Mark Steyn and I

Three years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting author Mark Steyn in Toronto. He was promoting America Alone at the time. We had a nice chat about trains (he's a railfan, by the way) and I gave him a copy of Steam Scenes of Allandale.

Although we write books in different fields, Mark and I share common ground. We both swim against the stream in many ways. Back in 1997, I began writing my series of hardcover volumes documenting the twilight of the railway steam era in Ontario. One big reason I undertook that task was that no one else was doing it! I had an interest in visiting the day-to-day world of steam locomotives, steamships and industries powered by steam. The nuts-and-bolts environment of machinery that fascinated boys young and old. I noticed right off the bat that, for the most part, local museums and archives had no interest in these matters.

I knew that I was doing the right thing with Steam at Allandale, my first book project, after a memorable visit to the Penetang Centennial Museum. The young girl curator at the time, barely out of college, had no clue that the town had even had a railway line! I had to educate this person, who was otherwise fully engaged in some sort of fundraising bakesale, about the recent history of the town. That, and countless other interactions with dumbfounded local library, archive and museum staff across the province, convinced me that I had a role to play which would not be fulfilled by those working on behalf of the taxpayer.

Pity. I hope things are changing, but I won't bet on it for awhile (don't believe me? My efforts are nearest to the "Emerging Publishers" category for Canada Council grants. Quebec has 23% of Canada's population, but received 57% of the money in 2009, the most recent year on file. And check out this feminist winner which received 7% of the grant money and this one which gobbled up 6%).

Anyhow, to Mark Steyn, the subject of this picture. The other day on our Classic Books for Boys blog, I spoke about the refreshing experience of the Royal Tour, and how it makes me believe that the Canada of my youth is back. Mark and I are not among those who drink the bathwater of the institutional elite, believing that the history of Canada's institutions begins with Trudeau's French code law-inspired Charter of Rights and "Freedoms" (emphasis mine). Nor do we assert that our legal traditions begin in 1867. Nope, they go way back, about 800 years, and Mark nails that point with his piece entitled The Fool at the Hill.