 Grig
Joined: 15 Jan 2001 Total posts: 14141
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 Posted: 08/ 22/ 06 7:55 am Post subject: A Liberal legacy etched in stone [buildings] |
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A Liberal legacy etched in stone
Federal buildings named after Liberal icons outnumber those honouring Tories three to one. One top Conservative says it's time to even the score. It's time to preserve Tory heritage, caucus told
Tim Naumetz
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Federal buildings named after Liberal icons outnumber those honouring Tories three to one.
Liberal politicians honoured with federal buildings named after them outnumber Conservatives three to one, government records show.
The favouritism Liberal governments have shown to their own over the past three decades and earlier has prompted Government House Leader Rob Nicholson to warn his caucus about preserving the Conservative legacy, Tory insiders say.
After researching the lopsided heritage that federal buildings are presenting to Canadians, Mr. Nicholson delivered an "impassioned" speech on the topic at the recent Conservative caucus meeting in Cornwall, said a Conservative who heard the speech.
Federal records confirm Liberals outnumber the Tories 27 to nine.
Documents of all federal buildings the government owns outright or has leased to purchase provided by the Department of Public Works verify that names of prominent Liberals from the past outnumber Conservatives by the three-to-one margin.
"Well, we have the Diefenbunker," joked a Conservative assistant, referring to the nickname given to the famous nuclear bomb shelter constructed near Carp when Conservative John Diefenbaker was prime minister during the height of the Cold War.
The installation is a Canadian heritage site, but is no longer owned by the federal government.
Edmonton Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer, chairman of the party's parliamentary caucus, said the government has to balance the scales and establish an independent method of dedicating federal buildings and monuments.
"They forget that the buildings are not Liberal buildings, they're Canadian buildings," said Mr. Jaffer.
NDP MP Pat Martin sided with the Conservatives.
"The Liberals are famous for trying to impregnate every aspect of the country with Liberal brand reminders," he said.
Of a second Pierre Trudeau building planned in Ottawa, Mr. Martin said "enough already with Trudeaumania, I've just about had it with the beatification of Pierre Elliott Trudeau."
Of the 369 buildings the government owns or is leasing to purchase and two others under construction or planned, 82 have been dedicated to honour political figures and other Canadians.
Only two past leaders of other parties have federal buildings dedicated in their names, while 44 have been named after prominent explorers, settlers and distinguished Canadians whose accomplishments did not involve politics.
The other buildings are described merely as Government of Canada buildings or have only agency and descriptive designations -- such as RCMP divisional headquarters or taxation data centre.
Mr. Nicholson has also objected to the Liberal predominance in federal statues -- monuments to Liberals on Parliament Hill outnumber Conservatives eight to four -- insiders say. Mr. Nicholson reportedly complained the legacy of the old Progressive Conservative party is being lost.
Mr. Nicholson underwent dental surgery last week and his office e-mailed a brief response to a request for an interview about his campaign.
"I would hope that in the future the dedication of public buildings, statues and memorials would be more representative of the accomplishments of outstanding Canadians from all walks of life and all political stripes," Mr. Nicholson wrote.
The handful of Conservative political names on federal buildings includes Mr. Diefenbaker -- with the Saskatoon airport named in his honour -- Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir John Thompson, a justice minister under Mr. Macdonald, George Etienne Cartier, Macdonald's co-leader of the Great Coalition at Confederation, former prime minister Arthur Meighen and Harry Stevens, a Conservative MP who opposed Asian immigration at the turn of the 20th century.
In contrast, former Liberal prime minister Lester B. Pearson, Mr. Diefenbaker's arch-foe, has his name on two buildings -- the Lester B. Pearson Building on Sussex Drive, the headquarters for the Foreign Affairs Department, as well as the Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada's busiest airport.
Louis St. Laurent, the Liberal prime minister who succeeded Liberal wartime prime minister Mackenzie King, has been honoured with his name on two buildings as well, one in Hull and one in Quebec City, as has Pierre Trudeau. Montreal's Dorval Airport was recently re-named the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, while a proposed Federal Court building in Ottawa that will not be constructed for years has already been named after him.
A federal building under construction in Charlottetown was dedicated by the previous Liberal government in honour of Liberal Jean Canfield, the first woman elected to the P.E.I. legislature and the first woman named to a cabinet in the province.
Paul Martin Sr., the late father of former prime minister Paul Martin, has been honoured with his name on a building in Windsor, and a federal building under construction in Prince Edward Island has also been already dedicated to a prominent Liberal historical figure in the province.
Margaret Trudeau's father, James Sinclair, was honoured by dedication of Vancouver's Sinclair Centre in his name.
A string of cabinet ministers who served under Mr. Pearson have been honoured with building dedications, as have two prominent Liberals who became governors general -- Vincent Massey and Jeanne Sauve.
The only political figures outside Liberal and Conservative circles who were honoured with building dedications were Stanley Knowles of the CCF and the NDP and Real Caouette, who led the Quebec Social Credit party that helped defeat the Diefenbaker minority government in 1963.
Public Works Department policy stipulates that the minister of the department is responsible for approving the names of all federal government structures, including bridges, buildings and other installations. A copy of the policy says the department's deputy minister is formally responsible for submitting proposed names to the minister.
In a change from past practice, Public Works Minister Michael Fortier last month invited citizens of Regina to submit nominations for naming a new federal building in the Saskatchewan capital.
And though many prominent late Conservatives have yet to be honoured with government buildings in their names, Mr. Fortier this summer dedicated a federal building in Montreal in honour of Normand Maurice, a noted Quebec environmentalist and altruist.
There are 82 named or dedicated federal buildings in Canada, according to a list provided by the department of Public Works -- 27 are named after Liberals, nine after Conservatives, two after other political leaders and 44 after other historical figures.
Liberals
Ottawa
- L'Esplanade Laurier, 300 Laurier Ave.
- Lester B. Pearson Building, Sussex Drive
- Pierre Elliott Trudeau Building: Proposed new Federal Court building already dedicated
- Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building, Sparks Street: 19th century Liberal reformer
- C.D. Howe Building, Sparks Street at Bank Street: The Mackenzie King industry minister
- George R. Pearkes Building, Mackenzie Street: Former Mackenzie King minister
- Brooke Claxton Building, Ottawa, Tunney's Pasture: First health minister under Mackenzie King
- Blackburn Building, Sparks Street: Liberal MP Robert Blackburn, 1870s
- Louis St. Laurent Building, Gatineau
- Place Vincent Massey, Hull: Named after first Canadian born governor general who was in Mackenzie King's cabinet
Outside Ottawa
- Sinclair Centre, Vancouver: Named after the father of Margaret Trudeau, fisheries minister James Sinclair
- Harry Hays Building, Calgary: Agriculture minister under Pearson
- Joseph Smallwood Building, Newfoundland: First Liberal premier of Newfoundland
- William Alexander Henry Building, Antigonish, N.S.: Liberal father of confederation
- Daniel J. MacDonald Building, Charlottetown: Trudeau veterans affairs minister
- Joseph Ghiz Building, Summerside, P.E.I.: Former Liberal P.E.I. premier
- Jean Canfield Building, Charlottetown: Liberal, first woman elected to P.E.I. legislature
- Senator Thomas Lefebvre Building, Campbell's Bay, Que.: Former Liberal senator
- Edifice Jeanne Sauve, Laval: Former cabinet minister under Trudeau
- Guy Favreau Towers, Montreal: Justice minister under Lester B. Pearson
- John Munn Building, Quebec City: Manitoba Liberal-Progressive from mid-20th century
- Louis St. Laurent Building, Quebec City
- Lester B. Pearson Airport, Toronto
- Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport, Montreal
- Judy LaMarsh Building, Chatham, Ont.: Cabinet minister during the Trudeau era
- Paul Martin Building, Windsor: Former prime minister Paul Martin's father
- Ralston Building, Halifax: James Layton Ralston, Canadian battalion commander in First World War who was in Mackenzie King's cabinet
Conservatives
Ottawa
- Langevin Building: Public works minister Hector Langevin in the Macdonald government
- Sir Charles Tupper Building: Conservative father of confederation
- Sir John Carling Building: Conservative cabinet minister in the 1880s
- Sir Leonard Tilley Building: Conservative minister with Macdonald
- MacDonald-Cartier International Airport
Outside Ottawa
- John G. Diefenbaker Airport, Saskatoon
- Sir John Thompson Building, Halifax: Justice minister for John A. Macdonald
- Arthur Meighen Building, Toronto: Two brief terms as Conservative prime minister
- Harry Stevens Building, Vancouver: Early 20th century Conservative MP who opposed Asian immigration to Canada
Other Political Figures
- Stanley Knowles Federal Building, Winnipeg: Longtime CCF and NDP MP
- Real Caouette Building, Rouyn-Noranda, Que.: Former Social Credit leader whose party helped Diefenbaker's 1963 Liberal minority
Historical Figures
Ottawa
- Bates Building, Sparks Street: Early Ottawa mayor Charles Bates
- Birks Building, Sparks Street: Birk's jewelery family
- Butler Hut Building, Tunney's pasture. Unknown origin
- Bytown-Rideau Sussex Pavilion, Colonel By Drive
- Connaught Building, MacKenzie Avenue: Duke of Connaught, governor general during First World War
- Dover Building, 185 Sparks Street: Original Dover family hardware store
- Edward Drake Building, Riverside Drive: Former CBC headquarters now headquarters for Communications Security Establishment and named after first director of CSE's predecessor -- communications branch of the National Research Council
- Graham Spry Building, 250 Lanark Ave.: Socialist who helped get the CBC founded and helped Tommy Douglas recruit British doctors in the 1960s doctors strike in Saskatchewan
- Jackson Building, Bank Street: likely local historical figure
- Jean Talon Building, Tunney's Pasture: First intendant of New France
- Jeanne-Mance Building, Tunney's Pasture, 17th century French settler who founded a hospital in Montreal
- R.H. Coates Building, Tunney's Pasture: Canada's first dominion statistician
- Lorne Building, Original National Gallery building named after gallery founder Marquis of Lorne
- Marshall Building, 14 Metcalfe Street: Early businessman
- Mulligan Building, 1800 Walkley Rd.: Early businessman or settler
- Sir William Logan Building, 580 Booth St.: Founder of the Canadian Geological Survey
- Hope Chambers, 63 Sparks St.: Early Ottawa bookseller
- Nelms Building, 67 Sparks St.: 1950s mayor of Ottawa
- Brouse-Slater Building, 181 Sparks St: Early Ottawa grocer Henry Brouse
- Booth Building, 165 Sparks St.: Early lumberman John Booth
- Booth Administration Building, 588 Booth St.
- Nicholson Building, RCMP Headquarters, Vanier Parkway: 10th commissioner of RCMP
- LaSalle Academy, Sussex Drive: Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, an early French explorer of the Great Lakes
Outside Ottawa
- Nicholas Denys Building, Bathurst, N.B.: 17th century Acadian colonist
- Sir Humphrey Gilbert Building, St. John's: Founded first English colony in North America
- John Cabot Building, St. John's
- Dawson B. Dauphinee Building, Bridgewater, N.S.: Unknown origin
- Frederica Giroux Building, Gaspe: Founder of an international missionary congregation of nuns in 1928
- Rene Tremblay Building, Matane: A historical family in Quebec
- Jos Hebert Buliding, Sept-Iles: An Acadian who emigrated to Quebec and was in Gilles Vigneault song
- Joseph Shepard Building, Toronto: 19th-century Toronto settler and close friend of William Lyon Mackenzie
- J.D. Higenbotham Building, Lethbridge: A federal mispelling of J.D. Higinbotham, first pharmacist in Alberta
- Henry Larson Building, Yellowknife: Federal mispelling of Henry Larsen, RCMP Sgt. who captained the St. Roch west to east through the Northwest Passage
- Steveston Building, Richmond, B.C.: Named after a village that was named after an early B.C. settler
- P.L. James Place, Victoria: Early Victoria, B.C., architect
- Rene-Nicholas Levasseur Building, Quebec City: Commander of a Quebec shipyard that built French warships in the 18th century
- Louis Pratt Building, Quebec City: Unknown origin
- Normand Maurice Building, Montreal: Quebec environmentalist and altruist
- Gare Maritime Champlain, Quebec City: Samuel de Champlain
- Edifice Rene-Poirier, Longueuil, Que.: Origin unknown
- Sam Livingstone Building, Calgary: Early Alberta settler once claimed to be Calgary's first citizen
- Elijah Smith Building, Whitehorse: Prominent Yukon aboriginal leader
- Lipton Building, London, Ont.: Origin unknown
- Thompson Lab Building, Toronto: Unknown origin
Ran with fact box "There are 82 named or dedicated federal
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