Antigonish Representin'!

u.s. presidents are interesting but you know what tops 'em?

that's right, canadian prime ministers. all that dynamic parliamentary system excitement crammed into just 140 years makes me wanna go buy beer! tall boys!

as a canadian it's amazing to me what i've forgotten over the years, or rather, more likely, never really knew about the p.m's.

so here's a little did you know list on canadian pms cribbed entirely from the wiki. (well, i did my own math so be wary)

pms are party leaders of the party that wins the most seats in the house of commons ( i actually knew that)

americans, and other non-canadianites, you can impress your canadian friends with this information so read on.

there have been 22 canadian pms up to incumbent stephen harper

he's the 3rd pm from alberta, all conservative and the 1st since joe clark in '79, who only did 9 months in the big chair

alberta pms have ruled a total of about 8 years

quebec (inc. lower canada) has had the most native born pms, 6

and the first native born pm, 3rd pm john abbott

quebec pms have ruled more than 60 years

ontario has also had 6 pms, but 3 were born outside canada, including the first pm john a. macdonald who was born in scotland and came to canada at age 5

ontario pms have ruled for close to 45 years

21 of those years belong to william lyon mackenzie king, the longest serving pm and the only one to serve 3 separate times. among many things, he was canada's WWII pm. he was all for appeasement and even met and admired hitler. he liked to be called 'rex'

wilfred laurier served 15 years consecutively, the record for canadian pms

our 2nd pm, alexander mackenzie, was also born in scotland and emigrated at 20

the 5th pm, sir mackenzie bowell, was born in england and moved at 9

the name 'mackenzie' is very popular with canadian pms

17th pm john turner was also born in england and moved at age 3. he's kinda from all over canada but represented quebec, i believe, in office. he took over after trudeau resigned and served only 2 and a half months, so i'm not counting him among quebec's 6 pms

moving west to east, bc has had one pm, kim campbell (and is it just me or does she look a lot like famously ugly 1st pm john a?), also the first and only female canadian pm, who took over from the then immensely unpopular brian mulroney in 1993. she held the office for about five months when jean chretien got elected starting his 10 year run

i met chretien in '91 at mount allison university in sackville.

saskatchewan has had one, john diefenbaker, for 6 years, '57 to '63

manitoba also has had one, arthur meighen, who served twice as pm for a total of almost two years, though he was never elected

new brunswick has never had a pm and unless frank mckenna decides to come out of retirement and throw his hat into the ring, we probably won't for while yet, if ever

pei, newfoundland and the northern territories have also never had a pm

nova scotia has had 3 though, the 4th, 6th and the 8th. john thompson (2 years), charles tupper (2 months) and robert borden (9 years). borden saw canada through WWI

which, finally, leads me to why i'm writing about canadian pms tonight instead of sleeping ...

sir john thompson was from halifax but as pm represented none other than the town of antigonish, which, for those of you who are regular readers will know, is the hometown of our very own kevlar!

sir john thompson served as john a. macdonald's minister of justice and was the one who ruled that canada's most famous rebel, louis riel, be hung for his part in the red river rebellion of 1869-70.

he became pm in 1892 and was the first roman catholic pm to boot. as pm, he traveled to paris to argue for canada vs. the u.s. over the bering strait seal harvest. the americans were demanding only u.s. boats be allowed in the bering sea to kill seals. thompson got a ruling in favor of canada. and we still, to this day, kill seals. good job, thompson!

he died in 1894 of a heart attack at windsor castle in england following a meeting with queen victoria in which she had just made him a member of her privy council.

he was the 2nd of 4 pms to die in office and the last.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

finally, kevlar, did you go to this high school? if so, are there really doctors in your family?