Truemors
Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor
Wow, Canadians were sure Pee'od to nominate Trudeau as worst Canadian, though Trudeau is in good company alongside Celine Dion. I wonder the mind of the people who took these polls to include notables with child killers speaks volumes of Citizen Idiocy and why it was even picked up by news media?
WINNIPEG (CP) - After nearly snagging top spot as the greatest Canuck, Pierre Elliott Trudeau has tumbled to the title of Worst Canadian in an online contest that also includes several convicted criminals.
The late prime minister took the No. 1 position in a poll conducted by The Beaver, the Winnipeg-based history magazine announced Monday.
Flashback to November 2004 when Trudeau ranked third in the CBC's Greatest Canadian contest, which ultimately honoured medicare founder and one-time Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas.
The contrasting results clearly show that Canadians have a love-hate relationship with Trudeau, suggested author Will Ferguson.
"That kind of defines it, doesn't it?" said Ferguson, a Calgary-based writer who ranked Canadian prime ministers in his book "Bastards and Boneheads."
"Trudeau is certainly, still, after all these years, a divisive personality."
Even The Beaver's editor appeared to have a conflicted response to the voters' decision. Mark Reid called Trudeau a controversial but obvious choice, since his politics polarized the public.
While he may have made enemies in Western Canada with the national energy program and in Quebec by invoking the War Measures Act during the FLQ crisis, Trudeau was also the father of the patriated Constitution, Reid pointed out.
"He almost stands alone in the last 50 years as someone who transformed Canada."
Reid said the poll was designed as a tongue-in-cheek exercise to get Canadians talking about history, but it could also serve as an example of the unscientific nature of online contests.
He offered as an example the fact the No. 2 spot is occupied not by a politician or murderer - both of whom are on the list - but by the frontman of a Winnipeg punk band. Reid said Propagandhi's Chris Hannah started an online campaign to earn the Worst Canadian title for himself.
"Kind of an interesting way to get some attention," suggested Reid.
Hannah wasn't the only singer on the Top 10 list. Celine Dion snagged seventh position.
Abortion activist Dr. Henry Morgentaler finished third behind Trudeau and Hannah.
Two other former prime ministers - Brian Mulroney and Jean Chretien - were Nos. 4 and 8, respectively, while current Prime Minister Stephen Harper came in at No. 6.
Schoolgirl killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka were a joint choice halfway down the list.
Child murderer Clifford Olson and disgraced publishing magnate Conrad Black rounded out the "winners."
At the same time as the online poll, The Beaver asked 10 historians and writers, including Ferguson, to select their own candidate for Worst Canadian.
Among those on the history panel's list: prime ministers John Diefenbaker and Sir John A. Macdonald, military leaders John Reiffenstein and Sam Hughes, notorious Japanese army torturer Inouye Kanao, also known as "The Kamloops Kid," Indian policy administrators Duncan Campbell Scott and Joseph Trutch, and Nazi Party of Canada founder Adrien Arcand.
Two media figures were among the panel's picks - Winnipeg Daily Times journalist Edward Farrer for racist writings about the French and Catholics, and media magnate Lord Beaverbrook.
The Beaver, which is published by Canada's National History Society, hoped the contest would get people talking about the country's past.
"The more we talk about history, the better off we are as a society, " said Reid.
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Results from The Beaver's online poll asking voters to name the Worst Canadian:
1. Pierre Trudeau
2. Chris Hannah
3. Dr. Henry Morgentaler
4. Brian Mulroney
5. Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka
6. Stephen Harper
7. Celine Dion
8. Jean Chretien
9. Clifford Olson
10. Conrad Black
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