World's Worst Canadian

[Mark in Oshawa]

Noah's Girl, the "Greatest Canadian" came down to 10 finalists, and I cant remember all of them, but in that list in no particular order were:

Sir John A. MacDonald, our first Prime Minister, and the leader of the Conservative's at time of Confederation.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau, a prime minister that you either love or hate, and I am in the latter in many ways. He "repartriated" our Constitution in 1982 and added a "Charter of Rights and Freedoms". He also brought us bilingualism, and lots of concessions to Quebec, that still seemed to encourage Quebec Separatism, but I don't doubt he didn't intend for that result. He is a guy who either was worshipped or hated, and after looking at how we are taxed now and what we get from government now, I have to say I think his woolly socialistic ideas cost us more than they give us back, but he isn't the sole one to blame. As time goes on, I do think he was just another overeductated academic who should have stayed away from politics. Also famous for dating Fiona Boyd and Barbra Striesand.....

Sir Fredrick Banting, the creator of Insulin at the University of Toronto in the 20's. Never took a dime in royalties, just took a great problem (diabetes) and gave man kind the solution to deal with it.

Alexander Graham Bell, creator of the telephone, the hydrofoil and lot of other things....

Wayne Gretzky (I think anyone who knows hockey knows this guy)

Don Cherry, (how he got here is comical for he isn't "Great" in the sense of any great achievement) who if you know him, is the most passionate Canadian going, but really is just a noisy ex Hockey coach on Saturday nights in the winter who keeps the whole country talking. Wont find a more passionate Canadian, but he often proves to be too much a redneck for his own good. I like him, but he isn't in the class of some of these others.

Louis Riel, A leader of Metis who led 2 separate rebellions against the government in 1870 and 1882. Was caught and HUNG on the second occasion, and his hanging left many people with a bad taste. He was fighting to have the Metis (Native/Caucasion mixed) people live in their traditional way on the plains of Western Canada, but the Ottawa government wanted to settle that land and hence, the clash of values. His hanging left many in Quebec to turn on the Conservatives for about 70 years or more, and many saw him as right. I think no matter how noble your cause, open rebellion against a democratic state is not a recipe for greatness.

and the winner was:

TC "Tommy" Douglas. He was the Provincial leader of Saskatchewan from 1935 to 1951, and his government led the nation in creating universal health care. He was the leader of the "CCF" party in Saskatchewan for all of this time, and later had a role in Federal politics as well as an MP with the CCF/NDP party in Ottawa right up to the 70's. He was a great man of trying to help the little guy, and in those times, he was a voice of compassion when compassion was hard to find, but the myth about Douglas and his role around fully funded universal health care to me is not one that makes him the greatest Canadian. We have done a lot of great things in this nation, and our health care system is pretty good, but lets face it, if that is the best thing to say about our nation, then we should really try to find something a little more exciting.

Another little known fact outside of Canada, is he is the Father-In-Law to the Actor Donald Sutherland and the grandfather to 24's Kiefer Sutherland.


I nominated Sir Sandford Fleming (creator of Standard time and a great railway engineer, which was needed to link this country together), William Avery Bishop (top surviving ace of WW1 and future leader of the RCAF) and General Lewis MacKenzie (ret.) who lead the UN troops in that fateful summer of 1990 in Sarajevo through hell as a full blown civil war broke out around him. His face was on tv almost every night around the world, and his condemnation of the ineffective leadership of the politicians of the UN and their goals I think is very relevent to the mess we see today. Also, I kind of have a bias for Lew, because he races Formula Ford's and I see him a lot up at Mosport!!!

[millencolin]

Why is everyone bashing Avril Lavigne?

because she is a fake, wannabe poser... she isnt a punk rocker, so she should stop trying to act like one!!!

[schmenke]

Hmm... fake, eh? I would say that is someone who lip-syncs on stage, has her music composed and her lyrics written by others, and who plays no instruments. Avril Lavigne is none of those, although I can name several popular girlie singers who are.

Also, Avril isn't "punk". She never labeled herself as such, even claims that she doesn't want to be.

(Gawd, I never thought I'd be defending Avril Lavigne... : )

[Jaws]

That "I could be your Girlfriend" is the biggest pile-o-crud I have heard since Paris Hilton tried singing.

Having said that, at least Avril looks a "tidy little number" not like Celine who looks like she was a love child following ET's short stay on Earth.

[BrentJackson]

Avril Lavigne = WORST CANADIAN OF ALL TIME!!!!

Labeling her as punk is like saying Ralf Schumacher is not the most overrated driver in formula one. i hate her

I dunno if this helps, but I used to know her really well. She's not a bad singer, but she needs to go beyond the punk rocker image, IMO. Much better than people like Britney Spears, I can say that much.

Celine Dion as the worst doesn't surprise me. Good lyrics, but a PR biatch and far too full of herself. Canada has lots of good musicians - and yes, the Arcade Fire kicks a$$.

And IMO, I have no idea who the greatest Canadian is. Certainly not Gretzky, Cherry or Riel. Douglas is a candidate for sure, as many of Trudeau's ideas came from him. Trudeau is a possibility, but lots of people to this day hate the guy. His successor, Jean Chretien could also qualify as a candidate.

I think the best Canadian Sportsman would be a better debate. We got lots of qualified Candidates - Wayne Gretzky, Donovan Bailey, Mario Lemieux, Don Cherry, Gilles Villeneuve, Mike Weir......

[BrentJackson]

BTW, the Top 10

1 - Tommy Douglas - Politican, founder of the current NDP, visionary in many aspects. Premier of Saskatchewan for many years, close confidant of Trudeau.
2 - Terry Fox - Young man who lost leg to Cancer, who then tried to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He sadly didn't make it, but his legacy lived on.
3 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau - Prime minister from 1968 to 1984. Either loved or hated, no middle ground. mark summed up his ideas very will, but he has to be credited with stopping the separatists in 1980.
4 - Frederick Banting - the scientist who created the first real antibiotic and the creator of insulin.
5 - David Suzuki - World-reknowned geneticist who has also become one of the biggest faces of the environmental movement in Canada. Canada's Al Gore, in other words.
6 - Lester Bolwes Pearson - Prime Minister from 1963 to 1968, before that was Canada's UN ambassador. Created the idea of peacekeeping forces, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.
7 - Don Cherry - hockey commentator and former coach and player who is famous for his VERY opinionated views. He's as close to an icon as us Canucks get.
8 - John A. MacDonald - The very first Canadian Prime Minister, from 1867 to 1873, again from 1878 to 1891. The founder of modern Canada, if you will.
9 - Alexander Graham Bell - Prolific inventor, best known for creating the telephone. Founded the Bell telephone company as well.
10 - Wayne Gretzky - the greatest hockey player ever, Wayne played in the NHL from 1980 to 2002, and has set many records in the big leagues which will never be broken. Probably Canada's greatest sportsman. Real good fellow, too.

People may also know:

- Neil Young (14)
- Romeo Dallaire (16)
- Shania Twain (18)
- Mike Myers (20)
- Maurice "The Rocket" Richard (23)
- Celine Dion (27)
- Jim Carrey (29)
- Pierre Berton (31)
- Michael J. Fox (32)
- Mario Lemieux (38)
- Bret "The Hitman" Hart (39)
- Avril Lavigne (40)
- John Candy (41)
- Rick Mercer (50)
- Pamela Anderson (51)
- Craig Kielberger (52)
- William Shatner (56)
- Tim Horton (59)
- Patrick Roy (67)
- James Naismith (70)
- Margaret Atwood (71)
- Sarah McLachlan (75)
- Dan Aykroyd (82)
- Donovan Bailey (89)
- Bryan Adams (90)
- Anne Murray (95)
- Jacques Villeneuve (97)
- Mordechai Richler (98)

[schmenke]

I CANNOT believe that Pierre Burton placed only 31st while Shania Twain is 18th

[Firstgear]

I thought Terry Fox won it.

As for worst, if I ignore the "innocent until proven guilty", I might vote for Robert Picton.

[BrentJackson]

I CANNOT believe that Pierre Burton placed only 31st while Shania Twain is 18th

I can't believe she beat Rocket Richard, Celine Dion and Jim Carrey. hock:

She's a good signer, but she ain't THAT good!

And a few others surprised me too. For starters, how does the world's best known example of the dumb broad manage to only make 51st? And how does Tim Horton only make 59th? There's a Tim Horton's in every town bigger than 100 people in this country, and it seems half of all Canucks get a caffeine fix every day from Tim's!