Sorry Ben, they still haven’t
forgotten.
Canada has lots of enduring qualities: clean air, government sponsored health care, Labatt Blue Beer (actually the jury is still out on that one), and according to Bowling for Columbine, nobody bothers to lock their doors. Oh and don’t forget that its home to North America’s version of Amsterdam in British Columbia. But, believe it or not, Canada actually has some bad qualities as well, namely it’s residents.
A Canadian magazine, The Beaver (we laughed too), is conducting a search to find the “worst Canadian” of all-time and amongst the possible winners are some of the most vile and reprehensible criminals to ever call live in Canada. And then there’s Ben Johnson. You might remember Johnson as the world’s fastest man, but if you do then you need to seriously brush up on your sports history because he was quickly stripped of his medal for the tainted 9.79 seconds of shame due to the use of steroids.
You would think that the Canadians would be over this by now, after all it did happen in 1988 but noted Canadian historian Will Ferguson still seems a bit bitter.
He (Ferguson) refused to divulge details about his planned nominee. But he did mention disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson “humiliated Canada” at the 1988 Olympics by testing positive for steroids, and called Charles Lawrence — the 18th-century governor of Nova Scotia who orchestrated the expulsion of the Acadians — “an example of someone who has had a huge negative impact” on the country’s history.
Now, we’re no experts on our neighbors to the north but we’d have to say that the person who removed an entire population from the country would have to be considered to be a tad worse Canadian than some dude who poked himself full of the juice. But, hey, this is Canada’s poll, so we know that it’s gonna be all jacked up. This is the country where Terrance and Phillip rein supreme, right?
Links:
[Edmonton Journal]: History magazine launches search for `worst Canadian’
[Steroid Nation]: Ben Johnson in running for `Worst Canadian Ever’