No one would call the governor general’s job an easy one. Juggling the roles of figurehead, political arbiter, patron, and diplomat demands someone adept at ceremony, attuned to political nuance, and comfortable in the public eye: that’s no straightforward combination. Is it any wonder the pool of potential candidates was kept so narrow for so…
Mark Lovewell
Mark Lovewell has held various senior roles at Ryerson University. He is also one of the magazine’s contributing editors.
Articles by
Mark Lovewell
The Fire and Brimstone Next Time
We deal with the reality of evil by thinking of ways that sinners are punished January | February 2019
Naraka, Hades, Gehenna, Inferno. Hell’s names are legion as we try to make sense of the overpowering reality of evil. So, too, in its Western Christian incarnation, are its memorable features: “the quarrelling, devilish personalities, and the demonic cast of thousands…the horrid instruments of torture and the never-quenched fire,” as Marq de Villiers writes in his latest…
On a blustery January day in 1757, a young widow and her son set out by stagecoach from their Dorset village—a trip prompted by twelve-year-old Samuel Hearne’s wish to join the Royal Navy.His mother had used family connections to arrange an interview at Portsmouth’s admiralty offices. Luckily, the captain who interviewed them was impressed enough to hire the boy on the…
As a piece of modernist architecture, Massey College is remarkable. A blend of brick and concrete that manages to evoke a medieval cloister, it looks inward on a quadrangle that seems a world away from the busy campus that surrounds it. As an institution, Massey is equally noteworthy. When it opened a little over a half century…
In 1849, when Governor General Lord Elgin gave his assent to the Rebellion Losses Bill, which remunerated allies of the Patriotes in the 1837 rebellion, the result was a loyalist riot in the streets of Montreal and the burning of the city’s parliament. Much more importantly for the long term, Elgin’s act also launched responsible government in the province of…
Canada's Yankee Railroad Czar
A new biography reveals Van Horne's private tragedies as well as his public accomplishments. October 2004Substance over Sex Appeal
This year's Donner Prize winner tackles an unglamorous but important topic. June 2005Harder Than It Looks
Three Canadian authors try their hand at crafting political thrillers. July–August 2005
In the world of Canadian political commentary, unvarnished critiques are relatively rare. Bob Plamondon is forthright about what prompted his in The Truth about Trudeau. “This book was born at the Politics and the Pen dinner in 2009,” he says, “just after John English, a member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau…
The inherent paradoxes of Canada’s system of government were described over a century ago by historian Goldwyn Smith: “The King who reigns and does not govern is represented by a Governor-General who does the same, and the Governor-General solemnly delegates his impotence to a puppet Lieutenant-Governor in each province.” Yet the virtues of this delegated authority bear close…
In July 1907 an 18-year-old Frenchman travelled as a saloon-class passenger on the SS Virginian from Liverpool to Quebec City, then took the CPR westward. On assignment as a sales agent for his family’s cognac firm, he was heading to Winnipeg, home of the Canadian headquarters of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Given HBC’s sizeable bulk purchases of high-quality French…
From Wedding Cake to Music Garden
The neglected story of Toronto’s public art revolution. October 2010Dangerous Liaisons
Strathcona Park. They did so with an ulterior purDangerous Liaisons Revealing the hidden history of anti-gay security measures in Canada. June 2010
The year 1961 marked the launch of the Massey lectures. “Each year,” ran the official announcement, “the CBC will invite a noted scholar to undertake study or original research in his field and present the results in a series of half-hour radio broadcasts.” Naming the series in Vincent Massey’s honour was not just an acknowledgement of his public…
The Young Englishman
A new exploration history links the careers of Champlain and Hudson. November 2007Behind Brocade Curtains
A new biography explores John A. Macdonald’s domestic world. January–February 2007
When James Boswell first arrived in London, at the age of 20, it was impossible for him to hide his unease about his national origins. On meeting Dr. Johnson he announced, “I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it.” Johnson showed no surprise: “That, Sir,” he responded, “I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help.”
Modern Scots are rarely so sheepish about their…