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Why every Canadian Prime Minister Sucks (especially your favourite); A Thread
1) John A. Macdonald was the first (and the third) PM, and somehow manages to surprise me every time I read more about him. Being the first PM in a genocidal country shouldn't be celebrated. Plus, he resigned over his party taking bribes for the CNR, so. Totally no good.
2) Alexander Mackenzie. Heard of him? Me either, honestly. Wasn't a father of confederation, but still passed the Indian Act. Despite this, there's still barely any info on him. Was also the original George Brown fanboy.
3) Surprise! Macdonald again. Except this time he stays for another fifteen years. During which he approved Louis Riel's execution, and implemented the Chinese Head Tax to 'keep BC Arian', despite being an immigrant himself.
4) John Abbot took over for Macdonald after he had a stroke. He was the reason Macdonald got caught accepting bribes, btw. Pre-PM he was Montreal's mayor, and was a lawyer who defended Confederate soldiers.
5) John Thompson. Supported Macdonald in punishing 'anyone who encouraged Canadians to act against the state'. Only got so far in politics because the wife of a governor general had a crush on him. Also totally let Manitoba get screwed in their Schools Question. (Riel)
6) Mackensie Bowell. Further divided the country with giving no help in the Manitoba School Question. Had a bunch of people in his own cabinet resign under him, then he resigned, and they all got reinstated. Had earlier prevented Riel from gaining his seat in the House.
7) Charles Tupper was Prime Minister for like, two months... The Manitoba Schools Question destroyed him too. Loved the idea of a united Canada because there were so many resources to exploit, and that would attract European capitalists to Canada.
8) Now, someone you'll recognize. Wilfrid Laurier. Let volunteers fight in the Boer War. Approved an order to keep the 'unsuitable Negros' fleeing segregation out of Canada. Removed the right for 'Status Indians' to vote. Beloved for some reason.
9) Robert Borden, our World War One PM. Ran on the slogan "A White Canada". Created Income Tax, but pretended it was temporary. Told the military to shut down the Winnipeg General Strike because he hated the worker's revolution. Promised suffrage, only gave it to white women.
10) Arthur Meighan's first term was less notable than what preceded. He was the Minister for Indian Affairs. He preferred giving the vote to conscription supporters rather than immigrants. His first term was basically a year so there'll be more on him later.
11) William Lyon Mackenzie King, hello! Canada's WW2 PM, but not yet! That's in his third term, this is just his first. Prevented Chinese people from entering Canada. His time as PM led to the King-Byng Affair, and he held onto power like a 'lobster with lockjaw'. Hehe.
12) He's back! Arthur Meighen. Appointed as a result of the King-Byng affair, but only kept office for a few months. This political instability in Canada sure didn't help in a world that was hugely instable at this time, and for couldn't have helped with the impending depression.
13) King again. Gave the Prairies 'Crown Land' which set them up to be the oil powerhouses they are today, so, great. Made Canada more independent and more restrictive for Indigenous people. Also, thought the Depression was temporary lol, and hated giving unemployment relief.
14) R. B. Bennett. Dealt with the Depression laissez-faire, then failed to replicate the New Deal lol. Was so anti-Communist he was called 'Iron Heel Bennett'. Also probably gave the equivalent of 350 000 modern CAD to Quebec Fascist Adrien Arcand.
15) King again! It's World War Two and this fucker is more racist than ever. Let the US take control of Yukon. Interned Japanese-Canadians, inspiring Roosevelt to do the same. But everyone loves him cause he's quirky and held seances for his Mum and dog.
16) Louis St. Laurent. Intense nationalist that was 'for the people'.. ew. Started the TransCanada Pipeline company so that's gross. Promoted NATO on personal anti-Communist grounds. Also was weirdly involved in the Suez Crisis. Huge bad Indian Act amendments under him.
17) John Diefenbaker. Had a very bad stance of never saying anything about South African Apartheid (Based off of Canada's Indian Act, btw). Sixties Scoop started under him. Also something with the Avro Arrow happened idrk what or why but people are very mad about it?
18) Lester B. Pearson now. Mocked northern development programs as "igloo-to-igloo communication". Didn't give jobs to non-white service members. Nobel prize though? Still very underserving of the cool title 'Herr Zig-Zag' Swiss hockey players gave him.
19) Your mother's favourite Truedau (Pierre)'s first time in office. Invoked the War Measures Act in response to the October Crisis. Driving force behind the anti-Indigenous White Paper. He comes back in a few months so be ready.
20) Joe Clark. Defeated by a no-confidence vote when he proposed his first budget lol. Took one of the largest break periods in Canadian history. Moved our Israeli embassy to Jerusalem. Would be interested to learn more about him if anyone has any info.
21) Trudeau returns (but not the younger one, yet). Created the National Energy Board that started to make Canada a real oil and gas superpower (ew). See above for more.
22) John Turner. PM for three months. I really didn't know we had so many short-term PMs honestly. Groped female MPs on live TV. Generally got destroyed in debates and in campaigning. Again, interested to learn more.
23) Brian Mulroney! Privatised everything he could get his hands on (Air Canada, Petro-Canada, etc), deregulated as much as he could, gave huge tax breaks to politicians. Sent Canadian Forces into the Gulf War. Plus, Oka Crisis. Also took bribes from Airbus. So.. yeah.
24) Kim Campbell! Canada's only female PM, made fun of for her short term despite so many men having short terms. Served under the Minister of Northern and Indian Affairs. Said like, last year, that female news presenters who show their arms aren't taken seriously.
25) Jean Chrétien. Helped create the aforementioned White Paper. Taunted First Nations at press conferences and then adopted an Inuit child to escape criticism. Ran a ridiculously mismanaged ad sponsorship program. Also, Afghanistan War.
26) Paul Martin baby! Created the Kelowna Accord which Indigenous groups supported but never made it legally binding so Harper dropped it… Opposed same sex marriage until it wasn’t popular to do so anymore. Again, someone please tell me more lmao.
27) Number one prime loser fucker ugly prime minster Stephen Harper. Where do I even begin. Racist. Anti-Indigenous. Sexist. Even the economy went to shit like what did he have left. Somehow thought his chance to win the 2016 election would be in MORE ISLAMOPHOBIA like fml.
28) Mister Justin Trudeau. Forgetting SNC Lavalin and this WE thing (that’ll blow over), this man has made himself a golden boy with blatant lies about being eco-friendly and pro-indigenous. Who does he please. Himself? Idek
I know this thread may seem annoying and rude and nitpicky. I say that the way most history is presented is much worse and way more nitpicky. We can't only look at the positives of our past, otherwise we make heroes of people who are just as controversial as figures today.
This goes both ways. Can you as a conservative be alright with Trudeau being 100% loved in the future? Can you as a Liberal be alright with Harper being 100% loved in the future? It's important to keep all of a person in mind.
Canada loves to hate in the US even the things we see in ourselves. We hate US exceptionalism so much that we start to create Canadian exceptionalism. To my knowledge, a Canadian PM has never owned slaves. If Canada was a country 100 years earlier, there probably would have been.
We are a country that prides itself on diversity. Why has there been no non-white PM? Why only one female PM with such a short time? The US and Canada are both institutionally racist. We have to keep in mind that we are not that far ahead of the states in a lot of ways.
Credits to @ddupreejr's awesome thread on US-American Presidents. Very interesting and it inspired this thread.
