Greatest Canadian

[jBirch]

So, who'd you vote for? Who is the Greatest Canadian and why?

[Epee_Pox]

I voted for Alexander Graham Bell, because I've only ever heard of him and Wayne Gretzky, and Wayne's just an athlete whereas Alex made the whole world a different place.

Who are the other people?

[Avanti]

Standard Time was invented by Scottish Canadian, Sir Sandford Fleming in 1878.
Establishment of Universal Standard Time, Fleming recommended the standard to the Royal Canadian Institute in 1879. Standard Time was accepted universally in 1884. Designed the first Canadian postage stamp. The three penny stamp issued in 1851 had a beaver on it, now the national animal of Canada.

[davtsung]

The Great One. In Godfather Part III, they alluded to an Italian-American who actually invented the 'telephone' before Alexander Graham Bell. CAn anyone confirm this?

[Inquartata]

Where's the option for Mike Myers.

[xcr]

This is from a CBC Special- they are the top 10


Pierre Trudeau-- former PM (Liberal)- under him the constitution was patreaited, and the Charter was introduced (as an element of the constitution (in place of the less extensive and toothless Bill of Rights)
Lester B. Pearson-- former PM (Liberal)-- 'inventor' of peacekeeping, National Medicare intorduced, other social programs
Tommy Douglas-- former Premier (CCF, Saskatchewan)- Medicare (first, in Sask only), other social policy)
Terry Fox-- Raised substantial amounts of money for cancer research by running across the county (died part way, of cancer).
Wayne Gretzsky-- Hockey player (what the hell is he doing in this list, anyway...)
Don Cherry-- Brash, loudmouthed hockey commentator, former coach
Alexander Graham Bell--- Invented telephone, hydrofoil boat, was one of the builders of the first airplane in the Commonwealth/ British Empire
David Suzuki-- Prominent Environmentalist
Sir Frederick Banting-- Inventor of Insulin
Sir John A. MacDonald-- former PM (Conservative)-- first PM, one of those who negotiated confederation

[Maeve_Mari]

What about William Shatner?
Would the dramatic world exist today if not for the stardom and cult status of Captain James T. Kirk?

[latenight]

Wayne is the great one,

[xcr]

He <edit- 'He' refers to Shatner- I did not see the above propr to my post> did make it into the top 100, according to the web site- http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/

I choose Tommy Douglas here, though I consider Pearson up there as well.

On the other hand, I dont think Cherry deserves to be in the top 10, or 10 million for that matter, nor Gretzsky (what is wrong with you people, he's only a hockey player, there are others in the list who improved the lives of millions)

[pammie003]

With the options on this list, I'm going to go with Trudeau. Although I disagree with some of his approaches, I can't deny that under his administration many of the social programs that we now consider to be fundamental to Canadian society were implemented. He (and his staff) made an incredible difference in the lives of Canadians.

[cornflower]

I went with Trudeau, he was one b!tchin' PM! Although Wayne's pretty cool... but he left Canada to play for some American team, so yeah, I didn't vote for him.

[pkt]

The Great One. In Godfather Part III, they alluded to an Italian-American who actually invented the 'telephone' before Alexander Graham Bell. CAn anyone confirm this?

It was actually a German who invented the first telephone:
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/in...s/story078.htm

"... In 1831, Englishman Michael Faraday (1791-1867) proved that vibrations of metal could be converted to electrical impulses. This was the technological basis of the telephone, but no one actually used this system to transmit sound until 1861. In that year, Johann Philip Reis (1834-1874) in Germany is said to have built a simple apparatus that changed sound to electricity and back again to sound. A crude device, it was incapable of transmitting most frequencies, and it was never fully developed. "

The problem with Reis' invention was that it was affected by humidity. Bell moved to the US on the advice of his lawyer. In the US he made the move that made him "the inventor" of telephony because he was the first one to patent his invention...

PK

[Rogue]

Bob and/or Doug Mackenzie get my vote...eh.

[Inquartata]

Wayne is the great one,

Jackie Gleason is "the Great One".

[latenight]

Hey jackie's great. But Wayne has set records in his sport thaat may never be broken.......especially with the lock out. :-(

[scrapinpeg]

If your greatest people are nothing more than athletes, latenight, then your country's got problems.

I am embarrassed to say that I'd never heard of most of these people. Intriguing website.

If you eliminate the socialists (more harm than good) and "so what" people, the list consists of:

--Trudeau, whose comic strip stopped being funny a long time ago

--Bell, who made his famous achievement in the US

--Banting, savior of millions of lives

--MacDonald, a raging drunkard whose country was formed despite rather than because of him

So it looks like Banting is the only possible choice.

[latenight]

I am just giving my personal opinion. He has had more of an effect on ME than any of the others. Geesh.

[cornflower]

--Trudeau, whose comic strip stopped being funny a long time ago

Trudeau's comic strip? That's not the one we're talking about, we're talking about Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the Prime Minister - not Garry Trudeau, the comic artist!

[cornflower]

Oh wait... is that supposed to be a joke? If so... I don't get it

[felicote]

Alex Trebek.
How could we live without jeopardy.