Top 5 OTL Canadian Prime Ministers

1. Sir John A. Macdonald (Tory)- It's Sir John A.!

2. Mackenzie King (Liberal)- was our own FDR in legislative terms, set up the modern social safety net and the owner of the record, not to mention being more conservative than the Tories themselves until 1945- when to paraphrase Norman Thomas, "He carried away our (CCF) program in a coffin". Tried CAFTA 40 years ahead of schedule.

3. Lester Pearson (Liberal)- Maple Leaf, Medicare and detente with Quebec.

4. Brian Mulroney (PC)- the two FTA's, good US-Canada relations, tried to fix PET's errors.

5. Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Liberal)- National unity if nothing else. Helped settle the West, but few legislative accomplishments except trying to set up a navy, thereby opposing WSC (;)).
 
#1 Mackenzie King - The war and the Great depression, and of course the record.

#2 MacDonald - Founding a country while being completely hammered all the time takes skill.

#3 Laurier - Any sense of National Unity we had going into the 20th century came from him. As much as Macdonald, he helped build the country.

#4 St Laurent - Last of the classic Liberals. Fiscally conservative and socially liberal( for the time). Left the country richer, more unified, and better off than when he took office, and he did it with such ease people forget he was Prime Minister.

#5 Trudeau - The Charter and defeating the separatists.
 
The only one where I disagree is PET, who was our fiscal Bush (national debt over a century x18 in 16 years). His opposition to Meech and Charlottetown helped kill both accords (though both were flawed IMO) and led to the rise of the BQ.
 
I almost picked Pearson instead but PET's constitutional vision was impressive and has had a lasting impact. He did suck at math though.
 
4. Brian Mulroney (PC)- the two FTA's, good US-Canada relations, tried to fix PET's errors.
Brian Mulroney!?!? Ah, it's a Toryanna post, that explains it.

This IS the same Brian Mulroney that so eviscerated his party that the next election they had, what was it, 6 seats in Parliament? Or are you really going to blame that all on Kim Campbell.

I will certainly admit he did a bunch of good stuff. But he did a bunch of bad stuff too, and top 5 is ummm... pushing it, shall we say.


Mind you, I can say much the same about PET, (some wonderful stuff, some really horrible stuff, really, really mixed legacy). IIRC Macleans did polls on best and worst Canadians and PET made the top 10 on both.
 
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