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11/30/2004 Archived Entry: "T.C. Douglas named 'Greatest Canadian'"

Posted by steve @ 11:19 AM EST [Link]

CANADA CHOOSES GREATEST SOCIALIST: In case you're an American -- or a Canadian who decided to remain blissfully ignorant -- last night our publicly funded broadcaster, the CBC, wrapped up its quest for the greatest Canadian. Surprisingly, to me at least, it wasn't Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the man who has essentially defined what it is to be a Canadian these days. Rather, it was Tommy Douglas, the late socialist who was largely responsible for Canada's government run health care system.

To delirious cheers, Stroumboulopoulas [Douglas' chosen 'celebrity' defender] dramatically argued that if Douglas, who died in 1986, were removed from the national equation "you remove the caring, sharing legacy of everything that we value. . .you remove this, and this is our most treasured, treasured national characteristic!"

Not surprisingly the CBC declared that this wasn't an exercise in hype but a valid exercise by Canadians which encouraged public debate. ESR editor Steve Martinovich responds that pretty well every person he knew could have cared less about "the process" except for those who tried to subvert it by voting for hockey commentator Don Cherry (who placed ahead of our first prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald and some guy named Alexander Graham Bell...).

Ultimately it shows to me that Canadians really are philosophically bedmates of Europe. They are unable to see why medicare schemes are doomed to failure so they believe anyone who fights for them is inherently more noble than those who fight against them. God only knows how much suffering the health care system has inflicted upon those people who otherwise would have been healed under a private system. For that reason alone Tommy Douglas is evil.

Oh yes, because the list showcases "Unity, diversity, compassion, caring for each other," it apparently proves why we're better than Americans.

Read on.