What Appeared to Be a Post-Confederation Political Culture Had Been Moulded in the Pre-1867 Colonial Period

The need for a fresh look at the origins of Canadian politics struck me with some force as I examined, over the last five years or so, the papers of John A. Macdonald, Wilfrid Laurier, and their cabinet colleagues of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As I read the views and came to understand the assumptions and beliefs of these post-Confederation Canadian politicians on such matters as patronage deployment, the role of the prime minister, party leadership, and the nature of government power, I became convinced that what appeared to be a post-Confederation political culture had been largely moulded in the pre-1867 colonial period of Canadian history.

--Gordon T. Stewart, preface to The Origins of Canadian Politics: A Comparative Approach (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1986), vii.