Irish Canadian political machines? (rated, cities, location)

[Suesbal]

In the United States, Irish Americans controlled the political machines of several big cities and even states. Did Irish Canadians ever dominate politics of cities or provinces?

[porterjack]

Brian Mulroney knows the words to when Irish eyes are smiling

[Zoisite]

Except for St John's in Newfoundland and the rest of Newfoundland in general, no, I don't think so anywhere else in Canada, at least not as an ethnic group. Maybe some Irish individuals have done so or may do so now in other cities/provinces but it would be just temporarily like everyone else, not for long. There's really not a lot of folks of Irish descent in Canada the way there are so many in USA and Australia and they're rather scattered about, not concentrated in any particular location - except N.L. of course.

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[Acajack]

Originally Posted by porterjack

Brian Mulroney knows the words to when Irish eyes are smiling

Yes he did, though his political power structure was not particularly Irish.

[Acajack]

I think there may have been Irish political machines in cities like Montreal and Toronto (and even Ottawa) a century ago, but they never controlled those cities.

These groups quickly died out as the Irish mostly merged with the rest of the population that had origins in the British Isles (and even to some degree, French Canadians).

[porterjack]

there was the put down of an Irish led (Fenian revolt), the opposite of what you ask
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_raids

[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by porterjack

there was the put down of an Irish led (Fenian revolt), the opposite of what you ask
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_raids

Probably the most significant thing about all of that was that those repeated invasive incursions into Canada were what finally led to Canadian Confederation when all the provinces united to face the threat of the Fenian invasions coming from USA.

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