Ninety minutes into their first encounter at 24 Sussex Drive on Nov. 25, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien interrupted University of Montreal professor Stéphane Dion's scholarly discourse on how to keep Quebec within Canada to make a startling offer.

Gary Shapiro describes the idea as a "poison pill," a kind of desperate last resort to avert a looming national tragedy. Anthony Housefather considers it a "safety blanket to guarantee that we are all going to remain Canadian.

The modernistic landscape that has sprouted over London's once-derelict Docklands since the 1980s is the kind of target the Irish Republican Army loved to hit. Its centrepiece is Canary Wharf, the sometimes-maligned 52-storey office tower that is the tallest building in Britain.

It is the morning after his convincing win in Newfoundland's general election and, at first, Brian Tobin insists that he is too tired to speak at length to a battery of journalists who have questions about his plans for the province.

The local undertakers were standing by ready to claim the body. And Stanley Faulder’s grave had already been dug in a cemetery filled with unmarked crosses and plain white headstones in an unfenced field in Huntsville, Tex. On Thursday, the day the 61-year-old auto mechanic from Jasper, Alta.

When it comes to money's place in politics, Canadians are strangely sanguine by international standards.

The body count keeps rising, as it has on an almost daily basis since the second Palestinian intifada began on Sept. 28, 2000.

The beauty of a referendum is that no matter how complex or inappropriate the question, the answer can only be Yes or No. Except, apparently, in British Columbia, where Up Yours is also gaining a measure of popularity.

The two sides are standing, in a more or less orderly fashion, behind the metal barricades. A supporter of Israel steps up on the railing and slowly waves his arm, middle finger extended, back and forth in the air. "Long live Palestine!" a young man shouts in response.

It began as a mini-war against a specific target with a limited goal: securing Israel's northern border from Hizbollah's Katyusha rocket attacks, and doing it quickly - in time to influence the May 29 Israeli election in favor of Prime Minister Shimon Peres and his ailing peace process.

No one doubts the sincerity of Jean Chrétien's unabashed, if sometimes hokey, expressions of love for Canada. His years as prime minister may best be remembered for ending the spiral of deficit spending by federal governments, but Chrétien has always envisaged leaving a less actuarial legacy.

Heather Ormerod is working hard to keep Canadian Yachting afloat. And so far, says the magazine's energetic young editor, it is sailing along beautifully. The 22-year-old, Mississauga, Ont.-based publication is one of Canada's 10 fastest-growing magazines.

Headed by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Elections Canada is the non-partisan agency responsible for the conduct of federal ELECTIONS and REFERENDUMS.

Corporatism was originally a 19th-century doctrine which arose in reaction to the competition and class conflict of capitalist society.

Social democracy, historically, is a term that has been used by individuals on both the far and moderate left to describe their beliefs, but in recent years the latter have embraced the term almost exclusively (indeed radical left-wing critics often use the term disparagingly).

They were dancing in the streets of Pakistan last week. People handed out candies, set off fireworks and fired guns into the air. A newspaper, The Nation, bannered the reason on its front page: "Islamic bomb has finally landed.

Political Participation may describe any voluntary act to influence elections or public policy (seePRESSURE GROUP).

The search for survivors in Nairobi was long and gruelling. It went on for 24 hours a day, lit at night by lights from a film studio truck and using heavy equipment donated by local construction companies. Officially, it ended on Aug.

It matters not what color the cat, Deng Xiaoping famously observed, it matters only whether it catches mice.

In the spring of 1996, Glen CLARK was British Columbia's golden boy, a 38-year-old street-smart politician from Vancouver's scrappy east end who led the New Democratic Party to a stunning victory. He cast himself as a feisty populist and promised jobs and megaprojects.

By her own admission, Susan Whelan was not the logical choice to be Canada's top social worker to the world. A small-business lawyer and daughter of former agriculture minister Eugene Whelan, the MP for Essex, near Windsor, Ont.

Transfer payments are direct payments from governments to other governments or to individuals, a mechanism for providing social security, income support and for alleviating regional disparities.

Jim Green, long-time champion of Vancouver's downtrodden, was yakking on his cellphone last week, trying to make sense of the Nov. 16 city election that swept him, and the entire left-leaning Coalition of Progressive Electors slate, into office, when he was greeted by a panhandling constituent.

Bouliane has received numerous awards, including the PRO Canada prize for Climats (1980). He was the recipient of the 1980 Robert Fleming Award, and in 1982 his work Jeux de Société won the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Composers and the Gaudeamus Foundation Competition in Holland.

Political culture refers to the collective opinions, attitudes and values of individuals about POLITICS. There are 2 traditional approaches to the study of political culture. The "individualistic" approach examines the values and attitudes of individuals, frequently through the use of surveys.