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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Canadian Politics: Riding by Riding, August 4, 2003
Tony Hill's Canadian Politics: Riding by Riding is a travel book, a demographic study and a recent political history of Canada all in one. After extensive travels through Canada, the result is a unique perspective explaining not only broad cultural, historical, and social changes but specifics- car factory locations in Quebec, apple valleys in Nova Scotia, deserts in British Columbia, the Tomato Capital of Canada, and the Polar Bear Capital of the World, etc. Often he provides personal ancedotes or very wry observations which spice up the prose.The demographic information is important as possibly no other democratic country has been more affected by immigration over the past generation as has Canada. Riding by Riding identifies Chinese, South Asian (Indian and Pakistani), Chinese, French, British,Scandinavian, and other enclaves within country. An up-to-date political history of each province is in the book's front and the introduction contains a more comprehensive 25-year history of the five federal political parties. Most helpful is the What Is Politics? section: a readible primer of Canadian political terms and fundemental political differences between Canada and the United States. But the real political history is contained with each riding description. For example, the Mount Royal riding contains a brief description of its longtime MP, Pierre Trudeau. However, sometimes the history is in an unexpected place. A discussion of the 1983 Progressive Conservative leadership review convention which ultimately led to the Prime Ministership of Brian Mulroney is in the Winnipeg Centre section as this was the actual location of the convention. By going through the country, riding by riding, we learn about the country's movers and shakers as well as the backbenchers and we learn about how national electorial sweeps in 1984 and 1993 went through the political landscape like a tsunami. Mr. Hill's conclusion: Canadians tend to vote governments out, rather than vote governments in. As a result, he is very cautious in predicting future elections or events. In all, Canadian Politics: Riding by Riding takes its subject and peels away its many layers. Mr. Hill appreciates Canada's complexities and writes about them with affection and understanding. He is one American too knowledgable to be interviewed on "Talking to Americans".
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