There is a very old saying that people who forget the past will probably screw up the future. It has always been very annoying to us that Canadians can be disinterested in the past. They fail to be aware of or appreciate the people who have given so much of themselves to create and build this country.
Case in point: Our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. This is the man who in many ways brought this country through the birthing process. It is hardly his fault that in those times, he swore a lot, drank even more and was somewhat high-handed with the country’s treasury.
But he got the job done and he earned his place in history. And it was nice to see a picture of where he was buried recently and it was obvious somebody had taken a weed-wacker to the family plot and repainted the little wrought-iron fence.
But to take Sir John off the ten-dollar bill is an insult to all Canadians. It denies our country and its origins. Our currency should be reserved for honouring those who have served our country and helped to make it great. We have waited long enough for the replacement of the Queen on the twenty-dollar bill. Mind you that honour should go to Pierre E. Trudeau, Lester B. Pearson or maybe even John G. Diefenbaker.
This is not to discourage the feminists. They can find another way to honour Viola Desmond. She was obviously a lady of great principles and we should all appreciate what she endured for Nova Scotia. When they get around to amalgamating the four Atlantic provinces into two viable provinces, they could name one after Ms. Desmond.
And if you really have to have a woman on a Canadian bill, we could do a run of three-dollar bills displaying the face of Kim Campbell, Canada’s first female Prime Minister. It might be best though to wait until after Ms. Campbell is deceased.
As we had to explain once to a politician who was outraged when we suggested that a new trail through one our parks not be named after his mother. We agreed with him that his mother had helped plan the trail and was instrumental in its development. In our opinion, it was just inappropriate to name it after her while she was still alive. Just think of the cost of repainting all the signs if she decided to augment her puny Canada Pension Plan payments by robbing a bank.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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