Tag Archives: Canadian

Canada was built on dead beavers. — Margaret Atwood
The beaver, which has come to represent Canada as the eagle does the United States and the lion Britain, is a flat-tailed, slow-witted, toothy rodent known to bite off it’s own testicles or to stand under its own falling trees. — June Callwood
The huge advantage of Canada is its backwardness. – Marshall McLuhan
Canada has never been a melting-pot; more like a tossed salad. — Arnold Edinborough
Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it. Ontario and Quebec milk it. And you can well imagine what it’s doing in the Maritimes. — Tommy Douglas
Canadians are generally indistinguishable from Americans, and the surest way of telling the two apart is to make the observation to a Canadian. — Richard Staines
A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe. — Pierre Burton
Canada is the linchpin of the English-speaking world. — Sir Winston Churchill
In a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that tear nations apart, Canada stands as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity, and mutual respect. — U.S. President Bill Clinton
When I’m in Canada, I feel this is what the world should be like. — Jane Fonda

(ed. – Here are more quotes on our country and its peoples)

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Quotes on our country Canada

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By George Journal presents some of our favourite quotes on Canada and Canucks – so you might spice up your toasts on Canada Day! Cheers!

A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe. — Pierre Burton
We Canadians live in a blind spot about our identity. We have very strong feelings about who we aren’t but only weak ones about who we are. We’re passionate about what we don’t want to become but oddly passive about what we should be. — John Cruickshank (in McLean’s Magazine)
There are no limits to the majestic future which lies before the mighty expanse of Canada with its verile, aspiring, cultured, and generous-hearted people. — Sir Winston Churchill
In a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that tear nations apart, Canada stands as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity, and mutual respect. — U.S. President Bill Clinton
Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well informed about the United States. — J. Bartlett Brebner
Canada is the essence of not being. Not English, not American, it is the mathematic of not being. And a subtle flavour – we’re more like celery as a flavour. — Mike Myers
Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain. — Pierre Trudeau
The huge advantage of Canada is its backwardness. – Marshall McLuhan
Very little is known of the Canadian country since it is rarely visited by anyone but the Queen and illiterate sport fishermen. — P. J. O’Rourke
Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it. Ontario and Quebec milk it. And you can well imagine what it’s doing in the Maritimes. — Tommy Douglas
The beaver, which has come to represent Canada as the eagle does the United States and the lion Britain, is a flat-tailed, slow-witted, toothy rodent known to bite off it’s own testicles or to stand under its own falling trees. — June Callwood
If you don’t believe your country should come before yourself, you can better serve your country by livin’ someplace else. — Stompin’ Tom Connors
We shall be Canadians first, foremost, and always, and our policies will be decided in Canada and not dictated by any other country. — John G. Diefenbaker
In any world menu, Canada must be considered the vichyssoise of nations, it’s cold, half-French, and difficult to stir. — Stuart Keate
Canada has never been a melting-pot; more like a tossed salad. — Arnold Edinborough
Canada: A few acres of snow. — Voltaire
Canadians, like their historians, have spent too much time remembering conflicts, crises, and failures. They forgot the great, quiet continuity of life in a vast and generous land. A cautious people learns from its past; a sensible people can face its future. Canadians, on the whole, are both. — Desmond Morton
Canadians were the first anti-Americans, and the best. Canadian anti-Americanism, just as the country’s French-English duality, has for two centuries been the central buttress of our national identity. — Jack Granetstein
Canadians are generally indistinguishable from Americans, and the surest way of telling the two apart is to make the observation to a Canadian. — Richard Staines
Here in Canada, in the Western world, we are inside the walls. Outside the walls are the barbarians. — Barbara Amiel
I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind. — John Diefenbaker (From the Canadian Bill of Rights, July 1, 1960)
When I’m in Canada, I feel this is what the world should be like. — Jane Fonda
Canada is the linchpin of the English-speaking world. — Sir Winston Churchill
There is a Canadian culture that is in some ways unique to Canada, but I don’t think Canadian culture coincides neatly with borders. — Stephen Harper
Canada was built on dead beavers. — Margaret Atwood

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Short jokes re: Canada

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Q: What do you call a sophisticated American?/ A: Canadian.

Q: What are the two seasons of weather in Canada? / A: Six months of winter and six months of poor snowmobiling.

Q: What does a Canadian say when you step on his foot? / A: “Sorry”

Q: How do you empty a swimming pool of Canadians? / A: “Excuse me, could everyone please get out of the pool?”

Q: What’s the difference between an American and a Canadian?/ A: An Canadian not only has a sense of humour but can also spell it.

Q: Did you hear about the war between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia?/ A: The Newfies were lobbing hand grenades; the Nova Scotians were pulling the pins and throwing them back.

Q: Did you hear about the Newfoundlander who died drinking milk?/ A: The cow fell on him.

Q: Why did the Canadian cross the road? / A: He saw some American do it on TV.

Q: How do you know when a Canadian is going on a date? / A: The entire dog team has had a bath.

Q: How many Canadians does it take to change a light bulb? / A: Twelve. Four to form a Parliamentary study committee to decide how to solve the problem, one Francophone to complain that I didn’t translate this joke into French, one Native Canadian to protest that the interests of Native Canadians have been overlooked, one woman from the National Action Committee On the Status Of Women to say that women have been underrepresented in the process, one to go over the border to the Niagara Falls Factory Outlet Mall and buy a new bulb and not pay duty on it on the way back, one to actually screw it in, one to collect taxes on the whole procedure so the government can afford it, one to buy a case of Molson for everybody to drink, and one to drop the puck.

BONUS JOKE: A Canadian is walking down the street with a case of beer under his arm. His friend Doug stops him and asks, “Hey Bob! Whacha get the case of beer for?”
“I got it for my wife, eh.” answers Bob.
“Oh!” exclaims Doug, “Good trade.”

BONUS JOKE #2: An American, a Scot and a Canadian were in a terrible car accident. They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.

“Well,” said the American, “I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St.Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and said that for a donation of $50, we could return to earth. So of course I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $50, and the next thing I knew I was back here.”

“That’s amazing!” said the one of the doctors, “But what happened to the other two?”

“Last I saw them,” replied the American, “the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay his.”

BONUS JOKE #3: In a train car there were a Canadian, an American, a spectacular looking blonde and a fat lady. During the trip the train passes through a dark tunnel, and the unmistakable sound of a slap is heard. When the train exits the tunnel, the American had a big red slap mark on his cheek.

The blonde thought – “That American idiot wanted to touch me and by mistake he must have put his hand on the fat lady, who in turn must have slapped his face.”

The fat lady thought – “This dirty old American laid his hands on the blonde and she smacked him.”

The American thought – “That crazy Canadian put his hand on that blonde and by mistake she slapped me.”

The Canadian thought – “I hope there’s another tunnel soon so I can smack that stupid American again.”

Go ahead and laugh your way through the holiday weekend… Happy Canada Day!

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Hockey Quotes – from The Great One

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Perhaps the most remarkable comment about Wayne Gretzky came from Lowell Cohn. This American sportswriter once said of “The Great One”: “Some guys play hockey. Gretzky plays 40 mph chess.”

For hockey enthusiasts, there should be no need to celebrate the mastery of this superb hockey player. Wayne Gretzky is hockey’s all-time leading point scorer – and has been for more than 30 years. On October 15th 1989, The Great One got an assist and then a goal to notch points 1,850 and 1,851 and surpass “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe’s point total.

Let’s remember Wayne Gretzky’s many achievements with ten of his memorable quotes:

Skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.
I had to play the same style all the way through. I couldn’t beat people with my strength. I don’t have a hard shot. I’m not the quickest skater in the league. My eyes and my mind had to do most of the work.
You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.
You’ll never catch me bragging about goals, but I’ll talk all you want about my assists.
Hockey is the only sport in the world that actually encourages fighting. I have no idea why we let it go on. The game itself is so fast, so exciting, so much fun to watch, why do we have to turn ice red so often? Why do the best shots in a game have to be on somebody’s nose instead of somebody’s net?
It really wasn’t practice, it was fun. I enjoyed myself. If I had considered it practice, I would not have done it. (on playing 6-8 hours a day as a kid)
I don’t like my hockey sticks touching other sticks, and I don’t like them crossing one another; and I kind of have them hidden in the corner. I put baby powder on the ends. I think it’s essentially a matter of taking care of what take care of you.
I’ve held women and babies and jewels and money, but nothing will ever feel as good as holding that Cup.
The hardest thing about hockey is that the older you get, the more you love it.
To play so well and for so long is simply incredible. No player will ever do the things in hockey that Gordie (Howe) did.

The last words on The Great One must go to Canadian radio personality Peter Gzowski, who poetically described Wayne Gretzky’s magic in his 2004 piece “The game of our lives.”:

“There is an unhurried grace to everything Gretzky does on the ice. Winding up for the slapshot, he will stop for an almost imperceptible moment at the top of his arc, like a golfer with a rhythmic swing. He has more room in the flow of time and Gretzky uses this room to insert an extra beat into his actions. In front of the net, eyeball to eyeball with the goaltender . . . he will . . . hold the puck one . . . extra instant, upsetting the anticipated rhythm of the game, extending the moment. . . He distorts time, and not only by slowing it down. Sometimes he will release the puck before he appears to be ready, threading the pass through a maze of players precisely to the blade of a teammate’s stick, or finding a chink in a goaltender’s armour and slipping the puck into it . . . before the goaltender is ready to react.”

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

10 Fascinating Facts about Beavers

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1. Giant beavers roamed Eurasia and North America in the Pleistocene era, rubbing shoulders with mastodons and mammoths. They were 10 feet in length, including tail just smaller than a MINI Cooper and weighed up to 800 pounds.

2. The modern beaver is the second-largest rodent in the world (the capybara of South America is the first). An average adult beaver weighs 35 to 70 pounds and measures 4 feet long, including a 12-inch tail.

3. A large adult beaver skin yielded enough fur for 18 beaver hats. The beaver was hunted and trapped almost to the point of extinction. They are firmly established once more, thanks to a conversation movement championed by Grey Owl, the infamous English immigrant who posed as a Metis in the 1930s.

4. Grey Owl claimed to have compiled a beaver dictionary by listening to the utterings of his two pet beavers, Rawhide and Jellyroll. He stated that he could recognize 49 words and expressions that were intelligible to all beavers, but the manuscript of this dictionary is now missing and presumed lost forever.

5. Beavers are well adapted to working underwater. A secondary transparent eyelid allows them to see, and specialized ducts allow them to close off their ears, nostrils and lips so they can chew without drowning.

6. The two chisel-like upper front teeth of the beaver grow continuously and are sharpened by the act of gnawing on trees. They are not buck teeth, but rather point inwards to facilitate chewing wood.

7. Beavers groom themselves constantly to keep their pelt waterproof with the oil (castoreum) they produce in two glands near their anus. Castoreum also keeps their soft, fine under-fur from matting. Moisture never penetrates their skin, even after a long time swimming underwater.

8. The urge to build dams stems from an instinctive aversion to the sound of running water. Beavers will try desperately to stem the flow, thereby flooding their surroundings to create a pond deep enough that the water wont freeze in winter. They eat sticks in these lean months, so they spend the entire fall submerging twigs in the pond and poking them into the muddy bottom to store them.

9. Contrary to popular legend, beavers do not know how to fell trees so that they fall in a certain direction. Beaver remains have been found that show that the trees they were chewing fell towards them, pinching and crushing their skulls. With their work, it is the female beavers that do most of the engineering and lodge planning, while the male beavers inspect the structure and patch the leaks.

10. Beavers are monogamous and mate for life. And a word to dispel the myth about male beavers biting off their own testicles if provoked. This dates back to Aesops fables when the beaver was hunted for its castoreum, which people believed was produced in the testicles. A story popular at the time held that beavers would see a hunter coming and would bite off their testicles and toss them to the hunter to avoid being killed. If they were chased again, they would flash the hunter to show that they already made the ultimate sacrifice.

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

By George Top-10 Canadian Icons

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A few years ago AskMen.com listed the top 10 Canadian icons “that have been branded as our global symbols and that define our Canadian identity.” In ascending order, they picked: maple syrup, Canada goose, beaver, Tim Horton’s, the loon, totem poles, Mounties, the CBC, the maple leaf and their number #1 icon is hockey.

In our own circles, we asked around and have prepared this list:

The By George Top 10 Canadian Icons

10. Newfie jokes, eh! Canadian humour at its best…

9. The beauty of our country’s nature captured in a Group of Seven shoreline painting or with a lone canoeist gliding through the early-morning mist of a fresh water lake

8. A mounted RCMP with Parliament Hill’s Peace Tower serving as his backdrop

7. A Bryan Adams ballad or Margaret Atwood novel – or our country’s next generation of talent – crooner Justin Bieber and renowned Yann Martel

6. Paul Henderson’s ’72 Team Canada sweater – the hopes and dream of a nation immortalized with this $1 million icon

5. The Canada Space Arm reaching out with the globe in the background – a poignant symbol of our remarkable contribution to science and to tomorrow’s dreams

4. A Tim Horton’s double-double and a maple-iced donut (hey, believe it or not in the Maritimes, they’re now ordering 4 x 4s – a coffee with four creams and four sugars!)

3. HNIC’s Coach’s Corner highlighting Bobby Orr soaring through the goal crease, Wayne Gretzky scoring from behind the net, and/or Sydney Crosby skating backward and raising his arms in victory.

2. Terry Fox and his drive and will to make a difference – our memories of Terry’s smile, his curly hair, the lean of his body as he makes his way through the Canadian Shield landscape.

1. The red maple leaf – Through the past forty years, the red leaf in the middle of our nation’s flag has become a definitive icon for Canucks and for the world. From a fluttering flag to the patch on a serviceman’s shoulder, the red maple leaf represents all that is good in our country.

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Canada’s #1 Symbol

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Through the past few weeks, the By George Journal conducted a Canadiana contest to select the most-Canadian of symbols. Based on the feedback of our followers, here are the top-three, most-beloved symbols of Canadiana.

In reverse order, the top-three selected symbols are:

#3 The RCMP

#2 The Game of Hockey

#1 The Beaver

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

The Maple Leaf Forever!

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Here are the words of the chorus and first couple of verses of the song that first united our land – the song that our soldiers marched to in WWI – establishing forever the maple leaf as an enduring symbol of all that is Canadian.

Chorus:

The Maple Leaf, our emblem dear,
The Maple Leaf forever!
God save our Queen and Heaven bless
The Maple Leaf forever!

In days of yore, from Britain’s shore,

Wolfe, the dauntless hero, came
And planted firm Britannia’s flag
On Canada’s fair domain.
Here may it wave, our boast our pride
And, joined in love together,
The thistle, shamrock, rose entwine
The Maple Leaf forever!

Chorus

At Queenston Heights and Lundy’s Lane,
Our brave fathers, side by side,
For freedom, homes and loved ones dear,
Firmly stood and nobly died;
And those dear rights which they maintained,
We swear to yield them never!
Our watchword evermore shall be
“The Maple Leaf forever!”

Chorus

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Happy Efisga Day, er, Canada Day

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Have you wondered where the name ‘Canada’ comes from?

It’s the Huron-Iroquois word ‘kanata’ which means ‘settlement’ or ‘village.’

Jacques Cartier first heard it in reference to Quebec City, but soon it was used to describe the whole region. Upper Canada Parliamentarian Thomas D’Arcy McGee argued the adoption of Canada as the name for the country in 1865. And the name was officially adopted on July 1, 1867.

So, have you ever wondered what other names were being considered for this country?

Here are some of the names that were bested by the moniker ‘Canada.’

Acadia – Albertland – Albionara

Albona – Alexandrina – Aquilonia

Borealia – British North America – Brittanica

Cabotia – Canadensia – Colonia

Efisga – Hochelaga – Laurentia

Mesopelagia – New Albion – Niagarentia

Norland – Superior – Transatlantia

Transatlantica – Transylvania – Tuponia

Ursulia – Vesperia – Victorialand or Victorialia

Say, how does “Happy Efisga Day” sound?

Or “Happy Hochelaga Day!”

Of course, I like many of my friends still like to say “Happy Dominion Day,” but that’s an argument for another time….

Chris George, providing reliable PR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer or experienced communicator? 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

In Justin Trudeau’s post-national state, there are no proud Canadians

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The Niagara Independent, June 25, 2021 — Oh Canada, is there anything left of our country and its history for us to celebrate? Does it not seem that, in reading news headlines, Canadians’ new national sport is self-flagellation?

We now live in a country where our nation’s past is being removed from public squares and crated for “safe keeping.” It is acceptable to deface and topple the statues of the founding prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald and the country’s initial champion of public education Egerton Ryerson. It is empowering for many to argue that Canada Day must be cancelled and in its place we are all to mourn “the lives lost to the Canadian state – Indigenous lives, Black lives, migrant lives, women, trans and two-spirit lives.”

It appears from our country’s prime minister on down; many political leaders are abetting a narrative that casts Canada’s history in the most negative possible light. As Candice Malcolm of True North Media explained, “It is much more fashionable to condemn Canada as a uniquely terrible, systemically compromised failed state built by irredeemably horrendous leaders who committed unspeakable atrocities and crimes against humanity.”

Malcolm recently lamented, “The woke mob wants to erase our history, tear our country apart and cancel Canada Day but nobody is standing up to them…Baseless claims from the woke left are no longer being challenged. Instead, political and media leaders allow radical woke leftists to use Canada as a punching bag.”

And PM Justin Trudeau never misses an opportunity to virtue signal and incite social justice warriors. It is by design, his drive toward a post-national state – sans culture, sans institutions, sans history.

For years, our country’s prime minister has been ceaselessly denigrating Canadian historic accomplishments and institutions – including the legitimacy of Canada’s seat of government itself – to foster a culture of guilt and unworthiness. Of parliament, PM Trudeau stated: “There are many institutions that we have in this country, including the big building right across the street from us (Parliament Hill’s Centre Block) that has and is built around a system of colonialism, discrimination, of systemic racism in all our institutions.”

The prime minister’s reflections echo the woke world view that western culture is best summarized as a hierarchy of power with a shameful story of oppressors and oppressed – defined by skin colour, gender and sexual orientation.

It is the woke world view in the Canadian education system today that is indoctrinating young minds with a guilt-based, anti-Western narrative. It is also found in Canada’s bureaucracy, which has superimposed a race-based conflict narrative on all policy discussions of our country’s current affairs.

Back in 2019 the Trudeau government introduced “antiracism training” and in the recent 2021 federal budget there was a massive expansion of the race-based programming for all government employees. The training is grounded in “critical race theory,” which is an interpretation of history that positions Western society as intrinsically racist due to its alleged white supremacist thinking and policies.

Canadians are to come to understand that they are racist “settlers” in a land where they have no legitimate rights. The government’s training program instructs civil servants to question everything, including the very name of our country. According to the program, it is a fact that “this place we now call Canada” is but “a colonial settler society – a concept based on many myths, including European discovery and harmonious multiculturalism.”

Given this skewed historical interpretation of Canada, it should not be surprising that the call to cancel the country’s national day has traction among a certain portion of our society. The progressives’ claim is captured in a popular tweet that has been reposted ad nauseum with the hashtag #cancelCanadaDay: “Celebrating Canada Day is a celebration of First Nations dispossession, oppression and genocide. July 1st instead should be a day of mourning and remembrance of the evils of colonialism. People who celebrate occupations and genocide are misguided and shameful.”

The ultimate goal of the woke, progressive mindset is to tear down all structures of our Canadian society and shake the confidence of its people. It is to deny any hint of the country’s accomplishments based on the riches of our natural resources and an industrious people sharing a remarkable history of peace, order and good government.

As Candice Malcom lamented, there seems to be no political leader prepared to stand up to the woke mob – that is until this week.

As MPs were preparing to leave Ottawa for a summer of campaigning, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole addressed his caucus. His message contained a forcible defence of Canada and its history. In response to the progressive mob’s chant to cancel Canada Day, he asserted that “It’s time to build Canada up, not tear it down…the road to reconciliation, the road to equality, the road to inclusion, does not involve tearing Canada down.”

O’Toole broached the subject of recent residential school discoveries by describing them as “very troubling” and evidence of the “grave injustices” committed against Indigenous peoples. However, he rejected that this historic wrong should result in a rejection of Canada’s culture, its institutions and people’s inherited rights. He was adamant that it should not lead to a cancellation of Canada Day, nor to undermine the pride Canadians feel for their country and its history.

This message and O’Toole’s tone stands out in sharp contrast to the narrative being spun this week by PM Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

O’Toole reasoned, “We are not a perfect country. No country is. There is no place on this planet whose history can withstand close scrutiny. But there is a difference between acknowledging where we’ve fallen short and always tearing the country down.”

He placed himself directly in front of the mob and the prime minister’s design for a post-national state. O’Toole spoke directly over the heads of the woke when he said, “As someone who served Canada and will soon ask for the trust to lead this country, I can’t stay silent when people want to cancel Canada Day. I am very proud to be Canadian and I know most people are as well.”

So, perhaps, there is something with this defiant retort to celebrate on this July 1st – oh Canada.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

[Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Justin Lang — People celebrate Canada Day on Parliament Hill, July 1, 2018]

LINK: https://niagaraindependent.ca/there-are-no-proud-canadians-in-justin-trudeaus-post-national-state/

Quotes of Canada’s Prime Ministers through the ages

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Canada’s Prime Ministers

~ from Sir John A Macdonald to Justin Trudeau

10 Favourite Quotes of Sir John A. Macdonald

More Quotes from PM John G. Diefenbaker

Federal Election Memes

12 classic political memes (since 2015)

Quotes of PM Justin Trudeau

Father and Son Trudeau, and Canada Then and Now

Did our next Prime Minister really say that?

Justin Trudeau memes re the #KokaneeGrope

Paul Wells on Stephen Harper

Quotes of PM Stephen Harper

Quotes of PM Paul Martin

Quotes of PM Jean Chretien

Quotes of PM Brian Mulroney

Quotes of PMs Joe Clark, John Turner and Kim Campbell

Question: Was Pierre Trudeau a disaster?

10 Trudeauisms on government

Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s Trudeauisms

Interesting Facts about Canada’s and US’s Leaders

Quotes of PM Lester B. Pearson

More political musings from “The Chief”

John George Diefenbaker on politics and Parliament

PM Louis St. Laurent on Politics

PM WL Mackenzie King on Politics

Quotes of PMs Arthur Meighen and RB Bennett

If you were Prime Minister… (a classic joke)

Quotes of PM Sir Robert Borden

PM Sir Wilfrid Laurier Quotes

Quotes from Canada’s earliest PMs

In defence of Sir John A. Macdonald and his legacy

Great Quotes of Sir John A. Macdonald

Canada’s Prime Ministers on Politics

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

More quotes from PM John G. Diefenbaker

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In completing the task of quoting from all our country’s Prime Ministers – from Sir John A. to our current PM Justin Trudeau – we now return to our favourite quotable PM: John George Diefenbaker. Here are 10 more musings from one of Canada’s most colourful leaders.

My abiding interest is your interest; my guiding principle is the welfare of the Average Canadian.
It is so strange that such a great honour should come to a small man like me.
He who would be chief among you must first be servant of them all.
The prime minister has all the responsibilities and does all the joe-jobs.
I cut down on social functions. No prime minister can carry out his responsibilities when he’s going to dinner every night. Dinners are not a substitute for statesmanship.
Too much and too many of the moneys extorted and squeezed from the Canadian people are being wasted by the parasites of extravagance.
The heresy of yesterday is the Liberal orthodoxy of today.
The Liberal Party has become a hodgepodge of discordance, a cacophony of political nonsense.
No Canadian can but be proud that through the warp and woof of our constitution are the golden threads of our British heritage.
Freedom grows in the practice of good citizenship. It withers or decays in the apathy or neglect of the citizens of the country.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com

10 Favourite Quotes of Sir John A. Macdonald

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Here are 10 of By George’s favourite quotes of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister and a Father of Confederation.

Politics is a game requiring great coolness and an utter abnegation of prejudice and personal feeling.
There were, unfortunately, no great principles on which parties were divided – politics became a mere struggle for office.
Anybody may support me when I am right. What I want is someone that will support me when I am wrong.
There may be obstructions, local differences may intervene, but it matters not — the wheel is now revolving, and we are only the fly on the wheel, we cannot delay it. The union of the colonies of British America under one sovereign is a fixed fact.
I don’t care for office for the sake of money, but for the sake of power, and for the sake of carrying out my own views of what is best for the country.
When fortune empties her chamber pot on your head, smile and say, ‘We are going to have a summer shower.’
If you would know the depth of meanness of human nature, you have got to be a Prime Minister running a general election.
[Macdonald was well known for his wit and also for his love of drink. He is known to have been drunk for many of his debates in Parliament. Here is a story from an election debate in which Macdonald was so drunk he began vomiting while on stage. His opponent quickly pointed this out.] The opposing candidate said: “Is this the man you want running your country? A drunk!” Collecting himself, Macdonald replied “I get sick … not because of drink [but because] I am forced to listen to the ranting of my honourable opponent.”
My sins of omission and commission I do not deny; but I trust that it may be said of me in the ultimate issue, ‘Much is forgiven because he loved much,’ for I have loved my country with a passionate love.
If I had influence over the minds of the people of Canada, any power over their intellect, I would leave them this legacy: ‘Whatever you do, adhere to the Union. We are a great country, and shall become one of the greatest in the universe if we preserve it; we shall sink into insignificance and adversity if we suffer it to be broken.’

(Photo Credit: National Archive)

Chris George provides reliable PR & GR counsel and effective advocacy. Need a go-to writer and experienced communicator? Call 613-983-0801 @ CG&A COMMUNICATIONS.

Question: Was Pierre Trudeau a disaster?

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A few years ago, an Ottawa public policy think tank – The Macdonald-Laurier Institute – hosted a lively debate on the resolution: Pierre Trudeau was Canada’s most disastrous Prime Minister. The Institute brought David Frum to speak to the affirmative and Lawrence Martin to speak against the resolution. Decades after his departure from Parliament Hill, the question of Pierre Trudeau’s impact on our country still is a topic of heated discussion. Here are abbreviated highlights from the opening statements of both arguments regarding P.E.T.’s record in office.

David Frum: Yes, Trudeau was a disaster.

It has taken nearly 30 years to recover after Pierre Trudeau nearly bankrupted and split up the country. Three subsequent important prime ministers — Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper — invested their energies cleaning up the wreckage left by Pierre Trudeau.
Between 1969 and 1979 — through two majority governments and one minority — Trudeau tripled federal spending. In 1981-’82, Canada plunged into recession, the worst since the Second World War. Trudeau’s already big deficits exploded to a point that Canada’s lenders worried about default. Pierre Trudeau was a spending fool.
He believed in a state-led economy, and the longer he lasted in office, the more statist he became. The Foreign Investment Review Agency was succeeded by Petro-Canada. Petro-Canada was succeeded by wage and price controls. Wage and price controls were succeeded by the single worst economic decision of Canada’s 20th century: the National Energy Program.
To win the 1980 referendum, Trudeau promised Quebec constitutional changes to satisfy Quebec nationalism. Instead, he delivered a package of constitutional changes that tilted in exactly the opposite direction. The government of Quebec refused to ratify the new constitutional arrangement, opening a renewed opportunity to separatists and bequeathing a nightmare political problem to Trudeau’s successors.

Lawrence Martin: No, Trudeau was not a disaster.

Pierre Trudeau is beloved because he liberated Canada from old men, old thinking, narrow traditions and colonial caution. To understand Trudeau’s impact we need first recall the type of Canadian leaders who came before him. All these [past] leaders thought along conventional lines. Then came this phenom with a roman cut, sandals and an air of Jesus Christ. Pierre Trudeau combined intellectual electricity, star-power charisma, and a contrarian’s independent mind.
Think of the ways in which he [transformed Canada], the ways in he became the country’s liberator. With his repatriation of the Constitution, Trudeau liberated us at long last from Great Britain. With his Charter of Rights and Freedoms, he liberated us from the authority of the state. With his bilingualism and multicultural polices, he liberated us from unilingual, unicultural trappings; from anti-pluralist prejudice that had rarely seen a woman in top governing posts, that saw no Jews in the cabinet or on the Supreme Court.
With ice in his veins Trudeau liberated us from the blackmail of FLQ terrorism. With the same he took down the threat posed by René Lévesque in the 1980 referendum. With his never-back-down resilience, he provided a sense of freedom from American encroachment, this at a time when the giant next door was mired in war, racism, Watergate and economic nationalism.
Standards of living grew appreciably in the Trudeau years, far more so than in the three decades following when they have flatlined. Under Trudeau, the percentage of Canadians living in poverty dropped from 23 per cent in 1968 to 13 per cent in 1984. Repeat, from 23 per cent to 13 per cent.

To read the full arguments, for and against, visit the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s website, where they have reprinted the Ottawa Citizen columns containing David Frum’s and Lawrence Martin’s opening statements. Click here.

Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com