An election in Montreal in 1832 turns bloody and serves as our entry point into understanding the divisive politics of Lower Canada in the years before the rebellions. We make sense of the the rising Patriotes movement, the nature of government and the constitution, and the legacy of the Conquest of New France and the American Revolution.

Why did George-Etienne Cartier, one of the Fathers of Confederation, once fight a duel to insist he had once fought against Canada? This question, and a whole lot more, will be answered in the new podcast 1867 & All That. (Full length episodes starting 15 January 2020).