Tom Flanagan (political scientist)
Thomas Eugene Flanagan is an American-born political science professor at the University of Calgary, author, and conservative political activist. He also served as an advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper until 2004. Flanagan's scholarship has focused on Native and Metis rights in Western Canada, particularly on Louis Riel, leader of the 1885 North-West Rebellion.
Studies and Teaching
Studying political science under John Hallowell, Flanagan completed his graduate studies at Duke University, earning an M.A. in 1967 and a Ph.D. in 1970.
Flanagan has taught at the University of Calgary since 1968 and co-authored an introductory Canadian politics textbook.[1]
Research and Scholarship
Flanagan developed a theory that the Métis leader Louis Riel could be understood as a millenarian prophet, not just as a political figure. He translated and edited Riel’s diaries[2] and co-edited a volume of Riel’s youthful poetry which won the 1978 Prix Champlain.[3] He also published the book Louis ‘David’ Riel: ‘Prophet of the New World’, which won the Canadian Biography Award from the University of British Columbia.[4]
Flanagan later participated in the multi-year “Louis Riel Project,” collecting and publishing all of Riel’s writings, which has been dispersed among more than 40 archives in Canada and the United States. University of Alberta Press published the work in 1985 to commemorate the centennial of the North-West Rebellion.[5] In connection with this work, Flanagan also published a reinterpretation of the North-West Rebellion, highlighting how the government had responded to Métis land claims.[6]
Flanagan was retained by the federal Department of Justice in litigation over Métis claims in Manitoba. His 1991 book Metis Lands in Manitoba, which won the 1992 Margaret McDonald/McWilliams Medal, awarded by the Historical Society of Manitoba for the best book of the year on Manitoba history.[7]
Flanagan later published the controversial First Nations, Second Thoughts,[8] which critiqued the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. This book received the Donner Prize for the best book of the year on Canadian public policy in 2000, and the Donald Smiley Prize from the Canadian Political Science Association for the best book on Canadian government and politics.[9] In 2010, he published Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights, co-written with Christopher Alcantara and Andre Le Dressay. This book was a finalist for the Donner Prize.
Flanagan has written a book on property rights,[10] a book on game theory,[11] and another about conservative Canadian political parties.[12] His books on Preston Manning and the Reform Party, and Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party, were based on his experiences as The Political Adviser and campaign manager (discussed below).
In 1996, Flanagan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy II). The citation mentioned his contribution to the study of Louis Riel and the Métis, Western Canadian history, and Canadian political parties.
Witness
Flanagan has served as a witness for Alberta, Manitoba, and Canada in litigation involving native rights and land claims, providing testimony about the Numbered Treaties and the administration of federal programs for Métis and Indians in Western Canada.
The Blais decision,[13] as well as the later Manitoba Metis Federation case, upheld the efficacy of the nineteenth-century distribution of land and scrip in extinguishing Métis land rights in Manitoba.[14]
Benoit established that Treaty Eight did not grant immunity from taxation to Indians living off reserve.[15]
In Victor Buffalo, the Samson Cree band, located near Hobbema, Alberta, unsuccessfully challenged the federal government’s implementation of Treaty Six.[16]
Flanagan was also a witness for the University of Alberta in the Dickason’s case, in which the Supreme Court of Canada ultimately upheld the validity of mandatory retirement for university professors.[17]
Political Activism
Flanagan was the Reform Party of Canada's Director of Policy, Strategy, and Research for 1991. Flanagan resigned his position in 1993.[citation needed]
In 2001, Flanagan helped Harper seek the leadership of the Canadian Alliance. Flanagan managed Harper's leadership campaign, and Harper went on to win the Alliance leadership in March 2002. Flanagan then served for one year as chief of staff to Harper, who was then the Leader of the Opposition.
Flanagan returned to Calgary in 2003 but continued as Campaign Manager. Before the next election could take place, the Alliance merged in late 2003 with the Progressive Conservatives to form the new Conservative Party of Canada. Flanagan then managed Harper’s successful leadership race against Belinda Stronach and Tony Clement. After that was concluded, Flanagan organized and managed the Conservative national campaign for the general election of June 28, 2004. The Conservative Party lost that election but did succeed in bringing Paul Martin’s Liberals down to a minority government, which set the stage for future Conservative Victories.
As an offshoot of his political activism, Flanagan began to write as a columnist in 1997, publishing in media such as the Globe and Mail, National Post, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen, Maclean’s, and Time. He also appears as a panelist on Canadian TV and radio. While appearing on the CBC television program "Power & Politics", he called for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be killed. "I think Assange should be assassinated," Flanagan stated, before noting to host Evan Solomon, "I'm feeling pretty manly today." Flanagan subsequently retracted his call for the death of Assange while reiterating his opposition to WikiLeaks.[18] Dimitri Soudas, spokesman to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, decried Flanagan's comments and said the former Tory strategist "should be charged with incitement to commit murder." The call for prosecution was joined by both Assange and Vancouver attorney Gail Davidson, who filed a police complaint against Flanagan.[19] Ralph Goodale, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons, called Flanagan's remarks "clearly contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."[20] Flanagan is often described as a member of the “Calgary School,” which is a small group of conservatively inclined professors at the University of Calgary, including Barry Cooper, David Bercuson, F.L. (Ted) Morton, and Rainer Knopff.[21] He is also a Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute.
Controversy
In 2008, Flanagan was accused by Dona Cadman of offering her late husband, MP Chuck Cadman, a million-dollar life insurance policy (on behalf of the Conservative Party of Canada) in exchange for his vote against the Liberal budget in May 2005.[22] The Royal Canadian Mounted Police did not find evidence to support criminal charges.[23]
On November 30, 2010 in a comment to a Canadian television news anchor Evan Solomon of the CBC News Network on live TV, Tom Flanagan called for the assassination of Wikileaks director Julian Assange, suggesting that President Obama should put a contract out on Assange’s life or send out a drone to kill him. Although news anchor Solomon afforded Flanagan the opportunity to retract his statement, Flanagan stated that he was "feeling very manly" and continued to say that he would not be unhappy if Assange "disappeared."[24]
References
- ^ Mark O. Dickerson, Thomas Flanagan, and Brenda O’Neill, An Introduction to government and politics: A Conceptual Approach, 8th ed. (Toronto: Nelson, 2009).
- ^ Thomas Flanagan, ed., The Diaries of Louis Riel (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1976)
- ^ Gilles Martel, Glen Campbell, and Thomas Flanagan, eds., Louis Riel: Poésies de jeunesse (St. Boniface, MB: Les Editions du Blé, 1977).
- ^ Thomas Flanagan, Louis ‘David’ Riel: ‘Prophet of the New World’ (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979). Second edition, 1996.
- ^ G.F.G. Stanley et al., eds., The Collected Writings of Louis Riel/Les Ecrits complets de Louis Riel (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1985).
- ^ Thomas Flanagan, Riel and the Rebellion: 1885 Reconsidered (Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1983). Second edition, University of Toronto Press, 2000.
- ^ Thomas Flanagan, Metis Lands in Manitoba (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1991).
- ^ George Pierre Castile (2002), "First Nations, Second Thoughts", Ethnohistory: 875–877
- ^ Tom Flanagan, First Nations? Second Thoughts (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2000). Second edition 2008.
- ^ Anthony Parel and Thomas Flanagan, eds., Theories of Property: Aristotle to the Present (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1979).
- ^ Thomas Flanagan, Game Theory and Canadian Politics (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998).
- ^ Tom Flanagan, Waiting for the Wave: The Reform Party and Preston Manning (Toronto: Stoddart, 1995); second edition 2009. Tom Flanagan, Harper’s Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007); second edition 2009.
- ^ R. v. Blais, 2003 SCC 44, [2003] 2 S.C.R. 236.
- ^ Manitoba Metis Federation et al. v. Canada and Manitoba, 2007 MBQB 293.
- ^ Canada v. Benoit, 2003 CAF 236 (2003).
- ^ Buffalo v. Canada, 2001 CAF 282 (2001).
- ^ Dickason v. University of Alberta, [1992] 2 S.C.R. 1103.
- ^ "Flanagan regrets WikiLeaks assassination remark". CBC News. 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2010-12-06. [dead link]
- ^ Barber, Mike (December 5, 2010). "Charge ex-Harper aide for 'assassinate Julian Assange' comment: lawyer". The Gazette. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
- ^ O'Neill, Juliet (December 4, 2010). "WikiLeaks founder: U of C professor Flanagan's comments criminal". The Gazette. Ottawa. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
- ^ Frédéric Boily, ed., Stephen Harper: De l’Ecole de Calgary au Parti conservateur: les nouveaux visages du conservatisme canadien (Québéc: Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2007).
- ^ Gloria Galloway and Brian Laghi. "Tories tried to sway vote of dying MP, widow alleges". Toronto: The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-02-27. Cadman was receiving chemotherapy treatment for malignant melanoma (to which he later succumbed) at the time of the vote.
- ^ "No charges to be laid in Cadman Affair: RCMP". CBC News. 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ Nick Collins (2010-11-30). "Julian Assange should be assassinated, Canadian official. claims". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
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