Browse Items (115 total)

  • Collection: Peter Desbarats's Collection

The Melting of a Nation: It's Really the Canadian Winter that Preserves Our National Identity.

London, Ontario

To Desbarats, snow and ice are the “national glues” of Canadians. He saw Canada’s acceptance of winter as occurring just as soon as other countries, mainly the US started to really enjoy and respect several aspects or symbols of…

At The Government Store: A Connoissuer's Guide to London's Liquor Outlets

London, Ontario

Desbarats discusses the different liquor store regulations he had encountered in Quebec and Manitoba. In Quebec, one had to commit their order to memory from a list on the wall and recite it to the clerk. In Manitoba, one had to…

Seeking Refuge In The Past: The Romanticism of Victorian Poets Offers Solace in a Troubled World

London, Ontario

In this article, Desbarats argues that humans are inherently romantic and that we have, to our detriment, ignored the value of Victorian poetry in a world consumed by computers and fear of nuclear fallout.

Our Own Third World Give us a Jolt

Desbarats recounts a journalism conference at Western’s Graduate School of Journalism, during which the issue of how well Canadian aboriginal news stories were covered was raised by Dan David, the first Canadian Indian journalist to work…

Gastronomic Roulette: Just Once You'd Like to Say, "Wow!" to a Resturant Meal in London

London, Ontario

Desbarats describes the quality of London’s restaurants as being somewhere between “the wasteland of Hamilton and the Valhalla of Toronto.” He admits there were a few, mainly ethnic, restaurants that he enjoyed: Anthony’s on…

The Last Angry Man: In the Beginning They Were Five, Including Progessor Trudeau. Now There is One, Rene Levesque, Preparing for that One Final Battle

Toronto, Ontario

The magazine article profiles politician Rene Levesque and his political legacy. He was seen by a younger, less radical, more conservative, generation as part of an “ancient regime” but he still had some political tenacity left at…

Why are we in Viet Nam? Well,… er…

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada had joined the International Commission of Control and Supervision in Vietnam. Desbarats attributed Canada’s decision to join to both a genuine belief that the country could help mediate a truce as well as Canada's belief…

Social Credit Scents Power in Quebec

Ottawa, Ontario

Many of the Quebecers that Desbarats spoke with during the lead-up to the Quebec provincial election, seemed to feel that the Social Credit Party would win the election. The organization of the party's campaign seemed to be…

Trudeau Takes a Crash Course in Politics

Vancouver, Bristish Columbia

As Desbarats explains, Trudeau’s rise to political power was extremely quick, therefore he did not have much political experience or a deep understanding of the way the Liberal party operated. Trudeau had since been…

Liberals Ready to Try Anything to Regain Power in the West

Vancouver, Bristish Columbia

The Liberal regional party conference in Vancouver was seen to potentially serve as a staring point for improved relations between the Liberal party and western Canada. Desbarats saw this as a risky move because it…