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While everyone is probably familiar with John Manley and Preston Manning, politicians who made their mark a hundred years ago are at quite a disadvantage in a tournament like this<\/a>. History is written about the winners, after all. In last year’s contest<\/a>, the final match was between John A. MacDonald and Wilfrid Laurier so, clearly, there were some good Prime Ministers back in the day. It should therefore stand to reason that a few other 19th century politicians would have made fine leaders for this country too.<\/p>\n Joseph Howe <\/strong><\/a> George Henry Murray Samuel Tilly Henri Bourassa<\/strong><\/a> George Etienne Cartier<\/strong><\/a> played a leading role in pushing through legislative reform that effectively abolished the semi-feudal <\/em>seigneurial system<\/em><\/a> of land ownership in Lower Canada, turning its legislative council into an elected body of representatives, and pushed successfully for the adoption of the <\/em>Civil Code<\/em><\/a> within the province. Edward Blake
Appears to have Scott Brison\u2019s vote <\/a>in this tournament. Howe was a strong believer in freedom of the press and his influence could be felt on the Nova Scotian government over many years. Howe was a vicious opponent to confederation and after he failed to prevent it, he led a temporary ad hoc rainbow coalition of MPs from Nova Scotia who opposed the agreement.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/strong>The Cal Ripken of provincial politics with a record 27 year consecutive Premier streak. Clearly he did something right. Or maybe he just sold out to the big money potato lobby. Of note, George Murray lost five elections before finally being elected to the provincial legislature (so he’s really Tony Clement’s role model).<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/a>Tilly was New Brunswick Premier and a strong supporter of confederation. It was Tilly\u2019s suggestion to use \u201cfrom sea to sea\u201d as our motto, so he’s the one to blame for the 30 letters to the editor in the Globe I see every day about changing our motto to “sea to sea to sea”. Tilly entered federal politics in 1867 and served for over 7 years as Minister of Finance (never once running a balanced budget \u2013 shame!).<\/p>\n
Bourassa is certainly not a member of the Michael Ignatieff school of foreign policy and he resigned as a federal Liberal in 1899 because of a disagreement over Laurier’s decision to send troops to the Boer War (he felt it was a snap vote with no real time for debate). Bourassa founded Le Devoir<\/em> and used it as a vehicle to criticize many of Laurier’s pro-British decisions and helped contribute to Laurier’s defeat in 1911 (leading to the election of a pro-British Tory government \u2013 d\u2019oh!). Bourassa, not surprisinglym fought hard against conscription in the first world war and developed a reputation as the defender of the French Canadian people.<\/p>\n
This is an individual who I really feel is worthy of a final 4 appearance in this tournament and he\u2019d certainly make for a worthy winner. Carter was MacDonald’s right hand man in the pre-Confederation Parliament and helped set up the grand coalition with George Brown. He was a fierce advocate of confederation and deserves much of the credit for bringing Quebec onside with the idea (or, \u201cmost of the blame\u201d, if you prefer). According to my good friends at wikipedia<\/a>, he also:<\/p>\n
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Cartier was one of MacDonald’s most trusted Ministers and he often sat in for the PM when John A. was \u201cunder the weather\u201d. In other words, he was<\/em> the Prime Minister of Canada. He negotiated the deals to bring Manitoba and BC into Canada, as well as the construction of the trans-Canada railway.<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/a>Edward Blake is the only federal Liberal leader to never become Prime Minister. So, consider him the Liberal counterpart to Stanfield\u2026or Drew\u2026or Bracken\u2026or Manion\u2026or, well, you get the picture. Blake became Ontario Premier in 1871 and led the original Mad as Hell tour against John A. MacDonald\u2019s pacific scandal, helping to bring down the PM. He became Liberal leader in 1880 and \u201cnever lost his Clear Grit style and ability to bore an audience for hours on end with pedantics<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n