Beyond The Commons

 Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Stephen Harper = John Lennon

by Aaron Wherry on Monday, February 9, 2009 1:22am - 14 Comments

Michael Adams discusses his most recent polling on who Canadians admire most. Pierre Trudeau comes first, by a fairly wide margin, with 121 mentions.

Adams doesn’t include a complete list of the other 442 people named, but the standings for those he does cite are as follows.

Trudeau 121 
Mother Teresa 87
Gandhi 68
Winston Churchill 63
Jesus 61
Rene Levesque 59
Princess Diana 40
Barack Obama 40
Pope Benedict 25
Dad 22
Queen Elizabeth II 21
Mom 16
John Lennon 13
Tommy Douglas 13
Stephen Harper 13
Lester Pearson 13
John Diefenbaker 12

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Bookmark and Share
  • Finn

    He also equals Tommy Douglas. It would be funny if circumstances somehow forced him to save medicare. Then his base would be really mad.

  • hosertohoosier

    How useful is this survey, exactly? The problem with selecting out of infinite options is that there are usually people one admires almost as much as the person you admire the most. Name recognition probably determines people’s answers a fair bit – people will say the first answer that comes to their mind, which may not technically be their true favourite (for me Napoleon Bonaparte and Richard Nixon are both strong contenders). That said I can read a few tea leaves in these results…

    1. It is interesting how poorly Jesus did. I would have bet good money he would come first. On the other hand, Pope Benedict did a lot better than I’d have thought, since he isn’t a super popular pope.
    2. Canadians don’t seem that keen on their own countrymen (the second ranked Canadian on the list wanted to destroy the country). Trudeau does well, but I think a lot of that is name recognition. That King, Laurier and John A. aren’t in the top 20 is surprising.
    3. Canadians are still anglophiles. Churchill, QEII, Di and John Lennon all make the list. Contrary to the notion that we are too affected by American influences, Obama is the only American on the list.
    4. Where the hell is Terry Fox on that list? Are you telling me I ran around my primary school climber for nothing (I suppose today’s kids are too fat to run)!
    5. ‘Tis a great day to be a white male.

    • Matthew Fletcher

      It is not too surprising that King and Laurier are not on the list given the popularity of Trudeau. Chances are that most people who would consider King or Laurier would rank Trudeau higher.

    • http://macleans.ca kc

      H to H.
      Give it up! Trudeau ranked well because many people, other than you, admired the man. I know it’s tough living in a country that’s hard on its consevatives, but there it is. Try and deal with the fact that Canadians are entitled to their own views, however much that displeases you!

    • Sophie

      (I suppose todays kids are too fat to run)
      Not so. I finished secondary school.. 3 years ago (wow. I feel old now) and we ran 2.5 km every year for Terry Fox and they damn better well be still doing it or those kids in my building are running around with my hard earned money for nothing.

  • http://www.canadianrosebud.blogspot.com burlivespipe

    I’m amazed dad out-polled mom but I knew that we’d have our day. But even I’d have voted for mom over dad. Harper as popular as Lennon, Douglas, Pearson and Diefenbacker? This poll must have been cracked by the CON war room. It’s so easy to play ‘one of these isn’t the same, one of them doesn’t belong’ game, and it isn’t Lennon…

    • seaandthemountains

      agreed on dad v mom….was very surprised by that….

    • Brad

      “I’m amazed dad out-polled mom but I knew that we’d have our day. ”

      Especailly with those stupid husband commercials being run by Rogers, Canadian Tire and that casino where the doofus tatoos lucky 7 backwards on his own chest. Never play the full retard.

  • Andrew (not Potter or Coyne)

    I’d question whether the list is worth the electrons….

  • Matthew Fletcher

    But this does answer the question as to whether the Beatles (Lennon at least) are bigger than Jesus – No, at least in Canada.

  • J@ck M!tchell

    Nietzsche came in behind John Diefenbaker? What are we coming to?

    • http://macleans.ca kc

      I would say about the same degree of sanity for both though. Although i’d bet Nietzsche’s French was better.

  • http://freekarma.net freekarma

    it is astonishing how John Lennon and Jesus did, thought it would be much higher! I would love to see this same poll done in America.

  • http://www.napoleonshield.com Bob

    Did Napoleon make the list?

    My family actually owns a shield and two swords that were owned by Napoleon Bonaparte himself. I posted some close up photos and a short video on my blog in case you’re interested. Take care – Bob

Previous

Next

From Macleans