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Jamie Bradburn

Jamie Bradburn

Jamie Bradburn is a Toronto-based writer/researcher specializing in historical and contemporary civic matters. 

Follow @jbcurio

All articles

Harriet Tubman

Why Harriet Tubman made St. Catharines her home

Published On: Feb 14, 2019

For most of the decade prior to the Civil War, the American abolitionist made southern Ontario her home base — and helped other escaped slaves do the same.

an archival ad for education grants titled "Run, don't walk"

“It stinks”: How Ontario students greeted the introduction of OSAP

Published On: Jan 24, 2019

In 1966, the government unveiled what would become the Ontario Student Assistance Program. It didn’t take long for the protests to begin.

Ontario Place cinesphere theatre in Toronto

How the Cinesphere stole the show at Ontario Place

Published On: Jan 21, 2019

As the world’s first permanent IMAX theatre, the Cinesphere has an important place in film history — but when it opened, it was the future of cinema

an archival photo of Loblaws grocers

How a radical idea turned Loblaws into a supermarket empire

Published On: Jan 15, 2019

In 1919, the concept of plucking your own products from grocery-store shelves was pretty out-there. But an Ontario man named Theodore Pringle Loblaw saw promise in it.

black and white of a Simpsons ad

Why Boxing Day shopping in Ontario used to be a really big deal

Published On: Dec 27, 2018

From the mid-1970s until the mid-1990s, it was against the law for Ontario stores to open on December 26. In one city, it still is.

video graphic

What do you get when you match a Maple Leafs legend with an overweight goose? A Christmas smash hit

Published On: Dec 24, 2018

In 1965, goaltender Johnny Bower recorded “Honky the Christmas Goose” — and challenged the Beatles for record sales.

a black and white Simpson's Christmas ad

Contract Claus: What mid-century Toronto retailers looked for in a Santa

Published On: Dec 21, 2018

All jobs have special qualifications — and Santa is no different. So what gave some candidates the edge?

a newspaper article from 1976

The “lady Santa” controversy of 1979

Published On: Dec 20, 2018

Many shoppers at Scarborough’s Morningside Mall were shocked to discover that its Santa was a woman. And many Ontarians were appalled when she was fired.

Eaton's window display

Walking in a window wonderland: A brief history of Toronto’s department-store Christmas displays

Published On: Dec 18, 2018

How bejewelled French hens and melting Santa heads became part of the city’s holiday lore.

an aerial view of the Oshawa GM plant

How Oshawa became Canada’s Motor City

Published On: Nov 29, 2018

General Motors has announced that it will close its plant in the city — marking the end of an era that goes back almost 150 years.

victory bond poster

Doing their bit: How Ontarians bought up Victory Bonds for town pride — and to help win the war

Published On: Nov 09, 2018

After Canada entered the First World War, small towns and big cities across Ontario stepped up — thanks in no small part to government propaganda.

Newspaper headline

How Ontarians celebrated the end of the Great War in London, Paris, and (the city formerly known as) Berlin

Published On: Nov 07, 2018

Street parties broke out. Effigies of the kaiser were burned. But in Kitchener, the celebrations had a darker side.

Oastler Lake Provincial Park.

The great Ontarian postwar parks boom

Published On: Jul 20, 2018

Provincial parks came into being 125 years ago — but they really hit their stride after the Second World War, when Ontarians went wild for the wilderness.

a statue of James Pliny Whitney, Ontario's 6th premier

How to celebrate a new premier like it’s 1905

Published On: Jun 29, 2018

The day James Pliny Whitney took the oath of office, his delighted Tory supporters took to the streets.

former Ontario premier Mike Harris with his then-wife Janet

In the mood for cuts: How the ‘Common Sense Revolution’ swept Ontario in 1995

Published On: Jun 06, 2018

Furious with the NDP and unimpressed with the Liberals, voters elected Mike Harris’s tax-cutting, government-shrinking Progressive Conservatives.

Mike Harris, Bob Rae and David Peterson during the 1990 Ontario election

Orange shockwave: How Ontario got its first-ever NDP government

Published On: May 31, 2018

The party’s unexpected 1990 election victory stunned everyone — including leader Bob Rae.

Former premier David Peterson with Robert Nixon

The year the Tories’ ‘Big Blue Machine’ came sputtering to a stop

Published On: May 24, 2018

After 42 years in power, the Progressive Conservatives found themselves on the ropes in the bitterly contested election campaign of 1985.

an archival election ad featuring a male candidate

How the 1943 election kicked off the longest political dynasty in Ontario history

Published On: May 16, 2018

The Liberals crumbled, the CCF drew fire, and the Conservatives won power — and wouldn’t be forced to give it up for another 42 years.

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