Political science doctoral student published in American Review of Canadian Studies

Congratulations to SFU Political Science PhD student Timothy van den Brink who recently had his article, COVID-19 in Canada through the Eyes of Right-Wing Intellectuals, published in the American Review of Canadian Studies.

The focus of van den Brink and his co-author Professor Frédéric Boily was to look at right-wing ideology in Canada, and specifically to compare intellectuals in Quebec to those in the rest of Canada. Has the COVID-19 pandemic brought about more of convergence or distance between the two?

The pandemic also provided the authors with a uniform subject through which to examine this question. They looked at two right-wing Anglophone newspapers, The National Post and the Calgary Herald, and the Journal de Montréal, a Francophone newspaper, through which intellectuals like Conrad Black, Rex Murphy, Mathieu Bock-Côté, Denise Bombardier, and others shared their views. For 50 days during the pandemic (March 13­–May 1, 2020), they examined 175 articles by these columnists from these newspapers. Their analysis focused on depictions of political actors and themes of nationalism and globalization.

In brief, they found clear nationalistic and anti-globalization positions from both linguistic groups. However, the Anglophone intellectuals focused largely on economic protectionism, while the Quebecois trio focused largely on political and cultural sovereignty.

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About Timothy van den Brink

Timothy van den Brink completed his BA and MA at the University of Alberta (Faculté Saint-Jean). He is currently working on his PhD under the supervision of Professor Rémi Léger.

“My work continues to study the ideologies of Canadian actors and intellectuals,” says van den Brink. “However, I have shifted to a focus on language policy. I feel that language policy in Canada is a near limitless vehicle for political actors to advance their visions of the Canadian identity and nation. As I continue this work, I hope to become more involved with the French Cohort Program. I think what they are doing is very valuable and I would love to be a part of it.” 

If you would like to learn more about Timothy van den Brink’s research, you can email him: tsv1@sfu.ca