Shut Up And Listen 188

The Greatest Canadians?

Back in the summer, the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) ran a bunch of ads for a contest they were doing: who is the greatest Canadian of all time? This past Monday, the results came in and the list just makes me want to weep.

For the next month, everyone will get a chance to vote for the best Canadian again, except just out of the top ten (in alphabetical order): Frederick Banting, Alexander Graham Bell, Don Cherry, Tommy Douglas, Terry Fox, Wayne Gretzky, John A. MacDonald, Lester B. Pearson, David Suzuki, and Pierre Elliot Trudeau. For th most part, the top ten is a pretty good list. We've got a few prime ministers, some people who've actually made the world a better place and, well, a couple of guys who made careers in hockey. Don Cherry is probably the most controversial figure in the top ten, as he's really not the greatest Canadian of all time. For those who are not aware of Cherry, he's a former NHL coach who is famous in Canada for a segment he does after the first period of Hockey Night In Canada called "Coach's Corner". He is often controversial for his bashing of non-Canadian players . . . and, well, non-Canadians altogether. He's entertaining and all, but does not belong in the top ten.

My pick is Trudeau. He's kind of like Canada's Bill Clinton, except he actually did some good things beyond being charming. Really. His greatest claim to fame is the repatriation of the Canadian constitution from Britain and the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. That's some big shit right there. Also, he worked towards making Canada a unified whole, while promoting multiculturalism as an official policy of the Canadian government. I liked his style as well. Here was a guy who treated the media like the scum it is and people loved him for it. He's my pick.

The top ten is good--except for Cherry . . . and maybe Gretzky--but the rest of the list is where we see the sheer stupidity of people. Here are some people on the list: Shania Twain (18), Mike Myers (20), Celine Dion (27), Jim Carrey (29), Michael J. Fox (32), Avril Lavigne (40), and Pamela Anderson (51). It's not that I don't think musicians and actors don't have their place on the list (as I haven't listed all of the ones who made it), I'm just taking exception with these ones. I don't think any of these people would score nearly as high if this survey was taken in even ten years from now. Here we see a big flaw in this sort of thing. Like, how can Avril Lavigne be at #40 while Leonard Cohen is at #46? Or how can Shania Twain be at #18 while Roberta Bondar is at #63? It boggles the mind.

I'm not the only one who thinks so, I guess, as the list has been a source of heavy discussion for the past week. Most of it has centred around the top ten and Don Cherry, actually. Honestly, for the most part, the names on the list do represent the best Canadians (or at least the publicly best Canadians), even if their order is a little messed up.

My favourite comment was that perhaps Tim Horton should be higher than #59 for the way he's unified Canada though. Can't help but agree, I guess.