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Montopedia blogs of 2021
on History and other topics
(excluding electoral reform -- for list of electoral reform blogs see another blog.)
Sandy Lake - the geographical centre of Canada
What is the geographical centre of Canada?
Whitford, Alberta
"Meet Kaden and Kaylee, students who are researching a forgotten piece of history. Andrew is a town one hour northeast of Edmonton. The town is named after a prominent Métis settler named Andrew Whitford. However, over time, the town’s Métis roots have been forgotten and most people know Andrew for having the world’s largest mallard and being home to many Ukrainian homesteaders.
"Labour must assist in keeping the economics of the country on an even keel", states Mayor Ainlay
Mayor Ainlay I wish to congratulate the labour unions in again issuing the Labour Annual. It is especially valuable at this time that labour take stock and survey in detail the position of labour in a changing world.
Rat Creek Rebellion spawned Edmonton Police Service
There were not many homestead registration offices across western Canada and a community possessing one became a focus of business activity. That is why Edmonton objected to losing its land office office in 1892. The resulting social unrest produced the founding of the Edmonton police force -- but not in the way you might think
Confederation - the merging of the remaining still-loyal British North America colonies
Canada became a country, the Dominion of Canada, in 1867.
Andrew Lake named after UofA geologist John Andrew Allan
This place in Alberta is named from the first name of a famous Albertan, one of a handful of place named that way.
Here is info about the man
The 1885 Resistance
The NWT, a HBC-dominated area, was granted to Canada in 1870, when the HBC gave up its royal charter. That was when the present-day provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan and the present NWT became part of Canada
Saskatchewan River was a highway in the old days of low-energy usage
Travel especially for moving freight, was done by river and water as much as possible in the olden-days when self-propelled vehicles had not yet been invented. But note that this was the case until little more than two hundred years ago.
Alberta Eugenics -- Blame for forced sterilizations goes on Aberhart and Manning
Alberta's forced eugenic-inspired sterilizations are a blot on Alberta,s history. Premiers William Aberhart and Ernest Manning should be blamed for them
Daniel Boissevain -- a Red Lodge hero
Daniel Boissevain hailed from a wealthy Dutch family, but gave up that lifestyle when he saw the unfairness of luxurious living while others lived in poverty.
Capital gains given easy ride, compared to salaries and wages
Note that
"In Canada, 50% of the value of any capital gains are taxable. Should you sell the investments at a higher price than you paid (realized capital gain) — you'll need to add 50% of the capital gain to your income" (from Wealthsimple online)
Thus, people earning their money through wages or salaries have all their income taxable, but those who make a windfall through sale of capital, such as a second home, only pay tax on half that income.
William Wallace - an Alberta thinker and country scribbler
William Wallace (1862-1942) During his time in Alberta William Wallace was a school teacher and a local official. He may be most noteworthy for the extensive political writings he produced during the last years of his life.
William Wallace on electoral reform (1927)
William Wallace was a British scientist who came to Alberta in 1907 for health reasons - back when Alberta was a sort of health spa - who took up school teaching north of Edmonton.
He spent much time pondering social issues and scribbled his thoughts and sent them to government official in Edmonton. They are preserved at the Provincial Archives.
"To meet efficiently the political requirements of the day, the political system of a country demands a dual system of electoral organization - in Neighbourhood groups and Occupational groups, simultaneously
Parkland County's Geography - west of Edmonton
Parkland County stretches from Range 8 West of the Fifth Meridian to 25th Range West of the 4th Meridan, and from Township 50 to 55th, from the west boundary of St. Albert west to the Pembina River.
I love all the place names within the County
Manitoba and Northwest Farmers’ Union took on the HBC, the Canadian gov't (1883-85)
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"Farmers continue to hold meetings and form unions for their protection. A convention to be held at Winnipeg on 15th." (Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 8, 1883)
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In March 1883, the Qu'Appelle Settlers' Rights Association passed resolutions calling for parliamentary representation, land law reform, proper legislation for settlers and government assistance for immigrants.
Scona Garage/Keg Building in Old Strathcona
The Scona Garage/Keg Building has survived almost a 110 years. But old Otto Edinger built it well back then. And now with Beljan re-developing the building, it should be good for another long period of time.
Otto Edinger and son Albert built the Scona Garage in 1912. Housing was in short supply as thousands flooded into the city during those boom years.
22 apartments were built upstairs. Woodwork and skylights and other attractive elements made them into classy rental units.
A Race against Winter -- The Hectic Building of Edmonton House, 1795
Updated: May 5
This blog fits the hectic building of the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Fort Saskatchewan in autumn 1795. Like the "Bay men"'s construction that critical autumn, this blog is quick and dirty.
Forts of Edmonton - the story of the five Edmonton House's
Updated: Apr 15
Many people have expressed an interest to me in the presence of old fur-trading posts in Edmonton.
Fort-des-Prairies
Wikipedia has this to say:
Fort Edmonton was called Fort-des-Prairies, by French-Canadian trappers and coureurs des bois. (source unknown)
Morice in his book Dictionaire historique places the lower [upper?] Fort des Prairies near the present day of Edmonton. This is according to a footnote in an interesting book entitled Five Fur Traders of the Northwest, published by University of Minnesota Press. This is a compilation of reprinting of old diaries and journals kept by five explorer/ fur traders - Peter Pond, John Macdonell, Archibald N. McLeod, Hugh Faries, and Thomas Connor (available for reading on Peel's Prairie Province website
Alberta Farmers, government loans and Social Credit
Updated: Apr 25
1904 Federal election - Strathcona federal riding --
Colonel Gregory ran under the auspices of the Lacombe-based Farmers Association of Alberta. He spoke in favour of nationalization of the railways, protection for farmers and government loans to farmers. (Edmonton Bulletin, July 29, 1904)
Government loans, loans offered at lower interest rates than the private banks were demanding, was a major demand of farmers in those days when capital investment in pioneer farms was necessary.
Talbot -- Strathcona's first MP 1904
1904 November 3
General election results – Strathcona
Peter Talbot Liberal 3863
Orlando Bush Conservative 1878
Colonel John H. Gregory Independent 13
Colonel Gregory, identified on the ballot as Independent, ran under the auspices of the Lacombe-based Farmers Association of Alberta. He spoke in favour of nationalization of the railways, protection for farmers and government loans to farmers. (Edmonton Bulletin, July 29, Nov. 18, 1904)
... government loan
Alwyn Bramley-Moore and other MLAs were part of a fact-finding commission on the issue. They reported that there was great need for the kind of low-interest loans that had been brought into use in New Zealand. New Zealand is now admired for its fair electoral system of proportional representation, but since the early 1900s it has been admired for its public services and its "gas-and-water" socialism - municipal ownership of services where required, but with no great Marxist ideological principle.
Rutherford, not McIntyre, Strathcona's "first elected representative"
Updated: Apr 24
Unlike what some people appear to think, Strathconians - and Albertans in a wider sense - had elections before Alberta became a province
[A.C. Rutherford was “Strathcona’s first elected representative in the new Province of Alberta", not McIntyre.]
COVID = Opportunity for Disaster Capitalism
Naomi Klein's book The Shock Doctrine The Rise of Disaster Capitalism talks about how corporations benefit from disasters, getting government funds to address widespread destruction, and then how they use their workers and lobbyists and machines to address the disaster but also to disrupt local social ties, local government power and gain great profit and to gain power which they then use to extract profits both in the short and long terms.
We see something of this today caused by COVID
Brenda Bellingham’s novel Storm Child shows Fort Edmonton (March 20, 2021)
Alberta author Brenda Bellingham her novel Storm Child
Alberta sales tax - a gift to the rich
Recently I was involved in a discussion on how proportional representation would put a small party in control behind the scenes and how if such a small party wanted it could force in a provincial sales tax.
I responded thusly:
Much as I want to see the Alberta government address its problems in new ways and I believe PR would help it do that, I would not be in favour of PR if it actually meant that 10 to 20 percent of the people who want a provincial sales tax would be in the driver's seat
Property Transfer Tax
Updated: Mar 20
One way suggested in the most recent issue of the Alberta Views (April 2021) to increase government revenue of the Alberta government is to bring in a ...
Property Transfer Tax.
This would be a tax paid by the buyer when a property changes hands, based on market value as assessed. ...
"Ancient Song", poem from 1912 - or older?
Here's the start of an old poem with a MESSAGE!
No, Don't be scared..
Capitalism and command economics in computer game Civilization
I know it is just a game but still...
in Sid Meier's Civilizations computer game (and possibly the board game of same name too for all I know)
if you switch to capitalism, you increase the profitability of the economy. The government makes more money.
But if capitalism is so good, how come the player exerts control of his or her civilization through command economics
Two fables of social justice
Updated: Mar 12
“The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe. For the axe was clever & convinced the trees that because his handle was wood, he was one of them”
--- West Asian Fable
Old Strathcona Railway station to be more hidden
Updated: Mar 19
"Proposal to add a seven-storey, 125-unit residential building south of the historic CP Rail Station on Gateway Boulevard (now MKT Market) and a three-storey sea-can market to the north. Beljan Development, which owns the land, including the station building, also wants to lease the adjacent city park ...
Pro-Rep and Alberta Sales Tax
Updated: Mar 21
Those who think a minority government may be pushed to bring in a sales tax in Alberta - and applaud such a development - have probably not considered the full ramifications. ...
Politics does not produce cut and dried rules
There are rules and then there are rules.
There has been much written about respect for authority in Canada and sometimes it is in the shape of comparison between this country and the U.S.
My view is that here is more trust between government and the people in Canada than in the States.
But at the same time that has be to be juxtaposed with these phenomena ...
Soft approach is best said Nellie McClung of the WCTU
Updated: Mar 23, 2021
As wisdom passed on from one generation to another, we can learn from what Nellie McClung wrote in her autobiography The Stream Runs Fast.
One anecdote concerns what Nellie herself learned from Louise McKinney ...
Capital protected - labour is not 1883 The Edmonton newspaper noted that The Hamilton Spectator, a protectionist journal, stated that capital and labour were identical, capital being merely stored up labour. The Edmonton Bulletin (likely Frank Oliver, the proprietor of the newspaper) said the Hamilton paper should have gone on and explained why it is that capital is protected from outside competition by the National Policy of protectionism while Canada's labour is not.
-- Edmonton Bulletin, Jan. 27 1883
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