Books reading recommendations A Brief Survey of Canadian Political Thrillers You may be surprised to learn that “Canadian thriller” is not an oxymoron. By James Davis Nicoll | Published on February 23, 2026 Photo by Rose Butler [via Unsplash] Comment 0 Share New Share Photo by Rose Butler [via Unsplash] Any natural-born American can grow up to be president (as long as they’re at least 35 years old and have been a resident of the country for at least 14 years). Canadians prefer the head of government to have expertise and the acumen to apply it1. Furthermore, they’re expected to speak both official languages fluently, rather than half of one, poorly. This greatly reduces the field. Flamboyance is often deprecated in favour of sober conventionality2. Even Justin Trudeau was convinced to wear shirts. (Eventually.) However, this does raise the question “Is it possible to write a Canadian political thriller?” Canadians being thoughtful, rational, good-looking, and modest to a fault, would authors be better off chucking the whole idea of a Canadian political thriller in favour of, oh, gloomy CanLit, quirky detective stories, wry slice-of-life comedy, and that old Canadian standby, passionate homoerotic sports fiction? As unlikely as it sounds, there is potential even in Canada for political thrillers. Don’t believe me? First, there’s always the potential for an external threat to upend the otherwise stable order. For example, in Arthur Hailey’s 1962 In High Places, that comes from a territorially aggressive US. In stark contrast, the plot of Richard Rohmer’s 1973’s Ultimatum was powered by the menace of an imperialist POTUS; the sequel Exxoneration studied the consequences of the inevitable failure of the invasion that followed. Determined to break new ground, Ian Adams’ The Trudeau Papers had Canada invaded by the nation to the immediate north of Mexico. From Americans to Yanks, from the US to the United States of America3, there is a bewilderingly long list of possible versions of external threat to choose from. Those who prefer their thrillers historical could consider the classic Canadian radio thriller Nazi Eyes on Canada. Nazi Eyes starred luminaries such as Orson Welles, Vincent Price, Helen Hayes, Judith Evelyn, war correspondent Quentin Reynolds, House Jameson, Katharine Raht of The Aldrich Family, and the Voice of Doom himself, Lorne Greene. For reasons I cannot now recall, I was inspired to re-listen to Nazi Eyes in late November 2024. It’s skillfully done but depressing. In a twist that may astonish many, it turns out that Nazis are bad and being occupied by them would be worse. As unlikely as this may sound, Canada also abounds in internal divisions that are the stuff of plot. No sooner did the various Canadian provinces unite to deter another American invasion than separatist movements sprung up. In fact, about the only province that does not have a vocal faction agitating to exit Canada is Ontario… which has an internal separatist movement that wants thinly populated Northern Ontario to break away from Ontario, thus to better enjoy the unchecked growth that inevitably follows severing oneself from a supporting tax base. Perhaps the most famous such movement is Quebec’s occasional flirtations with the exit door. Given that the province contains a large fraction of Canada’s population and economy, and is between the Atlantic provinces and Ontario and everything to the west, an independent Quebec would have profound effects on the rest of Canada. Thus, Bruce Powe’s 1972 Killing Ground: The Canadian Civil War, in which political differences spiral into open war… until Francophones and Anglophones unite when United States invades. Quebec nationalism also features in the plot of Harry Turtledove’s Southern Victory series, beginning with How Few Remain, in which Quebec is carved off of Canada… following an American invasion. Finally, even perfectly mundane, low-stakes politics can, properly presented, be enticing. It doesn’t matter if the stakes are global or very local, as long as they matter to the characters. In Terry Fallis’ hilarious 2008 novel The Best Laid Plans, for example, engineering professor Angus McLintock eludes the grim task of teaching bonehead English to engineers with a foray into a political race McLintock is certain to lose… only to win. Can Canadian federal politics survive a principled—or at least formidably irritable—MP who honestly doesn’t care about re-election? “Canadian thriller” is not an oxymoron. In fact, it’s a healthy genre that readers might want to seek out. The above is only a very small sample. Canadians (and other fans of the genre), feel free to mention other examples.[end-mark] The ability to defend oneself with skillfully-wielded soapstone statues or to lift critics by their necks are optional. After all, PMs can count on MPs to make their own spears from available materials before demonstrating that they paid close attention when their high school history teacher covered phalanxes. ︎Or its appearance. Some PMs have been neither sober nor conventional. There aren’t many nations whose leaders have taken advice from a dog, but Canada is one of them. Mind you, that PM was in power for years and years; clearly, that dog knew its stuff. Too bad the dog was such a massive antisemite. ︎Thriller potential aside, Canadians do value the US. Without the Abolitionist example, would the Canadians have thought to voluntarily free their slaves decades before the US fought a bloody war to the same end or to offer haven to American slaves fleeing prior to the 13th Amendment? Without that bastion of freedom to inspire us, would we have joined the struggle against fascism three years before America was reluctantly dragged into the war by Japan? And that’s not even getting into all the top-drawer talent that fled from the US to Canada during the McCarthy years and during the Vietnam War. Thanks, America! ︎The post A Brief Survey of Canadian Political Thrillers appeared first on Reactor.