Canada's CBC has, for the past couple of months, been promoting it's new series on The Greatest Canadian. According to Canadians. Viewers have been encourage to go on-line, write in or phone in with their nominations for the individual that they consider to be the greatest Canadian in history. At the end of the voting, the top 10 individuals will each have a single show dedicated to them and their alleged greatness. During the run of those ten shows, viewers can again vote for the one person of the the ten that is, in their mind, the greatest Canadian of them all.
If you're curious, here's the top-ten list with a brief description of the major accomplishment of each:
Frederick Banting
-discovered insulin, for which he won the Nobel Prize, and also ensured that nobody could make profits from its production.
Alexander Graham Bell
-there are several countries that claim Mr. Bell as their own. Canada can say that he invented the telephone while in this country. He was born in Scotland and lived and worked for a time in England before emigrating to Canada.
Don Cherry
-he's a former NHL hockey coach who, for the past number of years, has used a particular spotlight on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada to spout off his varied and inflammatory opinions on sundry items. I'd see him getting into the Top 100. But the Top 10?! Please...
Tommy Douglas
-Canadian politician, from a controversial socialist perspective, and has been dubbed Canada's 'father of Medicare.'
Terry Fox
-ran across the country on a prosthetic leg to raise awareness and money for cancer research. He died from cancer after completing just over half of his 'Marathon of Hope.'
Wayne Gretzky
-just the greatest hockey player ever to grace God's green earth. And a wonderful spokesman for the game, and Canada in general.
Sir John A. Macdonald
-Canada's first Prime Minister. He spearheaded the idea to unite Canada's East and West with the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Lester B. Pearson
-another former Prime Minister, he gave Canada the Maple Leaf flag, the Pension Plan and won the Nobel Peace prize for introducing a Peacekeeping force during the 1956 Suez Crisis.
David Suzuki
-a world-renowned geneticist, academic and broadcaster, Dr. David Suzuki has spent the past 40 years educating the public about environmental issues, both in the classroom and over the airwaves.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau
-the single most charismatic man ever to lead Canada in the Number One position, he was equally loved and hated by many Canadians. I don't think any of those same people disrespected him.
So there's the list. Of them all, I don't think Don Cherry belongs on the top-ten list. And as for the greatest? That could vary widely just depending on one's definition of 'great'.
How would I vote?
Well, first, here are what I think are the two most pertinent definitions of greatness, as I think it would apply to selecting the greatest Canadian EVER:
1. Of outstanding significance or importance
2. Superior in quality or character; noble
I am somewhat torn. To date, Banting's discovery has saved millions of lives and will continue to do so until a cure for Diabetes is at hand. Terry Fox demonstrated what the human soul is capable of, in the light of seemingly insurmountable physical adversity. Trudeau was the sort of leader this country needs. When he died in 2000, the whole nation mourned.
My vote will go to Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
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