiscal arrangements, and treaty relationships, without the use of legal jargon or rhetorical excess. Drawing on real policy mechanisms and case studies such as the Nisga’a and Westbank agreements, Joseph frames self-government not as a grievance-based claim but as a governance reality already in motion. Jurors praised its plain-language accessibility as making it a uniquely effective public education tool and noted that it lays out the issues and possible solutions more clearly and accessibly than any comparable work for Canadian readers."

4.  A New Blueprint for Government: Reshaping Power, The PMO, and the Public Service by Kevin G. Lynch and James R. Mitchell (University of Regina Press)

LPL n/a  WL n/a

   "Canada’s policy underperformance is not simply a matter of ideology or bad luck, rather it is a structural problem, rooted in how the federal government is designed, managed, and held to account. Drawing on decades of senior public service experience, Lynch and Mitchell make a rigorous, evidence-based case that power has drifted dangerously from Cabinet to the PMO, that ministerial accountability has eroded, and that bureaucratic risk aversion has hollowed out execution capacity. In under 200 pages, they connect governance architecture to tangible failures — procurement delays, productivity stagnation, service breakdowns — and propose concrete reforms. Jurors described it as an elegantly argued agenda for change and the most focused, actionable detailing of possible Canada-focused policy reforms to emerge in recent years."

5. The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity by Tim Wu (Alfred A. Knopf) LPL has copies, none at WL.

   "The promise of the digital economy was transformative — open, democratic, and generative of shared prosperity. Tim Wu’s The Age of Extraction is a bracing account of how that promise curdled. Drawing on a historically informed arc from oil trusts and railroad monopolies to Google, Amazon, and Meta, Wu argues that dominant platforms have stopped enabling markets and started extracting from them, harvesting data, imposing fees, manipulating algorithms, and eliminating competition. His central concept of “extraction” gives policymakers a disciplined framework for understanding digital concentration not as a technology story but as a story about power. Jurors found the book timely, intellectually rigorous, accessible, and strategically important. While its policy prescriptions are anchored in the U.S. context, its framework speaks directly to the platform challenges facing Canadian competition policy, digital regulation, and the future of work."

Sources:
   One will find articles when the winner of the prize is announced. 
   For example for the Cohen prize:

"Maggie Helwig’s Encampment Wins 2026 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing," Ian Bailey, G&M, April 29, 2026.

"Helwig’s win was announced Wednesday night at a gala in Ottawa, and the honour comes with a $40,000 prize. Meanwhile, four shortlisted finalists will each receive $5,000.
   For the Donner:

"Donner Prize Nominees Break Down Their Big Ideas, from AI to Immigration,

Brad Wheeler, G&M, May 13, 2026.

“On May 14, the annual $60,000 Donner Prize for the best public policy book by a    "Canadian will be awarded at a gala dinner in Toronto. The shortlisted authors, including Globe and Mail columnists John Ibbitson and Tony Keller, were asked to identify a misunderstood issue or misguided policy related to their books and explain the importance of getting it right.”

The Bonus: 
   The good news, such as it is, is that you should be able to celebrate Father's Day, which was under threat of being cancelled in some parts of Canada. For that matter, so was Mother's Day since, I guess, many children do not have regular moms and dads. One related headline, for example is: "Canadian Schools Ditch Mother's and Father's Day Celebrations in the Name of Diversity." But recently it appears there have been second thoughts: "Manitoba School Scraps Plan to Move Away From Mother's Day, Father's Day Celebrations." 
   There should be room for all, in that there are days, weeks, months and even years dedicated to just about any entity you can think of. June 8 was "National Best Friends Day" and on the second Sunday in August there is "Gay Uncle Day." Even the lonely have a week - "Loneliness Awareness Week" and in China, the horse has a whole year. Hallmark, at least, has reason to celebrate all of the time.

AN AUDIO GUTENBERG

At the end of the year, I wrote about the passing of Greg Newby, who was born in Montreal and died in Whitehorse. He played an important role on Project Gutenberg and was remembered as a " "Fourth Industrial Revolution visionary,” who helped marshal the chaotic, creative forces of the early internet to help serve the public interest....”  Thousands of books are now available and can be read for free via Project Gutenberg. 

Hugh McGuire & LibriVox

   Since then, I have learned that a Canadian in Montreal is also a  participant in another positive project involving the Internet, at a time when there is much about the Internet that is perceived  as having negative consequences.  His name is Hugh McGuire, and because of him people can listen, for free, to over 20,000 books that are in the public domain. He founded LibriVox over twenty years ago. 

   At Librivox.org, you can listen to books, or volunteer to read and/or record them. LibriVox:

-is a non-commercial, non-profit and ad-free project

-donates its recordings to the public domain

-is powered by volunteers

-maintains a loose and open structure

-welcomes all volunteers from across the globe, in all languages.

You can learn a bit about Mr. McGuire at a site of his, which looks to be rather old and where he describes himself as “an aging idealist.” There is no Wikipedia entry for him, but there is for LibriVox , where the picture of Mr. McGuire was found.

He also started Pressbooks, a book publishing company, in 2011 and is still the Executive Chairman. If perhaps you want to publish a book of your own, Pressbooks is a "user-friendly digital" publisher.

I stumbled upon this information and thought the the accomplishments of Mr. McGuire, a Canadian, should be noted. I have to confess, however, that I have never listened to an audiobook and should do so. While looking for information about Mr. McGuire and LibriVox, I did discover an article by someone who does listen to audio books and, in it, she acknowledges the importance of LibriVox and McGuire during the pandemic. Here is a portion from: "Audio Books Aid Isolation of Pandemic; Louise Rachlis Takes Refuge From Today's Crisis in Classics From the Past, " Louise Rachlis, Ottawa Citizen, Aug. 21, 2020.

I had no Great Expectations, but discovering audio books has transported me Far from the Madding Crowd.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ..." I marched in loops around the canal, over the Pretoria Bridge and the Flora footbridge, my iPhone in my pocket, the earbuds in my ears as the powerful words of A Tale of Two Cities distracted me from the pandemic at hand.

My isolation coping strategy hasn't been baking, but books. Audio books to be specific. I've walked, and sometimes run, with audio books for hundreds of hours. I'd never been an audio book person; I read pocket books while travelling, hardcover books in the bathtub, and e-books in bed. I always considered audio books were for long car trips, and I rarely had any of those. But suddenly in March, the only break from social isolation was to go for a walk in the neighbourhood. And during those walks, I discovered the joy and the distraction of LibriVox audio books. I loved that LibriVox was founded by Montrealer Hugh McGuire in 2005 to provide "acoustical liberation of books in the public domain." All the readers are volunteers, but you wouldn't know it from many of their professional-sounding voices."

Source:

Almost twenty years ago, this source discusses the origin of LibriVox: "Power of the Spoken Book: Hugh McGuire Went Online About a Year Ago to Look for a Free Audio Book Recording: His Surfing Took Him to Project Gutenberg, a Free Online Repository of Books and Other Works in the Public Domain - But He Came up Empty-handed," Craig Silverman, Montreal Gazette, Oct. 7, 2006.

"I went through the Gutenberg catalogue and found they had very little audio, which was a surprise," he says.

McGuire was searching for a recording of a Joseph Conrad novel whose copyright had expired, meaning anyone was free to make a recording of it. But no one had, and so McGuire, 32, a computer programmer and writer in Montreal, decided to fill the void.

He set up a blog to gather volunteers to record free audio books of works whose copyright had expired. McGuire called his project LibriVox and he then "emailed a bunch of friends and people doing literature podcasts and blogs to ask if they were interested in joining in," he recalls during the first of two meetings at a St. Laurent Blvd. cafe.

Within a few hours, McGuire had enough volunteers to produce a recording of the book.

McGuire, a soft-spoken man with glasses and a light beard, then picks up his coffee and casually delivers a massive understatement, "It was clear to me very early on that this was a very interesting project."

Though McGuire is loath to brag about it, LibriVox.org has in one year grown to become the single largest repository of free audio books on the Internet. Its roughly 2,000 volunteers have recorded over 150 books and more than 200 recordings of short stories, plays, speeches, poems and documents like the Magna Carta and the U.S. Declaration of Independence. LibriVox offers works in French, German, Japanese, Hebrew, Finnish, Latin, Italian and Russian, with recordings currently under way in Arabic, Spanish, Swedish and Chinese. (English is by far the dominant language.) Every LibriVox recording is offered free for anyone to download, listen to, copy and share as they please. About 25,000 LibriVox books have been downloaded over the past year, McGuire says. LibriVox's success is a study in how blogs and other collaborative Internet technologies are enabling large groups of people from all over the world to come together and build not just a community but also something tangible, a product or service. In the case of LibriVox, they created a library of free audio books. A similar but much larger project, Wikipedia.org, is a massive free online encyclopedia with 3.8 million articles in more than 100 languages written and maintained by 48,000 volunteers."

[That is a portion of the long article and the picture is also from it.]

Maple-Washing

      Buy Canadian - It's Not So Easy
   The term "maple-washing" appeared in a headline and it is our subject for today. It was new to me. Apparently "it has been coined in popular discourse to describe the lengths that retailers and producers have gone to make their products appear as Canadian as possible."  
   Misleading marketing is not new, but the surge in food patriotism is and that has led to some questionable labelling indicating that a product is "Canadian". To reduce the angst among those who are agitated about all of this, I will reproduce the relevant paragraph from the maple-washing article, which says the rules relating to food are clear about what constitutes "Canadian." I hope they are clear to you, but I remain confused. For example, although coffee is not grown in Canada, I know there are some Canadian coffee companies, as defined by the rules listed below, but I don't think it would be correct to say that Tim Hortons is a Canadian company.

 "According to the Food and Drugs Act, all food labels must be truthful and not misleading or likely to create a false impression. The rules are clear. 
  "Product of Canada" requires that at least 98 per cent of the ingredients and processing be Canadian. "Made in Canada" means the last substantial transformation took place here, and "Prepared in Canada" refers to food that was processed, packaged or handled domestically, regardless of where the ingredients originated." "Retailers Must Guard Against Maple-Washing," Sylvain Charlebois, London Free Press, July 29, 2025.

   To demonstrate the complexity of all of this, here is a bit from the Consumers Council of Canada, which also supplied me with the definition of maple-washing as quoted above.

   "In one typical social media feed, Canadians can see promotion that Cadbury’s Creme Eggs and Mini Eggs are “proudly made for Canada, in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients”, Breyer’s ice cream is “made in Canada with high quality ingredients and Canadian dairy”. Black Diamond cheese will also promote its Canadian origins and production, and sometimes cheekily notes it is made with 0% American cheese.
   Some consumers will appreciate this presentation and favour those products. 
   Of course, Cadbury is a British company, owned by Mondelez international. Breyers has a production facility in Simcoe, Ontario, but it’s owned by Unilever. Black Diamond has origins and production in Belleville, Ontario, but is owned by Lactalis Canada which is part of the Lactalis Group, headquartered in France."

  I suppose that the subject of whether your grocery item is "Canadian" is moot if you purchased it at either Walmart or Costco. 

Buy Ontarian

  Once again, my post is more confusing than it should have been. So, I will conclude by suggesting that you only buy things made in Ontario and supply the source where you can shop: Ontario Made: Great Things are Made Right Here.  You will even find a Canadian coffee company - Club Coffee Craft Roasters, in Etobicoke. 

Post Script:
   The recent concern about buying Canadian is largely a result of the numerous tariffs which have been levied, unlevied and which are about to be levied again. Ontario began the "Support Ontario" program back when the pandemic was the issue that made people think about reshoring and producing things locally. 
See, for example: "Labatt Promotes Ontario Made Label," Jennifer Bieman, LFP, Oct. 30, 2020:
  "Labatt Breweries of Canada signed on to a provincewide push to promote Ontario businesses forging ahead in the pandemic-battered economy. Ninety-six brands, including London-made Bud Light, Budweiser and Labatt Blue, will display an Ontario Made designation, a marketing initiative to promote local products....The province threw its support behind the program in early July, contributing $500,000. The campaign comes after many Ontario businesses retooled during the first wave of the pandemic to manufacture in-demand products, including masks and other personal protective equipment. Premier Doug Ford announced a second phase of the program Thursday, a consumer directory of participating manufacturers at Supportontariomade.ca."

Bonus Links:
  Send your kid to a Canadian Maple League University.
  Travel Locally- Grassroutes.    

   Whether a non-food item is "Canadian" can be complex as well, and that is why we have law firms. And when such firms are involved, suits follow. Take the case of a company named Moose Knuckles, which surely appears to be Canadian, even if their product was not.
   "In recent years, there has only been one enforcement action brought by the Bureau regarding a “Made in Canada” claim. In 2016, the Bureau filed an application with the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) alleging that Moose Knuckles had marketed their winter parkas as “Made in Canada,” when they were actually imported from Asia in nearly finished form, only to be finalized with zippers, snaps, fur trims and labels in Canada. Moose Knuckles settled the action by, among other things, agreeing to donate C$750,000 over five years to charity and to clarify that some of its parkas are made with Canadian and imported components."
From: "Maple-Washing: Regulatory and Civil Liability Risks of Calling a Product Canadian," By Laura Weinrib, Jonathan Bitran, Simon Seida, Emily Hazlett and Joshua Hutchinson, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, March 13, 2025.

   It is also noted in the article above that "maple-washing" is sometimes called, "maple glazing".
   For another bonus, search for the meaning of "moose knuckles".  

Hockey News

 There's Not Much
  I figure that the title will attract thousands since there has been no hockey news since the final game of the Stanley Cup was played a few days ago. A few days from now, the quest for the Cup will begin again. Until then, here is some Canadian hockey news to get you through the lean times. It will also allow me to push the post about Stalin down the page.
  Our Prime Minister played hockey and, if you are not impressed, I will add that he played for Harvard University. He did not play much, but was a dedicated and hard-working team member who was still able to graduate magna cum laude in 1987.
   I know all of this because of an article in The Athletic, which is the company that the New York Times bought to cover sports, which, let's face it, aren't as good as they once were. Still, the subject is valued by some and a subscription to the NYT necessary if you want to access the content provided by the sweat-stained wretches at The Athletic, who are probably located in another borough. The bits below about Carney and hockey at Harvard are from the following piece and they have been edited extensively so I won't be accused of stealing the prose for which you are unwilling to pay.
   I will say that the article is better than the title: "Cheap Beer and a Suspect Blocker: Before Mark Carney Was Canada's Prime Minister, He Was Harvard's No. 3 Goalie," [I suppose that some in the U.S would say that it was a demotion], Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, April 30. 2025.

 Mark Benning knew his job. The Harvard defenseman’s priority was to retrieve pucks and deliver them quickly and accurately to Scott Fusco, Lane MacDonald and Tim Barakett, the Crimson’s talented forwards.
   To get to pucks first, Benning required timely on-ice arrivals. It was up to Harvard’s No. 3 goalie to open the bench door at just the right moment to let his puck-moving defenseman pounce onto the ice at full speed. Mark Carney took the job seriously. He did it well. 
   It was one of many things the future politician mastered during his time at Harvard. Hockey wasn’t his professional destiny, but the Canadian prime minister has deep connections to it, from his college playing days to his Oilers fandom to a close friendship with longtime NHL executive Peter Chiarelli....
   In the fall of 1983, Chiarelli moved into Straus Hall, his freshman dorm at Harvard. He met Greg Dayton, his new roommate.
  Two doors down, Chris Sweeney, Dayton’s best friend and fellow Belmont Hill grad, was settling in with an 18-year-old from Edmonton. Dayton went to visit Sweeney. Chiarelli tagged along and was introduced to Carney. The teenager that Chiarelli met in his first hour at Harvard would become his best man.

   “We would have connected even if we weren’t living that close together with each other,” says Chiarelli, who is from Nepean, Ontario. “Because we would be at the hockey rink.”
   Chiarelli was a forward. In 1983-84, the freshman played in 27 games. It was 27 more than Carney.
   That season, Carney was behind two goalies: Grant Blair, a sixth-round pick of the Calgary Flames, and Dickie McEvoy. Blair and McEvoy were very good NCAA goalies.
   Carney, meanwhile, was listed at 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, undersized for the position. Regardless of his competitiveness and puck-handling touch, he had weaknesses his teammates could exploit.
   “I was going high blocker,” recalls Fusco when asked where he liked to shoot on Carney.
   “Low stick,” counters ex-teammate Randy Taylor.
   Carney’s situation did not change in seasons to come. John Devin entered the rotation, pushing Carney to practice part-time with the Harvard JV. 
   But on March 9, 1985, Carney got his chance. In Game 2 of the Eastern College Athletic Conference quarterfinals, Harvard was beating up on Colgate. Crimson coach Bill Cleary pulled Blair and replaced him with Devin. 
   Then in the third period, Devin got hurt. Carney came in. The sophomore stopped all five shots he saw. Harvard won 10-2.
   It was Carney’s first and final NCAA appearance.“His goals-against average is zero and his save percentage is 1.000,” Taylor says. “Let’s focus on that and not how many games he got in. For the chance that he got, he couldn’t have done any better.”
  In retrospect, Chiarelli, former general manager of the Boston Bruins and the Oilers and current vice president of hockey operations for the St. Louis Blues, believes Carney would have been good enough to be a No. 2 goalie elsewhere in the ECAC. 
  “He was realistic,” Chiarelli says. “He was good at the sport and he loved it, but he wasn’t going to change schools.”
Carney did not go to Harvard to be a hockey player.....
   After freshman year, Chiarelli, Carney and Dayton moved out of Straus. They lived together in Winthrop House. Their room became a second home for Benning. 
   The defenseman had started his college career at Notre Dame. Benning transferred to Harvard after the Fighting Irish shifted to club status in 1983. In 1984-85, his first year at Harvard, Benning lived off campus in Inman Square, a residential and commercial neighborhood in Cambridge. Instead of walking back to his apartment after practice, Benning became what he termed Carney’s adopted roommate. 
   On Saturday nights, after home games at the Bright Center, Carney and his teammates were regulars at the Piccadilly Filly. Funds were tight. Beverage quality was not the priority.
   “All of us were pretty cheap,” says Benning, now the founder of a venture capital firm called Excelsior. “The cheapest beer we could find.”
   Fusco, the founder of Edge Sports Center in Bedford, Mass., is Harvard’s all-time leading scorer with 240 points. He won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player in 1986. He had help getting there.
   Fusco, 62, remembers wind-lashed walks from the Harvard quad across the Anderson Memorial Bridge to practice at the Bright Center like they happened yesterday. He liked getting to the rink early to work on his shot. 
   As Fusco crossed the Charles River, Carney was usually at his side. The goalie with no shot at playing was happy to stand in net while Fusco ripped off pucks for 45 minutes before practice.
Carney was there to serve."

   If you are interested in Carney and college hockey and politics see: "Mark Carney: College Hockey's First Prime Minister," Adam Wodon, College Hockey News, March 12, 2025. 

The Bonus: 
  His wife, Diana Fox Carney, also played hockey and lived on a pig farm, among other, much higher endeavours. 
   If you are more interested in music than sports, note that our Prime Minister likes heavy metal: "HEADBANGER TO HEAD BANKER: Heavy Metal Fan to Run the Bank of England," Steve Hawkes, The Sun, Nov. 27, 2012.
"5 OF MARK'S FAVE TUNEs
1 Back in the Black - AC/DC
2 For Those About to Bail Out Northern Rock, We Salute You - AC/DC
3 Rates of Spades - Motorhead
4 Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
5 Cash-mir - Led Zeppelin.

Travelling From PARIS to ROME

 To Pompano Beach

   This post is provided for my neglected readers. Although the subject heading is not incorrect, it is rather misleading. We were recently in Paris, the smaller one located in Ontario. More recently we were also in Rome, the smaller one in the state of Georgia. While the former doesn't have the Seine, it does have the Grand and the Nith. The latter is not quite the Rome you assumed we were in, but it is not lacking in attractions. It is the home, for example, of the largest college campus in the world and one also finds there enough tennis courts at the hotel we stayed in to support the largest of professional or collegiate tournaments. I provided a post a while back about Berry College and I am glad we detoured off Interstate 75 to see it --- which also allowed us to avoid Atlanta. 
   That we are travelling during such a perilous period can be explained by the fact that I needed to do so for family reasons. Although you are now probably not thinking about heading for the U.S., I will report that the journey, so far, has been uneventful, politically speaking, and the political headlines are more concerning than the heavy traffic.
   There was little traffic at the border and the guard was even polite. There have been no single fingers raised or horns honked when the "Ontario" plate was spotted. When citizenship was mentioned the reaction was one of curiosity rather than condemnation and the young ladies at the pool said they had experienced no problems. They are from Steinbach, Manitoba.
    Although we Canadians are currently very agitated and concerned about such things as "tariffs", for many Americans, Canada is likely as remote as Steinbach, Manitoba and we are far more worried than they are about the relations between the countries. 

The Bonus:
   We have two TVs in our room now, but have not turned any on since we left Canada a week ago. Headlines have been noticed, however, and here is one from The Washington Post, which indicates that many Canadians are cancelling trips across the border:
"Canadian Travel to U.S. is Plummeting: ‘There’s a lot of anger’, By Ben Brasch and Hannah Sampson, April 3, 2025:
“For the nicest people on the planet, who are Canadians, the language is strong,” said Stacy Ritter, head of Visit Lauderdale in South Florida. “There’s a lot of anger out there.”...
"But the love fest may be on thin ice: Industry experts are reporting a steep decrease in Canadian visitors so far in 2025, pointing to a drop in airline and hotel bookings and scaled-back schedules by Canadian airlines for flights into the United States."....
‘Complete collapse’
    McKenzie McMillan, a Vancouver-based adviser with the Travel Group, said his company would typically be busy this time of year arranging last-minute spring break and summer trips for Canadians to such favorite spots as San Diego; Palm Springs, California; Phoenix; and Las Vegas. Instead, he said, “it’s zero.” The steep drop-off started gradually, with some clients in January saying they were thinking they might avoid the U.S. this year. “Since February, it’s been a complete collapse,” he said.McMillan said about 20 percent to 30 percent of trips that were already booked got canceled. Since then, he said, the company has seen about a 90 percent drop in new bookings for U.S. vacations compared with the previous year, as clients opt for other destinations.
   That is in line with what Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, has been expecting. His travel analytics firm predicted that 4 million fewer Canadians will visit the United States this year, a 20 percent decrease that could cost the U.S. $4.3 billion in lost revenue, he said.  PT Tours, a bus tour company based in New Brunswick, called off the eight trips on the books for the United States, including visits to Boston and Washington, along with an October shopping trip to New Hampshire that has been offered for more than 10 years."

Post Script:
   This is likely our last trip.

McGill-Queen's University Press

 More Sources For Books - University Presses
   Here is another CANADIAN source for books, provided at a time when we are paying more attention to where things are produced. My last post in this series about "University Presses"  was done just over a year ago and it was also about a CANADIAN publisher - Wilfred Laurier Press. This one is a joint venture between McGill and Queen's. For additional information see the website for MQUP. 

A Topical Tome
  As this is being typed, tariffs are being imposed on Canadian goods by our southern neighbour, so this book could provide useful background information, although the title of a new edition will need to be revised: Natural Allies: Environment, Energy, and the History of US-Canada Relations, by Daniel Macfarlane:
"No two nations have exchanged natural resources, produced transborder environmental agreements, or cooperatively altered ecosystems on the same scale as Canada and the United States. Environmental and energy diplomacy have profoundly shaped both countries’ economies, politics, and landscapes for over 150 years."

"Intoxicating Histories"

   MQUP publishes books in a series and this one could help us forget about our current concerns:
"Whether on the street, off the shelf, or over the pharmacy counter, interactions with drugs and alcohol are shaped by contested ideas about addiction, healing, pleasure, and vice and their social dimensions. Books in this series explore how people around the world have consumed, created, traded, and regulated psychoactive substances throughout history."

Local Authors
   

There are books available from MQUP that are by scholars from the London area. Here is one by Professor Emeritus, Ian K. Steele. 

    English Atlantics is dedicated to Professor Steele:

"Ian K. Steele's pioneering work in imperial and early North American history was a pivotal contribution to the establishment of Atlantic history as a field. His study of a unified English - and later British - Atlantic challenged American exceptionalism and encouraged the current wave of interest in Atlantic studies."
   

   Professor Peter Neary, who passed away last year, authored the ones above and these below:

   His wife Hilary Bates Neary has also published with MQUP and is well-known to those interested in the local history of London and Middlesex County. 

   Once again, this series about University Presses demonstrates that books produced by them often appeal to readers far beyond the campuses. A list of all the "University Presses" covered in Mulcahy's Miscellany, is found at the bottom of this post about WLU Press. 

CANADIAN Single Author Journals

  This is a bibliographical research note for those with a specific interest in single author journals. You will know who you are and what they are. Even more specifically, it is for those who are wondering if there are any Canadian single author journals. The word “Canadian” will be employed in this context to attempt to answer two questions: 1) are there any single author journals devoted to Canadians?, and 2) are there Canadians who are, or were, producing single author journals about people who are not Canadian?  The answer to both questions is “Yes." Those answers are not easily found, so this note will be useful for the very small number who are wondering what Canadian might be worthy of such a journal. It will also be of interest to the even smaller number who wonder what  non-Canadian is important enough to rate such attention from someone here in Canada.    It is very difficult to identify those individuals who have their very own periodical, unless you are willing to look up every single person you think might be important enough to have a journal, produced and printed over a period of time on their behalf. Identification of all of the single author journals was problematic before the Internet and remains so. Before the Internet, one very dedicated and diligent researcher rounded up all the single author journals she could find back in 1979. Over 1000 of them are listed and described in Margaret Patterson’s, Author Newsletter and Journals: An International Bibliography of Serial Publications Concerned With the Life and Works of Individual Authors. A few supplements were published by the author in Serials Review, but otherwise, there have been no other reference books about this subject.  Her book is well-indexed and from one of them I provide below, all of the entries that are “Canadian.” There are only a few and some relate to journals that are about Canadians, and the others about journals produced by Canadians or in Canada. Two of them are still being published, but the authors who are the subjects of these single author journals are not Canadian. The Chesterton Review was started in Saskatchewan and continues on at Seton Hall in New Jersey. Hume Studies began at the University of Western Ontario and the Humeans are still very active down the road at Brock University and elsewhere.   After the Internet one might have assumed that single author journals ceased to exist. It would seem to be far easier and less expensive to set up a website dedicated to the author, or publish an e-journal related to that individual. The two examples provided above indicate, however, that single author journals continue to exist, along with websites devoted to them. Finding them though is as difficult as it always was.  Provided below are two lists. The first one contains all of the references related to Canada that are found in Patterson’s, Author Newsletter and Journals. The second provides the search results found when attempting to identify Canadian single author journals on the Internet.

Stephen Leacock

1. CANADIAN SINGLE AUTHOR JOURNALS FOUND IN PATTERSON'S AUTHOR NEWSLETTERS AND JOURNALS Patterson’s book may not be readily available so I have included the information provided with each reference and the page number on which it is found in Author Newsletters and Journals. 

1. Bakhtin, Mikhail (1895-1975)

Bakhtin Newsletter (Le Bulletin Bakhtine)
Editor: Clive Thomson, French Department, Queen’s University
“Designed to facilitate communication among scholars interested in Bakhtin. The first issue included an analytical bibliography and news of past publications, current projects and future conferences.”
This reference is the only one not found in Author Newsletters… This one is from  the “Supplements” Patterson did in Serials Review. See this issue: Spring, 1984, p. 51.
This newsletter appears to have been published between 1983-1996. Additional information will be found at Queen’s. Western University has some issues in storage. 

2. Chesterton, G.K. (1874 -1936)

The Chesterton Review

In 2025, The Chesterton Review is still being published by the G.K.Chesterton Institute For Faith & Culture at Seton Hall University. Information about it is available at this website: https://www.shu.edu/chesterton/chesterton-review.html

   It is included on this list because it was established  in 1974 in the English Department at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. The title was: Chesterton Review: The Journal of the Chesterton Society. Here is the information provided by Patterson, p.62.

   Chesterton Review: The Journal of the Chesterton Society. Editor: Ian Boyd, Department of English, St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, 1437 College Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7NOW6, Canada. Sponsor: The Chesterton Society. Fall/Winter 1974—. 2yr. $5(Canadians); $6(non-Canadians); $7(Institutions); $8(non-Canadian Institutions); £2 (Great Britain). [50-150p.] Circulation: 1,263, including 376 outside North America. Last issue examined: vol.4, 1978.

   “Concerned with “the promotion of a critical interest in all aspects of the life and works of G.K. Chesterton.” Critical and biographical studies on sources, influences, comparisons, style; review articles; previously unpublished works; reprints of inaccessible early works; surveys of Chesterton’s popularity and influence in foreign lands; extensive news and comments concerning national and International Chesterton Society meetings and financial status, seminars in North American and foreign countries, work in progress, new publications; reminiscences; brief notes: letters to the editor; bibliographies; poems; International contributors; annual index. The Chesterton Society has branch secretaries in England, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Poland and the United States.”

Indexed by: America History and Life and Historical Abstracts.

Alternate subtitle: Newsletter of the G.K. Chesterton Society, Fall-Winter 1974.

P.62.

3. Choquette, Robert (1905 - 1991)

Cahiers Du Cercle Robert Choquette.

Sponsor and publisher:  Collège de Saint-Laurent 

1956-64 (nos.1-9). Irregular. [40-65 p.]

American-born Canadian poet, novelist, dramatist.

“Dedicated to Choquette, a graduate of the Collège de Saint-Laurent. Composed mainly of poems to Choquette’s honor, with a few essays and stories; brief introductions.” p.63

Choquette was also a diplomat. He was born in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Dantin, Louis - see Seers, Eugène below.

4.Hume, David (1711-76)

   In 2025, Hume Studies is still being published and information about it is available at this website: https://www.humesociety.org/ojs/index.php/hs/index.

  It is included on this list because it was established at the University of Western Ontario in 1975.

“Scottish philosopher, historian.”

Hume Studies. Editor: John W. Davis, Department of Philosophy, Talbot College, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A3K7, Canada. Sponsor: Faculty of Arts, University of Western Ontario, 1975—. 2/yr (April, November). $3.50 (individuals); $5.50 (institutions). [30-50 p.]. Last issue examined: vol.4, 1978.

“Devoted to historical and systematic research on David Hume. Long documented essays on Hume’s work; brief comments on his contemporaries, his influence, letters, manuscripts, and life; Hume bibliographies; notes and news on workshops of the Canadian Society of Eighteenth Studies and other research projects; notes on symposia, projected works; book reviews; announcements of books received. In English, French, German or Italian. Back issues available from Micromedia Limited, Box 34, Station 5, Toronto, Ontario, M5M4L6, Canada. 

[Note: The information immediately above is outdated. Current information and back issues are available from the Hume Society at the website provided at the top of this entry.]

Indexed by: America: History and Life and Philosopher’s Index.

P.166.

5. Leacock, Stephen (1869-1944)

Newspacket. Sponsor: Stephen Leacock Associates. P.O. Box 854, Orillia, Ontario. 

Spring 1970 –. Quarterly.

“Canadian humorist, political scientist."

P.192.

6. Seers, Eugène [Louis Dantin] (1865-1945)

Cahiers Louis Dantin. 

Louis Dantin was the pen name of Eugène Seers. Canadian poet, critic.

Publisher: Editions du  Bien public, Trois-Rivières, Québec. 

1962- (?) Irregular. [60-160 p.] Last issue examined, no.4, 1967.

“Previously unpublished letters from Dantin to his son; personal reminiscences, genealogy of the Seers family, announcements of new editions, with notes and descriptions of Dantin’s works.” 

P.278.

2. SELECTED RESULTS OF SEARCHES FOR CANADIAN SINGLE AUTHOR JOURNALS ON THE INTERNET

  I know of no way to find such things. I simply chose some Canadian authors to search. I am not a Canadianist and the list will be deemed “idiosyncratic” by those looking for an author from a particular province, or one who wrote in a language other than English, or from a specific ‘identity’. 

  A cursory search was done and the result is the Baker’s dozen provided below. A few single author journals are found and you will locate examples quickly under the entries for Margaret Atwood and Lucy Maud Montgomery, from which one can, at least conclude  that single author journals are not only for males. When there is no entry next to the name searched, that means that there was nothing much to notice beyond the basic reference sources and Wikipedia. In a few cases, I have provided some information which may be of use if you want to start your own single author journal about that person.

1. Atwood, Margaret

https://atwoodsociety.org/

   "The Margaret Atwood Society is an international association of scholars, teachers, and students who share an interest in Atwood’s work. The main goal of the Society is to promote scholarly exchange of Atwood’s works and cultural contributions by providing opportunities for scholars to exchange information. To reach this goal, we publish a journal, Margaret Atwood Studies, for which we invite submissions year round, and we host several panels each year on Atwood at various academic conferences, including at the Modern Language Association Convention (MLA), Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE), and the Midwest Modern Language Association (MMLA)."

2. Callaghan, Morley

3. COHEN, Leonard

Official Website

https://www.leonardcohen.com/

 Produces - The Leonard Cohen Newsletter
   The Leonard Cohen Files

https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/

"Welcome to The Leonard Cohen Files - a tribute to the music and poetry of the Canadian singer-songwriter-poet-novelist Leonard Cohen.

This website was launched in September 1995. The site is hosted by Jarkko Arjatsalo in Finland. The webmaster appreciates the continuous help and support provided by Leonard Cohen and his management."

4. DAVIES, Robertson

“Robertson Davies Collection” Queen’s University

https://web.archive.org/web/20100603151729/http://library.queensu.ca/robertsondavies

"Located on the historic campus of Queen's University in beautiful Kingston, Ontario, the W.D. Jordan Special Collections and Music Library houses the personal library of Robertson Davies, the renowned Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist and professor.

The Collection

Comprised of more than 5000 volumes, theatre prints and ephemera, this remarkable collection reflects Davies' deep interests in literature, literary criticism, art, music, theatre, theatre criticism, theatre biography and autobiography, film, drama, history and psychology. Many of the volumes are annotated with handwritten notes inserted.  Particular strengths are in 18th, 19th and 20th century theatre books and prompt copies. Many works are signed or first editions. The items will be shelved according to room order in which they were kept at Windhover, Davies’ country home in Caledon Hills."

5. GRANT, George Parkin

6. Laurence, Margaret

7. McFarlane, Leslie

8. MacLennan, Hugh

  The Hugh MacLennan Papers Online Project McGill University Libraries

https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/maclennan/bio.htm

9. MCLUHAN, Marshall

Official website:

https://marshallmcluhan.com/

   Marshall McLuhan Bibliography at Monoskop

https://monoskop.org/Marshall_McLuhan

"Welcome to Monoskop, a wiki for arts and studies.

Monoskop is an independent web-based educational resource and research platform for arts, culture and humanities founded in 2004."

10. MITCHELL, W.O.

Website W.O.Mitchell Ltd.

https://womitchell.ca/

11. Montgomery, Lucy Maud

 Lucy Maud Montgomery Society of Ontario

https://lucymaudmontgomery.ca/

  L.M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery Literary Society

https://lmmontgomeryliterarysociety.weebly.com/

The L. M. Montgomery Literary Society is an international community of readers with a special interest in the life of Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 – 1942), her first novel, Anne of Green Gables, as well as her many other novels, 500+ short stories, poetry, letters and personal journals.

The Shining Scroll is the annual publication of the L,MMNL,S.  

 L.M. Montgomery Institute

https://lmmontgomery.ca//

 For additional information see: The L.M. Montgomery Institute, University of Prince Edward Island. https://lmmontgomery.ca/islandora/object/lmmi%3Acollection

Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies

https://journaloflmmontgomerystudies.ca/

   L.M. Montgomery Research Centre

https://web.archive.org/web/20090803190900/http://www.lmmrc.ca/

"The L.M. Montgomery Research Centre Web site is a scholarly resource designed to highlight the L.M. Montgomery Collection of the University of Guelph Library, making it visible and easily accessible to scholars and readers of Lucy Maud Montgomery."

12. RICHLER, Mordecai

13. Woodcock, George

Website:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130822150108/http://www.georgewoodcock.com/

"George Woodcock (1912-1995) has been variously described as "quite possibly the most civilized man in Canada,"  "Canada's Tolstoy," "by far Canada's most prolific writer," "a regional, national and international treasure" and "a kind of John Stuart Mill of dedication to intellectual excellence and the cause of human liberty." His unrivaled productivity as British Columbia's foremost man of letters was achieved in concert with consistent political ideals and humanitarian actions ever since he and Ingeborg Woodcock arrived in B.C. to build a cabin in 1949.

The Bonus: 
I usually provide one, so here it is. There was a single author journal called, The Curwood Collector. Although it is not about a Canadian and was not produced in Canada, it was published close by in Michigan and the popular author spent a lot of time in Canada, which he often wrote about and referred to as "God's Country." There is a festival every June in Owosso, Michigan to honour, James Oliver Curwood.