John Ralston Saul digs parliament

John Ralston Saul, one of the few people in Canada to take 1848 and the achievement of responsible government as a vital moment in Canadian history, scores another coup. The Montreal parliament building in which several of the vital decisions leading into and out of that event were made is going to be excavated and commemorated.

“I think it’s about time,” he said in an interview yesterday. “All the best things about Canada were formalized first in that Parliament building. This is where Canada became a democracy.”

In a sidebar in the print edition story, Desmond Morton seems caught off guard by the press's interest. "They practised early versions of responsible government," he ventures.  How many versions were there?

Image: "The Burning of the Parliament Building, 1849" is attributed to Joseph Legaré.