Best Canadian Prime Minister

To mark the departure of Jean Chretien. Trudeau was my favourite, but I think Laurier may have been best, so that's where I voted.

Our beloved Pierre, gets my vote. But I have high hopes for Martin and am keeping my fingers crossed.

I'd heard (from my partner who's Canadian) that when Pearson was Prime Minister, he met with Lyndon Johnson at the White House. Pearson had publically come out against the war in Vietnam.

Supposedly, at the meeting, Johnson at one point grabbed Pearson by the lapels and started yelling at him about Pearson's lack of support for the war.

Not to doubt my partner, but is this really true? I can actually imagine Johnson doing this...everyone realizes now how coarse and crude Johnson was. But that kind of behavior is unforgivable.

that apparently happened.

Pearson had just recently made an anti-Viet Nam speech, and LBJ grabbed him by the lapels and yelled 'you pissed on my carpet'

One of many strange moments between American presidents and Canadian prime ministers over the years.

Two words:

Avro Arrow

****

Being in Detroit, I sometimes comfort myself by saying if things get really bad here, Canada is just a brisk swim across the Detroit River. But on the other hand, if things get THAT bad here, no border will keep that shit away.

Honestly, my wife has been pressing me for some time to consider the possibility of us emigrating to Canada.

have you.

C'mon over.

PS...the US has invaded Canada about 5 times.

You'll notice the border remains. ;-)

And may I emigrate to your wonderful country? I'd like to live there (and if Bush gets 4 more years, I may just go to the Canadian counsulate and ask for political asylum)

"Canada accepts more legal immigrants relative to its population than any country on Earth.

In the past two years, almost half a million immigrants arrived, a shade less than half of them in one city alone -- Toronto. The largest numbers for the country as a whole, amounting to almost 40 per cent of the total, came from China, India, Pakistan and the Philippines.

The federal government, responsible for immigration targets, heralds these waves on humanitarian and economic grounds, the argument being that immigration shows Canada as a caring country whose new arrivals will fuel future economic growth."

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.html

We also just recently changed the rules to allow more people in.

Welcome eh?

:evilgrin: (Ducks and covers)

Inserts bad Princess Diana joke.

:evilgrin:

Blame Canada!

Here is his bio

http://www.uwc.ca/pearson/library/lester/lester.htm

What a PM he was. Where's one of the fuddle duddle T-shirt.

we've been invaded.

Bless.

Can't be a freeper - they all thought his name was Muldoon.

Next to Lieberman:)?

Alright, so it's Friday.

Adopts Chandler Byng voice 'could he BE more French?'

he was exciting, and witty, charismatic and telegenic. I was only 14 when he became PM but I KNEW who Pierre Trudeau was. Everyone did. He was a superstar.

was that these two guys, not to mention Leonard Cohen, acted as official pallbearers.

Do any of you know of a good Canadian political message board?

Never really go there though, our national politics are dull as hell.

I will check it out. :yourock:

I worked in the US for a large Canadian company for years and when I'd interview potential employees, I'd always casually ask them to name the current Prime Minister of Canada. I always liked to see how prepared people were with information about the company, our services, and with an obviously Canadian company to see how well they knew the country. I liked candidates who did a little research before an interview.

Without exception, I'd get a blank, terrified look. Pure panic. A few named Trudeau - no doubt they knew him because of his wife's frolics with the Stones - but after interviewing over 300 people I never once got the correct answer.

I asked one applicant what she knew about Canada and she said that "it snows a lot".

Isn't that pathetic? We share a huge border, we trade more with Canada than any other country, we're allies, we share a common language (excepting Quebec) yet the level of knowledge about Canada is almost exactly at zero. It's too bad. I love Canadians. They gave me hell during the Reagan years, even when I insisted that I hadn't voted for him and never would. They sure knew who OUR President was!

Canadians are maliciously well-informed about the US
Great story, btw.

In a poll conducted a while ago.

Let me see if I can name the leaders of the political parties:

Liberals: Paul Martin

Tories: Peter MacKay

NDP: Jack Leyton

Alliance: Stephen Harper

Ok, I don't remember who's leader of the Bloc Quebecois

Am I right? Correct me if I'm wrong.

There might be a merger of the Tories and the Alliance Parties. Joe Clark is against it....Brian Mulroney is for it.

You are right thus far but I too do not know who the leader of the Bloc Quebecois is. :shrug:

It's Jack Layton. And the BQ leader is Gilles Duceppe. But quite possibly better than most Canadians would do.

On one of my first trips to Vancouver, I had lunch with some of my Canadian colleagues. We weren't seated very long when people started ordering Caesars. Assuming we were ordering salads, I asked for a spinach salad.

Yes, I heard about that one for years.