The Day Canada Learned to Argue Together - December 1, 1867

On December 1, 1867, Canada's first Parliament opened in Ottawa, but this wasn't a celebration of unity. It was an experiment in whether people who deeply disagreed could learn to govern together. Richard Backus explores how the parliamentary system was deliberately designed to contain differences without eliminating them and why that choice remains profoundly relevant today. When democracy feels broken, the lessons from that first Parliament matter more than ever. This is about more than Canadian history; it's about whether diverse democracies can actually function.