Journalism professor Randy Boswell has edited another collection of essays for Canadian Issues/Thèmes Canadiens, the history-themed flagship publication of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies.
The latest issue of CI/TC, titled “The Uneasy State of Canada-U.S. Relations,” features essays on the hot topic from a host of distinguished contributors, including University of Waterloo historian John English, McGill University political scientist Debra Thompson and Canada-U.S. relations specialist Colin Robertson, a former high-ranking Canadian diplomat.
A highlight of the collection is a satirical essay by Carleton adjunct journalism professor Andrew Cohen, author of several books about Canadian and American political history. The former Washington correspondent for the Globe and Mail advances a modest proposal in the article titled “An Appeal to Donald Trump: Join Canada!”
The other contributors are University of Toronto international affairs expert Janice Stein, who shared her thoughts on the crisis in Canada-U.S. relations in an interview with Boswell; Edward Greenspon, co-chair of Deloitte’s Future of Canada Centre, former president of the Public Policy Forum and former editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail; Association for Canadian Studies and Metropolis Institute president Jack Jedwab; and former U.S. diplomat David Rovinsky, secretary of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States.
In his introductory essay, “Trying to Make Sense of a Disorienting Moment in the History of Canada-U.S. Relations,” Boswell reflected on the stark contrast between the current state of tension along the border and the memorable “shoulder to shoulder” posture struck by the two countries in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks of 2001.
“Now, here in early 2025, a dark cloud of animosity hangs over the 49th parallel. Hockey metaphors abound – “we won’t back down from a fight” – American-made produce is shunned at grocery stores and snowbirds in record numbers didn’t flock to Florida, while others flew home early,” Boswell writes. “There is widespread agreement, despite the bump in national pride, that this is not good. And there is widespread dismay that the U.S president could so quickly transform Canada’s longstanding friendship with the U.S. (despite occasional differences) into a state of suspicion and even fear.”
Randy Boswell
Boswell, who developed a unique “history-news” beat as a senior national reporter with Postmedia News before joining Carleton’s journalism faculty full-time in 2012, has edited more than a dozen other Canadian Issues essay collections since then. The publications have included deep dives by high-profile contributors on topics such as Canada’s immigration history, the challenge of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and competing approaches to the remembrance of war.
The latest edition of Canadian Issues was formally launched July 3 with an online panel discussion moderated by Boswell and featuring contributors Stein, Greenspon and Jedwab, as well as Carlo Dade, director of International Policy in the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary.
Sunday, July 20, 2025 in Faculty In The News, Journalism News, News
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