Toronto Stiffs

George Brown

It is inevitable that Montreal has a much stronger sense of place than does Toronto. There is more history there; it is something special to be a French-speaking city in North America; the geography is more interesting.

Canada suffers from this, now that Toronto and not Montreal is our chief city.

But there are things Montreal does that Toronto could do. For one thing, Montreal seems full of public statues of local importance: a statue of Jean Drapeau, of Rene Levesque, of Brother Andre, of Maurice Richard, and so forth. I think it adds a lot, and you don't see the like in Toronto. If there are public statues there, they seem to refer to people and events without any special ties to Toronto. More of less on the very site of the Battle of York during the War of 1812, for example, you have—a monument to the massacre in Katyn, Poland. And nothing about the War of 1812.

I think Toronto should make a point of putting up life-sized bronze statues of local heroes—people whose lives and characters are forever associated with Toronto, who made Toronto what it is. Not away up on pedestals—at street level, as if they were still walking around with the rest of us. Because they would want to be, if they loved Toronto, and they really are in a sense, if they left their mark. Not just famous people who once lived in Toronto, but people who left a personal imprint there. No Mary Pickfords.

A proposed list:

Ed Mirvish
William Lyon Mackenzie
Wayne and Schuster
Northrop Frye
Marshall McLuhan
Banting and Best
Ronnie Hawkins
Glenn Gould
Timothy Eaton
Roy Thomson
Johnny Bower
Gordon Sinclair
King Clancy
Robert Baldwin
Bishop Michael Power
James FitzGibbon
Jack Layton
Richard J. Needham
Gregory Clark
Duncan Macpherson 

I do not include Egerton Ryerson, George Brown, or Ned Hanlon, because they already seem sufficiently represented. All already have statues, and more.

Others are not included because they are still living: Dave Keon, Mary Margaret O'Hara, David Crombie, Sharon, Lois, and Bram.

Others are not included because, although they contributed to Toronto, they have stronger associations to some other place: William Kurelek.

How about Rob Ford? Borderline. Controversial, and in the end, only one term as mayor.

Looking back, I see there are no women on the list. Tough. No affirmative action here. That's despicable. You want a bronze, you have to earn it by what you do, not how you were born or who you are.