Let's indulge in some counterfactuality.

Recently I was doing some house-sitting in Kitsilano, which gave me a chance to visit some of that neighbourhood's historic sights, one of which is here

on the beach at the bottom of Trafalgar Street, looking across English Bay at the West End.

As you can see, there isn't much there. Now. But at one time the Canadian...

This past weekend was the centenary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and I found myself getting irritated at the number of times I heard the old cliche that Canada was born at Vimy.

Much of the journalistic and academic commentary I read about the centennial made the point that this was not true, but nonetheless the generals and the politicians repeated it like a mantra. "Canada was born here," our prime minister said in his speech at the Vimy monument in France.

In their new book...

Next Tuesday, March 28, I am giving a talk about prohibition, sponsored by the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. Details are here.

You'll note that the event takes place at Hycroft, a fabulous mansion completed in 1911...

I recently prepared a short entry for the Canadian Encyclopedia about the Last Spike and I realized once again how important a single nine-day stretch in November 1885 was in the history of the country.

As you know, the Last Spike marked the conclusion of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The company held a modest ceremony at Eagle Pass not far from Revelstoke in the British...

The Vancouver Park Board has voted to stop displaying live cetaceans at the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park, a real turning point in the history of the city.

Cetaceans have been part of the Aquarium...