# Who is/was  the greatest Canadian?



## K. Ash (11 Mar 2004)

If this topic as been posted before than I apologize for the second post. I didn‘t see it in my search. 


I seen this on the CBC, appearently they‘re having a contest or show where you can vote for who you think to be the greatest Canadian. 

Who wouyld get your vote?

(Edited for content)


----------



## Lexi (11 Mar 2004)

*Thinks*
Well, I‘d vote for Mike Bobbit for creating this website!


----------



## dwild40 (11 Mar 2004)

How about Un-sung hero "Tommy Prince" 
I‘m still trying to find a book about him.  I‘ve seen some documentaries on Historytelevision and APTNetwork.


----------



## Slim (12 Mar 2004)

There are a number of Great Canadians!
A few of my favorites are;
-Sir Isaac Brock.
-Gen L MacKenzie
-Gen Dallaire
-Farley Mowat
-Tom Conners
-I‘m sure I‘ve left out a bunch...Maybe someone else can suggest a few worthy of mention.   


-Oh ya, last but not least-The guy who did the voice over for the Pizzaville Commercial (Uh, well...It was a rainy day in Pizzaville when...)  :blotto:  

Slim


----------



## adc (12 Mar 2004)

Don Cherry, closely followed by Ron Maclean


----------



## RCD (12 Mar 2004)

Who‘s the great Canadians?
WE ARE!
We just don‘t realise it.


----------



## Thompson_JM (12 Mar 2004)

Maj Gen Lewis Mackenzie (My Apologies if the spelling is incorrect)


----------



## clasper (12 Mar 2004)

Terry Fox.

A couple of months ago, those two British adventurers ran 7 marathons in a week, and their bodies were devastated by the end, they couldn‘t believe the physical toll involved.  Terry Fox ran 7 marathons in a week.  And then repeated the feat 19 times in a row.


----------



## K. Ash (12 Mar 2004)

I don‘t know about the greatest Canadian -- definitely a difficult choice. But if I were to pick the most famous Canadian, I would probably go with Wayne Gretzky.


----------



## K. Ash (12 Mar 2004)

I don‘t know about the greatest Canadian -- definitely a difficult choice. But if I were to pick the most famous Canadian, I would probably go with Wayne Gretzky.


----------



## K. Ash (12 Mar 2004)

Ooops....sorry for the double post.


----------



## Enzo (14 Mar 2004)

My grandfather...

...to me.


----------



## K. Ash (15 Mar 2004)

That‘s really decent of you Enzo.


----------



## Fishbone Jones (15 Mar 2004)

My vote goes to:

The Unknown Soldier


----------



## Sh0rtbUs (15 Mar 2004)

Im definatly with Slim with Dallaire and LW MacKenzie, but Farley Mowat? Wasnt he the guy who wrote the books about owls and such that i read in grade 4? Im not sure what else he‘s done other than right books. Only thing I know about him is he‘s a strong animal rights activist.


----------



## shaun_bougie (15 Mar 2004)

Pierre Elliot Trudeau

The Reasons

1969 Official Languages Act
1970 October Crisis and how he handled it
and most importantly our constitution in 1982

He couldn‘t have been that bad.  Stayed in office from 1968 to 1979 and was re-elected to hold Canada from 1980-1984.


----------



## Tyrnagog (15 Mar 2004)

Shaun...

I fear the backlash that your post has created...  There is a great... resentment (to put it mildly) of that man to the people of the west...

But, maybe I am wrong...


----------



## Infanteer (15 Mar 2004)

Trudeau was a bum....


----------



## shaun_bougie (15 Mar 2004)

> Originally posted by Tyrnagog:
> [qb] Shaun...
> 
> I fear the backlash that your post has created...  There is a great... resentment (to put it mildly) of that man to the people of the west...
> ...


Tyrnagog,

There may be resentment in the west, but I live in Ontario so I‘m sure you can understand my reasons.  I was only born in 1982 but from what I‘ve read about Trudeau, I‘ve come to my reasons for thinking he was a great leader.

My second choice, however, would be the men and women that serve in the Canadian Armed Forces.  I cannot wait until I am part of that group as it will give me great pride to serve alongside each of you.


----------



## Tyrnagog (15 Mar 2004)

Well said, Infanteer...    

I understand you‘re reasoning, Shaun.  Trudeau did do a few good things, but I don‘t think he did enough to make him the greatest Canadian...  

I agree with you about the members of the Canadian Armed Forces.  They have done a remarkable job in all conflicts that they have been involved in, and I will be proud when I become a member of this tradition..


----------



## Infanteer (15 Mar 2004)

It doesn‘t matter where you live, Trudeau‘s egotistical misunderstandings of Canada make him a bum throughout Canada.

People hammer on Dubya‘s military service, but here is a guy who hid in a Lawyers office during the Second World War.  His handling of the FLQ is the only bright point of his mandates.


----------



## shaun_bougie (15 Mar 2004)

Infanteer,

I think you‘d have to agree that the constitution was pretty important as well.  If it was not for that we‘d still be doing what Britain tells us to do.  Anyway, I wasn‘t out to start a civil war on this topic.  I just stated my opinion.  Let‘s agree to disagree and go back to the topic at hand which is who people feel the greatest Canadian was.  Sorry to offend.

Cheers,


----------



## Fishbone Jones (15 Mar 2004)

Shaun,

Your last post was excellent. I wish more people throughout this site would follow your example to refrain from urinating contests and remain on topic. Well done.


----------



## Armymedic (15 Mar 2004)

Canadian history was a favorite of mine when I was younger...

If we are talking after 1867 then I have two very good choices:
1. Obviously as mentioned above, but really only known to us Canadians: 
Terry Fox,

2. Well known around the world (and my personal choice)...

Lester Pearson

Prior to 1867, there are so many English and French pioneers, and native Canadians to count.


----------



## md200 (15 Mar 2004)

I personally think...

Sir Frederick Banting and Terry Fox


----------



## K. Ash (15 Mar 2004)

Terry Fox is well up there on my list. I‘d also have to agree with Shaun about Trudeau, if for no other reason because of the constitution.

I know it would be considered a bit of stretch to consider him the greatest Canadian, but definitly one of my favorites (right now)--Rick Mercer


----------



## Slim (15 Mar 2004)

The reason I said Farley Mowat was , as well as having been a Capt. in the Hasty Peas, he was the CO of the Canadian war museum collection team.

All of the German equipment that was brought back to Canada after the 2nd world war was brought back by him!

Including a V2 rocket...which is what our space program was based on!


----------



## shaun_bougie (16 Mar 2004)

> Originally posted by absent_element:
> [qb]I know it would be considered a bit of stretch to consider him the greatest Canadian, but definitly one of my favorites (right now)--Rick Mercer [/qb]


I agree about him being one of the favorites.  He‘s one of mine too.  His support in Afghanistan was great and who can forget about "Talking With Americans"


----------



## hooch (16 Mar 2004)

> Originally posted by Shaun:
> [qb]
> I think you‘d have to agree that the constitution was pretty important as well.  If it was not for that we‘d still be doing what Britain tells us to do.  [/qb]


The constitution was important, but as for "doing what Britain tells us to do," refer to the Statute of Westminster, 1931.
 http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/StatuteofWestminster.html 

As for great Canadians, I‘m going to have to throw Paul Henderson into the mix...he saved our national dignity at the last second and learned ‘em commies a thing or two about hockey.

P.S. Trudeau was a bum...


----------



## 1feral1 (16 Mar 2004)

Great Canadians? What about volunteers,ranging from veteran soldiers to someone who has compassion for giving their time to say, assist our elderly, and all things in between.

 My 2c worth.

Cheers,

Wes


----------



## K. Ash (17 Mar 2004)

Hey Wes, who would you consider the greatest Aussie?


----------



## patrick666 (17 Mar 2004)

I think any veterans still alive today, is as great as you can be.


----------



## Fusaki (19 Mar 2004)

Greatest Canadian? My mother!!

I love you Mom!!!


----------



## 1feral1 (19 Mar 2004)

A great Australian? Seems every generation has many, and its hard to say so, Weary Dunlop perhaps, maybe even Barry McKenzie. Good ole Bazza

Do a search on both such as: australia barry mckenzie and australia weary dunlop, or great australians.

See if you casn hire (rent) the movie "The Adventures of Barry Mckenzie". You‘ll p_i$$ your pants laughing, but much slang, so you might need an Aussie/English dictionary. Its a story about an Aussie lad who goes to england for teh first time, and its a great movie icon here. made about early 70‘s.

Cheers,

Wes


----------



## Spr.Earl (20 Mar 2004)

Elijah Harper for screwing Meach Lake and lien Brian.


----------



## dave_conolly (27 Mar 2004)

I would think Terry Fox.  His house (where he grew up) is really close to mine; probably a 10 minute drive. 

Trudeau definatly isn‘t the greatest Canadian, people from the west were protesting about how he didn‘t care what we thought because we didn‘t have the majority of population.  As he was leaving he gave the protestors the middle finger.


----------



## WWPierre (16 Apr 2004)

Salut! mes amis,

I did a search for "Greatest Canadian" in Google, and this forum was close to the top of the list.

Who, in my not so humble opinion is/was the greatest Canadian? There can only be one answer!

*Lt. General Romeo Dallaire* 

To me, this man personifies how we would like the world to percieve us.

A great Canadian and a great Human Being.

Even if he is not recognized in the final vote, I hereby raise my glass to Romeo Dallaire!

WWPierre


----------



## 1feral1 (16 Apr 2004)

Dont get me wrong, and no disrespect for this bloke, but in other parts of the world this guy was criticised for not sending more troops in when the Belgium paratroops who were slain as many see that this could have been prevented. Here he was viewed as inadequate and branded as a coward.
My opinion is not that harsh, but thats how other nations see things sometimes.

Regards,

Wes


----------



## winchable (16 Apr 2004)

Louis Riel;
Rebel attitude, fighting spirit, politician (if they had allowed him) burst the dam when it came to racial, language relations etc. in Canada. Still has impact today when you say his name, as I‘m sure any response to this post will prove.

I think looking for negative aspects of the greatest Canadian is fairly futile, research anywhere will give you negative things about any one of the nominees (Riel is certainly no exception) so there‘s not much point in arguing over negative aspects.


----------



## WWPierre (16 Apr 2004)

Hmmmm,

It is obvious I don‘t have all the facts. I haven‘t gone into the details of the incident with the Belgain paratroops. Is there an inference that he did, in fact have the strength to control the situation and the mandate to follow through, but erred in his deployment?

The story we get in our comfortable distance is that he had neither the strength nor the freedom to carry out his mission. When the magnitude of the holocast became evident, he did the best he could in an untenable situation.

It is really quite stupid to try to pick the one Canadian that is "greater" than all the others: Greater how? However, the discussion such a topic engenders does have the result of providing some insight, so I suppose it does serve a purpose.

Intelligere infers that I am very wrong in my estimation of Lt. Gen. Dallaire. I would like to know more about this. 

Pierre


----------



## Bill Smy (17 Apr 2004)

> It is really quite stupid to try to pick the one Canadian that is "greater" than all the others: Greater how?


I agree. Polls like this are a waste of time. There‘s no criteria at all, other than being a Canadian. Yet time and time again they seem to call up all sorts of interest.


----------



## K. Ash (17 Apr 2004)

I guess people find it interesting to think about who is the greatest Canadian. I do anyway.


----------



## K. Ash (17 Apr 2004)

> Originally posted by dave_conolly:
> [qb] Trudeau definatly isn‘t the greatest Canadian, people from the west were protesting about how he didn‘t care what we thought because we didn‘t have the majority of population.  As he was leaving he gave the protestors the middle finger. [/qb]


Hmmm....sounds like something Stephen Harper said about the East.


----------



## winchable (17 Apr 2004)

I don‘t think polls like this are a waste of time at all;
Anything that can be done to draw attention to the *little* important figures, the lesser known great Canadians, is a good thing in moderate doses even if it is impossible to choose any one specific figure.
As for Harper, I think that quote often gets taken out of context. I‘ll admit when I heard him supposedly calling us easties "Backwards defeatists" I was upset, but if you dig a little deeper he was referring to the governments mistakes, not the actual people.

Like I said, it‘s impossible to find a "great canadian" that isn‘t going to have negative traits.


----------



## casing (19 Apr 2004)

I don‘t think that we could possibly pick a single person as the Greatest Canadian.  More realistically, there should be a list of the Greatest Canadians.  

Anyway, here are two picks from me:

Veterans, closely followed by all other CF members (those who actually fought and sacrificed and those willing to sacrifice, but perhaps have not had the unfortunate opporunity to do so)
Gary McPherson, recently made a member of the Order of Canada, inspiration to many


----------



## NormR (19 Apr 2004)

to back up thoses already posted...
1] Maj. Gen L. MacKenzie
2] Sir John A. MacDonald
3] Lester B. Pearson
4] Farley Mowatt
5] Terry Fox
thats all so far


----------



## MG34 (19 Apr 2004)

TRUDEAU!! RIEL!! My goodness folks you had best get into the history books.

Riel was a criminal and hanged for it despite what the new revised history books may refelect there is no way this guy can be considered great unless you want to rank Greatest Canadian Tratiors.

Trudeau: Not too many Canadian leaders have conspired to do as much damage to the Canadian Forces as Trudeau and his cronies acomplished.That in itself should boot him off the list.


----------



## Michael Dorosh (23 Apr 2004)

I cast my vote at CBC for the Unknown Soldier.


----------



## Michael Dorosh (23 Apr 2004)

> Originally posted by Shaun:
> [qb] Infanteer,
> 
> I think you‘d have to agree that the constitution was pretty important as well.  If it was not for that we‘d still be doing what Britain tells us to do.  Anyway, I wasn‘t out to start a civil war on this topic.  I just stated my opinion.  [/qb]


LOL!!!

You mean the Constitution that doesn‘t guarantee anyone the right to private property?  Great piece of legislation, that.


----------



## Gryphon (24 Apr 2004)

I have to agree with LGen. Dallaire.. reading his book right now.. and that man can write!

But we cannot forget *PAUL HENDERSON*


----------



## m monty (24 Apr 2004)

This is an interesting exercise on the part of the CBC.. AND the "winning" name will have a TV show done about them !

Now in all seriousness, it‘s not possible to choose the "greatest" Canadian- the CBC hasn‘t defined what that means. This is in fact simply a "popularity" contest.

*Still, if all military types got together and voted for one name, then a soldier might win, and boy would that surprise the heck out of the CBC, and might give a wake up jolt to the rest of the country too !*
(you do actually have to make the effort to vote though and not just talk about who your choice is)- 

Some votes have gone for the "unknown soldier" .. It‘s a noble choice, but it is also outside the rules and it WILL be rejected.

There are any number of valid choices..endless debate could be made about who the most deserving is.. but by then the "survey" will be over and Celine Dion or Gretzky will have won and we‘ll get another profile of Celine Dion‘s life, or Margaret Atwood, or Pierre Trudeau..or or ..

I choose Maj. D.V. Currie (Victoria Cross winner)- 
Is he the GREATEST soldier? Absolutely impossible question - he‘s just one hero of so many..and again we could debate thisn endlessly and thats not the point.. The point is to get lotsa votes for a soldier to beat out politicians, pop stars, and millionaire "athletes". 

Maj.DV Currie V.C. is a good choice and it would make for good TV ! A Canadian soldier ! - good promotion for the military and for the country-- a hero ! and, a soldier hero !

I say we all go the CBC site and the 1-800 phone number and vote for him. Again, endless arguments can be made for one soldier or another..this isn‘t about a factual determination of who‘s the "greatest", its about trying to get a soldier-any deserving soldier- up to the top of the list and getting a show done about him - and therefore by extension, an important period in Canada‘s history when our Canadian military helped save the world‘s bacon!


*I say we all vote for Maj DV Currie*


CBC website to vote.
 http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/ 

Currie site
 http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/secondwar/citations/currie


----------



## tabernac (24 Apr 2004)

1. Colonel Marc Garneau
2. Lieutenant General Dallaire
3. Major General MacKenzie
4. Sir Robert Banting
5. Colonel Chris Hadfield

My 2 cents


----------



## tabernac (24 Apr 2004)

1. Colonel Marc Garneau
2. Lieutenant General Dallaire
3. Major General MacKenzie
4. Sir Robert Banting
5. Colonel Chris Hadfield

My 2 cents


----------



## tabernac (24 Apr 2004)

Oops


----------



## GregC (25 Apr 2004)

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it strange that noone has yet mentioned the greatest General of World War One, Sir Arthur Currie?

He exemplified traits in the trenches that others never seemed to fully grasp: He had compassion for his men, was a keen organizer, and posessed a ruthless ability for planning and orchestrating a perfect assault.

He broke the mold of the standard commander hurling riflemen at the enemy, and his role in Canada‘s 100 Day‘s cannot be ignored. I really hope that he finishes up there on the list, would seem quite an injustice otherwise.


----------



## lazydiva (27 Apr 2004)

Well, my vote would have to be "any Canadian soldier" because they often sacrifice much and get little in return.  

Simply saying "the unknown soldier" implies that you have to be dead to be great, which I don‘t believe is so.  Besides, if Time Magazine can claim "The American Soldier" as person of the year, then why can‘t the greatest Canadian be any Cdn soldier?

Just my $0.02 worth...


----------



## PTE Gruending (27 Apr 2004)

Please don‘t let it be Louis Riel, please don‘t let it be Louis Riel, please don‘t let it be Louis Riel....


----------



## Michael Dorosh (27 Apr 2004)

Sir Arthur Currie was also went overseas to escape personal debt and was bailed out by his fellow officers.  Given the closeness of the CBC and the Liberal Party, I am sure his embezzlement would make him a prime candidate for the honour, but then again, I am sure the Liberals would do anything to distance themselves from this type of "hero" with an election coming up.

I think Currie was indeed the greatest soldier this country has produced.  As for the greatest Canadian, I think his personal failings take him out of the running.

I see marc is banging the drum again.  There is no reason to believe that The Unknown Soldier would be rejected if he received more votes than the others; marc is not in a position to say conclusively that this would happen.  I am in no position to say conclusively that it would not.

The comment that you have to be dead to be great was kind of dumb.  I would select the Unknown Soldier not because he is dead, but because he exemplifies what all Canadian soldiers have done while alive, and in his death he paid the ultimate sacrifice to do what he did.   Unlike pops stars and hockey idols who do what they do for money and fame.

DV Currie is not a particularly good choice as he abhorred the spotlight, and rarely talked about the war.  I can‘t imagine he would like seeing himself nominated as "greatest" though I don‘t disagree that he is worthy of recognition.  The VC, and an armoury named after him, seem like two good ways of doing that.


----------



## Rick_Donald (1 May 2004)

Jean Chretien
For his undying effort (and your tax dollars) to keep Quebec in Canada.


----------



## WWPierre (1 May 2004)

Rick, I hope your tongue was firmly in your cheek when you wrote that!

Pierre


----------



## Rick_Donald (1 May 2004)

well what about his legacy to bring peace and prosperity to those poor Africans by throwing a whole pile of Canadian dollars at their corrupt warlords to help feed their starving soldiers so they can better keep those bloodthirsty savage poor folk from taking over the world.


----------



## WWPierre (1 May 2004)

Ok, ya got me there.....John Cretien it is then

Pierre


----------



## K. Ash (1 May 2004)

Again tongue in cheek????


----------



## stukirkpatrick (1 May 2004)

...no tongue in cheek there...

I voted for the unknown soldier, but if there had to be a specific Canadian, I would choose LGen Dallaire.


----------



## K. Ash (1 May 2004)

I still don‘t know....and I‘ve really given it a a lot of thought. I‘d like to be able to vote for 10 people all for different reasons.


----------



## Rick_Donald (3 May 2004)

Okay, all kidding aside.
There are three Canadians I would have a hard time picking the "greatest" from. All three are authors who have tried to bring Canadian history to the masses through well written, entertaining and easy to read books (not dry, reference book material.) Pierre Berton, Peter Newman and Farley Mowat.
If any body knows of any writers of Canadian history who write in similiar style please let me know. 
"The Devil‘s Brigade" was another great historical novel of Canadian history but the author‘s name alludes me and I‘m not sure if he wrote anything else.


----------



## Danjanou (3 May 2004)

Today‘s Toronto Sun has an article about a movement to get Don Cherry named as The Greatest Canadian, which considering recent events could be "interesting" for the CBC if he were to win.   

Who we kidding though. This is the CBC. It‘s either going to be Trudeau, or some obscure left wing politically correct feminist activist that no mainstream Canadian has ever heard of.


----------



## chrisf (3 May 2004)

I actually went to a meeting once at a CBC station concerning that... how to make the programming less left-wing.


----------



## K. Ash (4 May 2004)

> It‘s either going to be Trudeau, or some obscure left wing politically correct feminist activist that no mainstream Canadian has ever heard of. [/QB]


Sheila Copps??   

On a serious note, they should have had defined criteria to make the choice...

fuk it, I think I just might vote for Rick Mercer, he makes me laugh, he‘s a patriot, and of course he‘s a NEWF...


----------



## bossi (4 May 2004)

Wait for it - the CBC will NEVER admit that they received thousands of votes for Don Cherry.

Instead, they‘ll trot out every politically correct whanker that has ever lived ...

As an aside, I liked Red Green‘s choice:  Laura Secord - intriguing choice, and a good one.


----------



## K. Ash (4 May 2004)

LOL...Laura Secord... I could do that...umm...I mean agree with that.


----------



## WWPierre (5 May 2004)

Yeah, and she makes such good chocolate, too


----------



## stukirkpatrick (5 May 2004)

> Sheila Copps??


Wrong.  There probably isn‘t anyone who hasn‘t heard of / heard Sheila Copps


----------



## The Queen`s Bloggins (5 May 2004)

My vote: Sir John A. MacDonald

Our country‘s founding PM, a Father of Confederation and the architect who joined a loose confederation of colonies/territories into a Dominion that is what we have today. Without his visionary leadership and skills of diplomacy none of what we have today would be possible.

However I do strongly suspect Trudeau will win, as this country has been thoughly indoctrinated by the CBC to revere him. Everytime, I ask someone why they think Trudeau is great they cite his: 1) style, 2) he browns off the Americans and 3) the FLQ Crisis (although most can‘t explain what that was all about).

Louis Riel? Even if you are a westerner you can‘t be serious. This man TWICE attempted to over thrown the government out west. The second time resulted in a little affair historians like to call the Northwest Rebellion (1885), where the Canadian Militia and the NWMP went out to Manitoba and Saskatchewan. They then had several bloody battles with Riel and his followers, until Riel was captured.

He was then put on trial, found guilty and hanged. During the trial it was generally accepted that he was insane, as he told people he was Christ. No amount of retroactive historical rewriting will excuse a man whose actions resulted in that much trouble and a campaign medal being struck to commemorate the affair.


----------



## Dan Gerous (21 May 2004)

Romeo Dallaire is actually coming to St Jerome‘s College (part of the University of Waterloo) in K-W to talk.  I‘ve been trying to get tickets but they are all basically gone.  But it certainly would be interesting to hear him talk.


----------



## Gryphon (24 May 2004)

Nate... there are always ways to get tickets.. Talk to the Stage Manager, or something..


----------



## Long in the tooth (28 May 2004)

George and Pauline Vanier.  General, Governor-General, humanists and candidates for beatification.  Where are Canadians of your calibre today?!?


----------

