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From the archives

Who Do They Think They Are?

When extraordinary writers prove fallible

To Save a Planet

Between despair and disaster

Campfire Confessional

Crushes, counsellors, and s’more

Colin Robertson

Colin Robertson is senior strategic advisor to McKenna, Long and Aldridge LLP. A former Canadian diplomat, he was part of the team that negotiated the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement and NAFTA. He also served in New York, Los Angeles and Washington.

Articles by
Colin Robertson

Kowtowing to the Hegemon

Two books look at the always complex Canada-U.S. relationship. April 2010
The back cover of In Roosevelt’s Bright Shadow: Presidential Addresses about Canada from Taft to Obama in Honour of FDR’s 1938 Speech at Queen’s University displays a picture of Peter Milliken, speaker of the House of Commons, presenting a special prepublication copy of the self same book to President Barack Obama in the splendidly restored Parliamentary Library when he visited Ottawa last…

Benefits of Empire

Colonial history determines the success (or bloodyfailure) of today’s post-colonial states September 2009
As a young boy I collected stamps, a hobby I shared with my paternal grandmother. Every Saturday we would delve into a black trunk full of stamps—a legacy of my grandfather, who had died in 1944, while my father was serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Among my favourites was the two cent Canadian “XMAS 1898,” featuring a map of the world with the British possessions inked in…