The Best Prime Minister We Never Had
Canada has had 22 Prime Ministers and, truth be told, over half of them can only be classified as failures. When you see names like Bowell, Turner, Campbell, and Meighen on the list of our former leaders, it's not hard to wonder if there was anybody out there who could have done better.
Over the years, a lot of politicians have been given the title of "best Prime Minister Canada never had". So for the rest of the summer, I'll be weeding down a list of close to 100 would be Prime Ministers until one is crowned.My hope is that this will be a fun way to learn a bit about some great men and women who gave a lot to their country, without receiving the fame of glory of...say...Joe Clark.
The first round will be to cut the field down to 16, at which point the top 16 will be seeded for head to head battles (the four regional winners will get the top 4 seeds). You're eligible to vote for up to 16 candidates every day, until noon on next Monday when the contest will be closed. Feel free to write endorsements and mobilize the vote for your candidate of choice; I'll be profiling some of our coulda-been-PMs over the next week. The ballot is bellow and I've included links to biographies of all the contenders as well:
Atlantic Canada
Dalton Camp
John Crosbie
Joe Ghiz
Joseph Howe
Allan MacEachen
Angus MacLean
Alexa Mcdonough
Frank McKenna
George Murray
Jack Pickersgill
Joey Smallwood
Robert Stanfield
Samuel Tilley
Robert Winters
Clyde Wells
Quebec
Louise Arbour
Lucien Bouchard
Henri Bourassa
George Etienne Cartier
Maurice Duplesis
Adélard Godbout
Marc Lalonde
George-Émile Lapalme
Jean Lapierre
Ernest Lapointe
Pierre Laporte
Jean Lesage
Rene Levesque
Jean Marchand
D'Arcy McGee
Frank Scott
Ontario
Edward Blake
Ed Broadbent
George Brown
Sheila Copps
Bill Davis
George Drew
Eddie Goldenberg
Mike Harris
Paul Hellyer
CD Howe
Warren Kinsella
David Lewis
Stephen Lewis
Donald "The Donald" MacDonald
Flora MacDonald
Barbara MacDougall
John Manley
Paul Martin Sr.
Agnes Mcphail
Oliver Mowat
Allan Rock
Mitchell Sharp
OD Skelton
Western Canada
Bibble Bill Aberhart
Izzy Asper
Lloyd Axworthy
Dave Barrett
WAC Bennett
John Bracken
John Brownlee
Iona Campagnolo
Larry Campbell
MJ Coldwell
Stockwell Day
Gary Doer
Tommy Douglas
Gary Filmon
James Gardiner
Deb Grey
Mike Harcourt
Elijah Harper
Ralph Klein
Peter Lougheed
Ernest Manning
Preston Manning
Don Mazankowski
Nellie McClung
Audrey Mclaughlin
"Duff Man" Duff Roblin
Roy Romanow
Ed Schreyer
Clifford Sifton
HH Stevens
Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie Vander Zalm
JS Woodsworth
Over the years, a lot of politicians have been given the title of "best Prime Minister Canada never had". So for the rest of the summer, I'll be weeding down a list of close to 100 would be Prime Ministers until one is crowned.My hope is that this will be a fun way to learn a bit about some great men and women who gave a lot to their country, without receiving the fame of glory of...say...Joe Clark.
The first round will be to cut the field down to 16, at which point the top 16 will be seeded for head to head battles (the four regional winners will get the top 4 seeds). You're eligible to vote for up to 16 candidates every day, until noon on next Monday when the contest will be closed. Feel free to write endorsements and mobilize the vote for your candidate of choice; I'll be profiling some of our coulda-been-PMs over the next week. The ballot is bellow and I've included links to biographies of all the contenders as well:
Atlantic Canada
Dalton Camp
John Crosbie
Joe Ghiz
Joseph Howe
Allan MacEachen
Angus MacLean
Alexa Mcdonough
Frank McKenna
George Murray
Jack Pickersgill
Joey Smallwood
Robert Stanfield
Samuel Tilley
Robert Winters
Clyde Wells
Quebec
Louise Arbour
Lucien Bouchard
Henri Bourassa
George Etienne Cartier
Maurice Duplesis
Adélard Godbout
Marc Lalonde
George-Émile Lapalme
Jean Lapierre
Ernest Lapointe
Pierre Laporte
Jean Lesage
Rene Levesque
Jean Marchand
D'Arcy McGee
Frank Scott
Ontario
Edward Blake
Ed Broadbent
George Brown
Sheila Copps
Bill Davis
George Drew
Eddie Goldenberg
Mike Harris
Paul Hellyer
CD Howe
Warren Kinsella
David Lewis
Stephen Lewis
Donald "The Donald" MacDonald
Flora MacDonald
Barbara MacDougall
John Manley
Paul Martin Sr.
Agnes Mcphail
Oliver Mowat
Allan Rock
Mitchell Sharp
OD Skelton
Western Canada
Bibble Bill Aberhart
Izzy Asper
Lloyd Axworthy
Dave Barrett
WAC Bennett
John Bracken
John Brownlee
Iona Campagnolo
Larry Campbell
MJ Coldwell
Stockwell Day
Gary Doer
Tommy Douglas
Gary Filmon
James Gardiner
Deb Grey
Mike Harcourt
Elijah Harper
Ralph Klein
Peter Lougheed
Ernest Manning
Preston Manning
Don Mazankowski
Nellie McClung
Audrey Mclaughlin
"Duff Man" Duff Roblin
Roy Romanow
Ed Schreyer
Clifford Sifton
HH Stevens
Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie Vander Zalm
JS Woodsworth
posted by calgarygrit at
9:06 p.m.
26 Comments:
I agree with leopetr.. there's just too many names..
In any case, that's a minor gripe, overall I am pleased that you did this.
I have to admit that I voted for Laporte only because he was killed by the FLQ. I remember reading how he never panicked when the FLQ armed with assault rifles arrived at his home while he was playing catch with his son. He saw them coming, finished the game and sent his son away and calmly went with the armed men. Courageous in the face of danger, clear-headed and calm.
Beyond that I don't know much about him.
By
Eric, at 9:24 p.m.
Awww, no Princess Diana... that sucks.
But fine, I'll play by your rules!
I know little about most of these people, don't even know probably 50% of the names. This is the BEST idea you could have possibly had.
Next summer, how about, "Best Province Canada Has Yet To Acquire"?
SouthernO, I've never heard that story - that was excellent, thanks.
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 9:43 p.m.
Well, I figured the knock-out rounds would be the chance for people to read up a bit more on the contestants but you need a way to get to the group of 16.
I'll be doing some sub-groups over the next week. For example, I'm gonna post on the female candidates one day, the 19th century ones another, etc... over the course of the week, this should help cover a lot of the more obscure ones.
By
calgarygrit, at 10:01 p.m.
CG has shown how innovative a blogger he is.
This just great stuff.
I hope Frank McKenna wins cause damn, he would have the been the most decisive PM we've ever seen. He knows his stuff, and he knows how the world works.
Keep it up CG!
By
Forward Looking Canadian, at 10:32 p.m.
Three people voted for Bill Vander Zalm... Were they on crack?
By
Red Tory, at 10:37 p.m.
Hmmm ... you have Louise Arbour as the best pm we never had. You know there is still time for her to jump into the current race for leader. I wrote a post about that last week. Maybe you should have a poll to see if she should run now and possibly become the best PM yet to come.
By
Unknown, at 10:41 p.m.
red tory - it was either crack or they've been doing interesting things to "BC bud" these days.
By
Candace, at 12:14 a.m.
Great job on that one, CalGrit, especially on the bios.
But in your original post, you forgot to mention Paul Martin Jr as one if not the greatest failure of all guys who held the top job.
Of course my choice for "best we never had" will be J. Adélard Godbout: the man who led Québec to the Modern Times.
Wag On.
By
Alter Boys, at 12:27 a.m.
I think there's a great amount of names, Bart! Think I'm going to learn lots from this!!
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 8:08 a.m.
Jack Pickersgill=The best Liberal who ever lived.
By
sir john a., at 10:05 a.m.
Anyone who has the title Rt.-Hon. without being PM, GG or Chief Justice has to be pretty awesome.
By
sir john a., at 10:07 a.m.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By
nbpolitico, at 10:42 a.m.
Well as a New Brunswicker, I have to take a minute to echo Riley's comments about Frank McKenna. It is perhaps the greatest lost opportunity in the history of Canada that he has chosen not to run for the top job.
However, the main reason for this post is not to endorse a candidate but to strongly discourage people from voting for one particular candidate who I think is one of the most overrated people ever.
That would be one Joseph Howe.
Howe is virtually worshipped in Nova Scotia which is something I have never understood. Howe led the first separatist party in Canada and with it to win 18 of 19 Nova Scotia seats in the House of Commons in 1867. The federal politicians of the day had no time for that sort of nonsense and said that separation was not constitutional and put the boots to Howe and his supporters.
Howe carried on in opposition for a few more months but, in exchange for a cabinet post, he became an overnight convert to the idea of Canada and dissolved his Anti-Confederation party. What a joke. Though a man completely devoid of principle sadly might fit in with some of our former PMs, he certainly has no business being deemed the "best prime minister we never had" and I hope he gets zero votes.
I will standby for the verbal assault I am sure is to come from Nova Scotians who have been brainwashed by their "Howe is God" high school history classes and government propaganda featuring Howe as a hero.
Also, CG, isn't Arbour an Ontarian? I am not sure where she was born but she was a provincial judge in Ontario and spent most of her life there.
By
nbpolitico, at 10:45 a.m.
There isn't really many good choices for Alberta, Anne McLellan would have been great.
In terms of Aboriginals, Elijah Harper was well-known, but I don't he would have made a good Prime Minister. I would say someone more like Willie Littlechild or Len Marchand for Aboriginal PM.
Paul Martin Sr. would have been an awesome Prime Minister!
By
Joshua Fraser, at 12:17 p.m.
nbpolitico; You may be right on Arbour - she did go to University in Quebec but Ontario might have been a better choice. The regional classifications were sometimes tricky but I just wanted a way to divide things up.
And Pickersgill certainly did a lot, that's undeniable.
By
calgarygrit, at 1:06 p.m.
CG - you're right. I read over her Wikipedia bio and she could easily fit into either category. Born, raised and educated in Quebec and then taught at Osgood Hall and appointed to the Ontario courts and then abroad.
When she sat on the Supreme Court she didn't have one of the three "Quebec" seats so was considered an Ontarian for those purposes but, in any event, you're right, it is hard to say which she should fit into and it doesn't really matter anyway.
GREAT WORK on this, should be fun! :)
By
nbpolitico, at 1:59 p.m.
How about Brian Tobin??
By
wayward son, at 2:06 p.m.
wayward; I tried to stay away from people who might still be PM. So, the arbitrary age cut-off was around 55 or so. I figured McKenna, Rock and Manley passed on this leadership so they'll be too old next time the spot opens. Same type of story for Harris, Doer, Klein, etc.
But people like Tobin and Lord could still conceivable run for a federal leadership in 5 or 10 years and become Prime Minister so they get left off the list.
By
calgarygrit, at 2:13 p.m.
^ Methinks your tinfoil hat is showing.
I'm taking credit for at least one of those Zalm votes. Think of the delightful nightly scandals on the National. Grant Devine with one shot of potting soil and one shot of Jesus.
A little surprised by how well the lefty contingent is showing out of the gate... Douglas, Romanow, Woodworth etc. Organized dipper-strikes?
By
Tom, at 6:53 p.m.
Ed Broadbent is clearly the winner already, as well he should be. I remember when he was consistently the most popular leader in polls and would win every debate, but would never be PM.
Some day, when a PM has an operation or something, he should be allowed to be PM just for a day or two.
By
S.K., at 8:41 p.m.
Yeah, I'm expecting the Dippers to come out in force. Mind you, Manning, Harris, and Lougheed are all off to good starts too so I think we'll get a fairly balanced group of 16.
By
calgarygrit, at 10:44 p.m.
The Dippers will make sure both Broadbent and Tommy Douglas do well.. although I still think T.D. would feel out of place in the NDP of today.
As for Manley, I really think he's planning on running in the future. The winner of the Liberal leadership this time around is going to lose the next election, with a quick exit to follow. Cue Manley.
Couple that with the fact that Manley and McGuinty are close allies and it makes even more sense. It'd be tough for McGuinty to score points off of the Feds with Manley in the PM chair.
In any case, I tossed in votes for Stanfield, both Mannings, and a few others.
By
Michael Fox, at 11:09 p.m.
HOW could you possibly include a list of Westerners and skip over Ralph Goodale? Where's Ralph Goodale? Ralph Goodale could very well run for leader in the next few years... And may be a spectacular PM!
By
WesternGrit, at 12:59 a.m.
An interesting top 10 so far...
Robert Stanfield 302
Ed Broadbent 246
Preston Manning 238
Tommy Douglas 237
Lloyd Axworthy 214
Roy Romanow 200
Frank McKenna 198
Peter Lougheed 186
John Crosbie 175
George Etienne Cartier 175
By
Michael Fox, at 9:07 p.m.
Captain Canada where is he
Thats all I'll say
By
Muad'Dib, at 12:04 p.m.
NO STANLEY KNOWLES?
By
Cameron Campbell, at 2:14 p.m.
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