can this geeky stubble jumper be the greatest canuckle-head of all time?
according to the citizens of this great land of canuck-istan, the following is a list of the greatest canuckle-heads of all time (in alphabetical order):
1. Frederick Banting
2. Alexander Graham Bell
3. Don Cherry
4. Tommy Douglas
5. Terry Fox
6. Wayne Gretzky
7. Sir John A. MacDonald
8. Lester B. Pearson
9. Dave Suzuki
10. Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
no, #3 is not a typo. surely, the greatest canuckle-head cannot be a hockey player (even though he was arguably the greatest hockey player ever). sorry wayne. hockey is just a game. frederick banting was just a scientist (though a great one). alexander bell? the telephone has been a lifesaver for sure. it's too bad some idiot bastardized his invention by inventing the cell phone. terry fox was a fundraiser (though an inspirational one). who remembers john a. macdonald? he's ancient history. his idea of a pan-canuckle-head railroad was kind of nifty though. lester b. pearson gave us our flag. a unifying idea i guess. but there isn't a true maple tree west of ontario or north of toronto. sure he won a nobel peace prize. that's cool. in turn he defined canuck-istan's role as peacekeeper for 40 some odd years. but that idea has waned in the recent past. dave suzuki? come on... he's a tv personality. he made everyone more aware of environmental issues. a great achievement. good ideas. he's walked the walk but he's got to show the way with some initiative.
that brings us to trudeau and tommy douglas. trudeau had the likeness of a movie star and was a fighter for lofty things like social justice. he stood up to quebecois separatists and brought home the constitution and amended the charter of rights and freedoms. great stuff. he did alot to polarize this country but he stood his ground.
i just watched one of the 10 documentaries meant to sway our votes. this one featured tommy douglas. i didn't know he contributed so much to canadian life. stuff like healthcare, labour laws, and a bill of rights (one that pre-dated the current charter by 45 years). he was the one who probably did more to improve the lives of canadians than anyone else on the list (banting is a tops if you're a diabetic). he originated and implemented the ideas that define what we are today. characteristics that we've used to distinguish ourselves from the yanks down south.
he deserves our vote (even though he was a benevolent communist)!
i would have like to have seen at least a couple of ladies (i like the ladies...) on the list, starting with nellie mcclung.
in the top 100 list of canuckle-heads, my favourite was #34, hal anderson, a deejay at winnipeg's Power 97, "a regular host of budweiser messy wrestling nights at the henderson draft house". ha! this bastard edged out laura secord #35 and ernie "mr. dress up" coombs #36!
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
top 10 greatest canuckle-heads...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
bubba len, i forgot about kiefer... i liked that movie "flatliners"...
OK, you had me agreeing with most of your logic, but Nellie?!?!?!?!?! She was a racist - pure and simple. Her references against "Chinamen" alone make her ineligible in any modern list of great Canadians. Sure, everyone is equal, man or woman, as long as you are white.
ok, ms./mr. anon. thanx for that info. i didn't realize that ms. mclung was a racist. i should have checked her bio. i take offense to being referred to as a "chinaman". i shouldn't generalize but given the period of time she existed all the bruthas were probably called "chinamen" by da man, unfortunately. damn, she's on the fiddy dullah bill now. double damn, they have that stupid statue of her on olympic plaza... so, in the interest of continuous logic, ms./mr. anon., i am open to nominations of truly outstanding canadian women to the top 10 list. i'd nominate my mum but, honestly, she's sitting on the edge of the racism precipice as well...
given all this talk about racist/racism, why the hell is don cherry on the list? i dunno what that says about the people who participated in the "poll". i like don but not enough to put him on "the list". what he says sometimes is thought provoking. he's a barometer of what most canadians think...
i forgot. just the other day, i was riding my bike through palliser, a community in calgary, and came across nellie mclung elementary school. damn...
hey everyone, this just in:
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD. - Outspoken hockey icon Don Cherry won't be voting for himself in the CBC's Greatest Canadian competition.
Instead, the host of Coach's Corner will be cheering for "another Kingston boy," Sir. John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister.
Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, but moved with his family to Kingston at the age of 5.
Cherry ranked in the top 10 when public ballots in the competition were tallied.
In St. John's Thursday to promote the opening of a restaurant, Cherry said he doesn't expect to win.
"I think I'm a good Canadian, but I'm not the greatest Canadian," he said.
***
more at: http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/10/22/cherry_greatest041022.html
looks like some bigots/racists even have commonsense sometimes.
No problem. I am usually quite happy reading your blog entries and just lurking in the background, but Nellie has always been a sore point with me as the other 4 members of the famous 5. Yes, it is true that most people at the time thought the same thing of the Chinese. But, historians refer to the group as a head of their time. My contention is that if they were, they would not be so narrow minded in their views of limiting the right to vote to whites only. We won't even touch the fact that this group advocated the sterilization of the "handicapped".
If you wanted to chose a women Canadian Pioneer, Barbara Frum would be a better choice than Nellie. She was a good role model, activist for both women and Jewish rights.
Oh yes, one last thing. It is McClung, not McLung.
i loved barbara frum, despite her fascist, "axis of evil" son. great nomination.
sorry about the mispelling of "mclung". fixed. i'll never be anthropomorphic with respect to a body organ again. ha!
Post a Comment