Vikings and Andre Boisclair
I will put money down that that title has never appeared anywhere in any format, in the history of the world.I have been reading up on the Danish Viking history. They put a lot more stock in their Viking past than the Swedes do. Even more than the Norwegians, it seems. And in reading about these Vikings, it has occurred to me that many of these guys had awesome names. Erik the Red! Canute the Great! Magnus the Strong! Now those are names of leaders. Which brings us to Andre Boisclair, whose family name can arguably be translated from French as "Smoothwood". I could easily insert an inappropriate joke here, but will refrain out of respect for wood products. For my non-Canadian readership, Andre is the first openly gay leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois.
I think that there should be a rule allowing the population to vote on a public figure's name one year after they have come to office. I think this would keep a lot of politicians on the straight and narrow. Who would want to be tagged with a name like "The dishonest" or "the adulturer" for the rest of their lives? Here are some of my offerings.
Stephane Dion the Green (or: the Floundering)
Jack Layton the Irrelevant
Sheila Fraser the Honest
Stephen Harper the Scary (ed. note: I don't particularly subscribe to this, but if the names were voted on, I think the population of the Greater Toronto Area would wrap this up pretty quickly)
Segolene Royal the Surprising
Andre Boisclair the Smoothwood. (You just can't improve on that, really)
Other suggestions? Lets hear them!
Big Question: Who in Canadian politics would warrant the moniker "The Great"? Historical figures count.
posted by Jeff @ 11:45 AM
4 Comments:
I always thought Brian Mulroney was great but I think I am the only one...
Rob, I agree with you to a certain extent. Brian Mulroney had a vision (Free Trade; trying to get Quebec to sign the constitution, etc) and he had the guts to do what he thought was right for the federation, even if it wasn't necessarily popular (GST being a prime example.) However, due to his courtship of separatists into his caucus, today we are still stuck with the Bloc Quebecois onj the federal scene (an oxymoron in terms of mission, really) -- so therefore he doesn't qualify as "great" in my books.
Great? Hmmmm. Trudeau -- love the guy, despite western alienation and despite what he did to Canada's military (among other transgressions) but there is no denying he had grandiose vision, balls to go with it, and incredible charisma that made us proud to be Canadian.
Ow, my head hurts. May I leave the class? My brain is full.
Yeah, shoulda figured. Engineer.
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