03 June 2013

Funny Money and Legal Tender



Colby Cosh is right, I should really be paying attention to last week's court ruling about the Conservative Party database being used in voter suppression. It's just that the mass of Mike Duffy has so much pull. The fall of "Old Duff" – a term of endearment I've heard from his mouth but no other – mixes Leacockian whimsy with black humour and conspiracy worthy of a Richard Condon novel. Each day a new chapter.


Given all the excitement, our overtaxed journalists can be forgiven for having paid so little attention to the Bank of Canada's attempt to suppress the image above. The work of cartoonist Dan Murphy, I thought it silly fun, until I read this email he received from a bank employee:

(cliquez pour agrandir)
Good morning to you, too!

I dare say that Ms Jenkins' claim would not stand up in court. But don't take my word for it, look instead to Ariel Katz of the University of Toronto's School of Law.

There's not much I can add to Prof Katz's observation, except to say that Senior Analyst Jenkins is not so senior that she can remember 2006, when Ralph Bucks began appearing on the streets of Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer.


The Alberta currency was just another example of a Canadian tradition that stretches back at least half a century.



If Ms Jenkins is correct, even the old Progressive Conservative Party ran afoul of the law.



My favourite of all these faux bills is that 80¢ True Dough. I grabbed the image "Copyright: Unknown" from the Library and Archives Canada website. Ms Jenkins may wish to send them a letter. Better yet, why not visit? The LAC is just across the street from the Bank of Canada, located conveniently next to the Supreme Court.


29 May 2013

A Man, a Plan, a Dam – Labrador!



Fermez la porte, on gèle
René Carrier
Westmount, QC: Desclez, 1981

This review now appears, revised and rewritten, in my new book:
The Dusty Bookcase:
A Journey Through Canada's
Forgotten, Neglected, and Suppressed Writing
Available at the very best bookstores and through

Related posts:

27 May 2013

Selling From a Sea She'll Only Drag You Down


From a Seaside Town
Norman Levine
London: Macmillan, 1970
Challenge: Draw attention to a neglected, critically acclaimed novel by a neglected, critically acclaimed writer.

Solution: Title change. Bare breasts. 

Don Mills, ON: Paperjacks, 1975
Did it work? The copy pictured above is the only one I've ever come across. 

Subsequent editions – much more common – follow Macmillan's example.

Ottawa: Deneau & Greenberg, 1980
Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1993

The alternate title explained:


24 May 2013

The Year of Grade School Readers, Cute Kittens and Dead Anglos Hanging in the Streets of Montreal



That would be 1968, the very same year in which Canadian Notes & Queries made its debut. It was my honour to become the first contributor to 'CNQ Timeline', a new feature in which writers reflect on a specific year in Canadian literature.

Nineteen-sixty-eight just happens to be the year in which I learned to read. This was my first book:


Surprises and Mr. Whiskers, its sequel, seem of a different world. This illustration captures Jack, the protagonist, travelling in the family car without seatbelt!


But then 1968 was a different world, wasn't it. Those too young to remember should consider this headline from the Vancouver Sun:


That 'B.C. Mother of Three' would be Alice Munro, who took home the 1968 Governor General's Award for Dance of the Happy Shades, her first book. In the 'CNQ Timeline' piece I refer to that years's GGs as the most disastrous in the awards' history. I'll happily take on anyone who thinks otherwise.

Takers?

The first book I ever read from 1968 was Bruce Powe's Killing Gound. The cover to that edition, published in 1977 by PaperJacks...


...was much more tame than the original, pseudonymous Peter Martin Associates edition.


Not my 1968. Not the Canada I knew then. Not the Canada I know now.

I'm being polite here. My less than polite writing on Killing Ground can be found in magazine itself.

Subscriptions – a mere $20 – can be had here.

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