Monday, July 30, 2007

Pierre Trudeau: Worst Canadian

Perhaps some of you remember the contest held by The Beaver Magazine for the Worst Canadian.

Well, all that freeping paid off.

The online promotion made international news in May and June and garnered just under 15 000 write-in votes. Pierre Trudeau topped the publicly voted list, a result to which many Canadians may take exception. But it provides further evidence of how polarizing his legacy continues to be among Canadians.

No kidding!

Looks like the Beaver isn't happy about the results:

But top it he did, beating out an obscure punk rocker by a couple hundred votes—a result that perhaps speaks as much about the perils of online polling as it does about the love-hate relationship Canadians have had with this paradoxical prime minister, who could wear a flower in his lapel while giving critics the finger.

Is anyone else having flashbacks to the The CBC's The Great Canadian Wish List contest?

Score another one for conservative freepers.

But top it he did, beating out an obscure punk rocker by a couple hundred votes—a result that perhaps speaks as much about the perils of online polling as it does about the love-hate relationship Canadians have had with this paradoxical prime minister, who could wear a flower in his lapel while giving critics the finger.


The press release is even more patronizing:

They have a deeper perspective of time itself, as well as the restraint of the discipline in assigning cause and impact to certain people and events,

Arguably "more measured"? Please. The two people who are responsible for the deaths of millions of Canadians are in the top three spot, and that's not measured?

And how patronizing...deeper perspective...as if none of us know anything about history.

"But the survey also provided a rare opportunity to engage the broader public in developing some of that historical perspective.

I strongly concur. It gives a bit of insight into the thinking of the hoi polloi, biased as it was. Mind you, I don't think there has ever been a century as documented as the 20th/21st.

Now I have to find out who this Chris Hannah guy is. Wow. That was some serious freepage goingon there. Maybe Kathy Shaidle would know. I wonder if their fans voted for him as a stunt. Sounds like an anarchist thing to do.


H/T: Siscoe.ca

The Blogging Tories collectively deserve a round of thanks for their efforts in this contest.

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