The Hill is Alive

Illustration by Jillian Tamaki

In the US, the entertainment industry has always been closely tied to politics — from JFK’s friendship with Frank Sinatra to Ronald Reagan’s previous career as a B-list actor. And the inner workings of Washington have often been fodder for TV shows and movies: Schoolhouse Rock, All the President’s Men, Commander-in-Chief and Wag the Dog.

Canadians are a little more reticent when it comes to lionizing our leaders and mythologizing our history. Still, a little digging uncovers a surprising number of TV shows, films, books and even songs about politics. It turns out our nation’s entertainment industry has long had its own fascination with power brokers. Here’s an election day look at pop culture about Canadian politics.

Rich Little on This Hour Has Seven Days. CBC Still Photo Collection/Barry Wilson. .

Rich Little on This Hour Has Seven Days (1965)
During the 1965 election campaign, Little, the Ottawa-born impressionist, appeared on the legendary news program hosted by Laurier LaPierre and Patrick Watson. Playing the roles of all four party leaders — Liberal Lester B. Pearson, Progressive Conservative John Diefenbaker, New Democrat Tommy Douglas and Ralliement Creditiste Real Caouette — Little made a case for each party’s platform. His audience? A poodle named Scamp, who had been registered to vote in Toronto’s Trinity-Spadina riding as a practical joke. “One dog, one vote!” thundered Little’s eerily accurate Douglas.

Gordon Pinsent as Quentin Durgens. CBC Still Photo Collection/Roy Martin.

Quentin Durgens, M.P. (1965-69)
Gordon Pinsent starred in this 1960s Capra-esque CBC-TV drama about an idealistic young lawyer from Moose Falls, Ontario, coming to terms with the frustrating realities of life as a Member of Parliament. Durgens’s party was never named, but the show’s run coincided with Lester B. Pearson’s Liberal government and the protagonist’s youthful charm anticipated the rise of Pierre Trudeau. A precursor to the U.S. series The West Wing, the show addressed contemporary social issues — like pornography, violence in minor-league hockey, sexism and religious intolerance — but focused on the inner workings of the corridors of power.

Courtesy Trans World Record Co. Inc.

 

Go Go Trudeau (1968)
This hilarious stinker of a novelty song by The Sinners reached number 48 on Toronto’s CHUM Radio chart. Featuring musical snippets from nursery rhymes and references to Robert Stanfield and Lester B. Pearson, its chorus was an almost-catchy shout-out to the “hippy” politician: “Go go Trudeau / Don’t be afraid to take a stand / You’ve got the nation right behind you / Go ahead and blow their minds.”

Les Ordres (1974)
Widely considered one of the greatest films ever to be made in Canada, this 1974 feature won Montreal director Michel Brault the Best Director Award at Cannes. Shot verite-style, Les Ordres (The Orders) looks at the moral and political consequences of the use of the War Measures Act during the 1970 October Crisis, when a Quebec minister and a British diplomat were kidnapped by the Front de libération du Québec. After then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau suspended civil liberties in the province, 450 people were rounded up and held by police without warrant or charge. Les Ordres is based on the accounts of several of the ordinary people caught up in the raid — including a textile worker, a doctor and a social worker.

Dief Will Be the Chief Again (1974)
Bob Bossin of the folk group Stringband wrote this 1974 tribute to prairie populist and former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker as a lark and sent it to CBC Radio’s As It Happens — where it was favourably reviewed by Dief himself. But even after that ringing endorsement, the band couldn’t get a record company to produce it, so they pressed the single themselves and sent it to radio stations across the country. It briefly became a number one hit in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

Shelley Peterson and Henry Ditson in Not My Department. CBC Still Photo Collection/Fred Phipps.

Not My Department (1986)
This painful 1986 CBC sitcom lasted just one season. Inspired by the British series Yes, Minister — the popular 1980s BBC satire, rumoured to have been Margaret Thatcher’s favourite TV show — it starred Henry Ditson and Shelley Peterson as Ottawa civil servants. In real life, Peterson was the wife of then-Ontario Premier David Peterson, who made a cameo appearance in one episode playing a janitor. Another attempt to turn the House of Commons into a sitcom setting — 1989’s In Opposition, starring Kathleen Laskey as a rookie MP — also lasted a single season.

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston (1999)
Johnston’s bestselling, critically praised novel is an entertaining and inventive account of the life of Joey Smallwood, the larger-than-life (and small in stature) figure who brought Newfoundland into Confederation and became the province’s first premier. Though Johnston grew up in a staunchly anti-Confederation family — where it was forbidden to mention Smallwood’s name — the author became fascinated with the legendary politician after reading his biography as a teenager.

Doris Day. Photo Hulton Archive/Getty Images. .

Doris Day petition (2000)
In the 2000 federal election campaign, Alliance party leader Stockwell Day proposed legislation that could force a referendum on any subject provided a petition was signed by three per cent of Canadian voters. In response, comedian Rick Mercer launched an on-line petition to hold a referendum to compel Day to change his first name to Doris. (Giving Day the name of the famous actress long associated with gay actor Rock Hudson was also a less-than-covert dig at the politician’s social conservatism.) In less than two weeks, the number of signatures reached one million. But Jean Chretien’s Liberals won a majority government and Day got to keep his name.

Colm Feore in Trudeau. Courtesy Big Motion Pictures.

Trudeau (2002)
This 2002 mini series, starring Colm Feore as the charismatic prime minister, was a huge hit for the CBC, earning an armful of Geminis. Director Jerry Ciccoritti borrowed heavily from Norman Jewison (the split screens of The Thomas Crown Affair) and Richard Lester (the exuberant opening of A Hard Day’s Night) for his examination of the three central conflicts of Trudeau’s life: the 1970 FLQ Crisis, the 1981 constitutional wranglings and his failed marriage. The series spawned a 2005 prequel — Trudeau II: A Maverick in the Making — a look at the leader’s life pre-Trudeaumania.

Courtesy Drawn & Quarterly/Chester Brown.

Louis Riel: A Comic Book Biography by Chester Brown (2003)
With a stylistic nod to the work of Harold Gray (Little Orphan Annie) and Hergé (Tintin), Brown traces Riel’s journey through the founding of Manitoba, his two rebellions against the Canadian government, his exile in the U.S., his descent into mental illness and his eventual execution for treason. Though Brown does take some liberties with the facts, his elegant, minimalist graphic account of the life of the mystical Métis leader is a masterpiece of Canadian historiography.

Paul Gross in H2O. Courtesy Morningstar Entertainment/CBC. .

H2O (2004)
This 2004 CBC mini-series is a well-crafted Shakespearean-style thriller about a corrupt plot to sell Canada’s water. Paul Gross, who co-wrote the script with John Krizanc, stars as the son of a deceased prime minister who is propelled into office after his father’s mysterious death. Genuinely suspenseful, in light of growing concerns about climate change and the impending water crisis, H2O seems chillingly prescient. Ottawa has never seemed so creepy, or so cool.

Snakes & Ladders (2004)
This six-part CBC mini-series took the formula of a workplace comedy — wacky colleagues, aggravating office politics and troubles with boss — but put the office on Parliament Hill. Set mainly among the overworked twenty-somethings who toil as support staff to MPs and senior bureaucrats, it starred Amy Price-Francis as a bright-eyed assistant to the paranoid Minister of Human Resources and Government Service. Shot documentary style, with the actors occasionally mingling with real politicians at public events, and with a soundtrack featuring punk and hip hop, Snakes & Ladders offered a youthful, Wonkette-style look at Canadian politics.

Ed Broadbent raps. Courtesy Halifax Film Company/CBC.

Ed’s Back (2004)
This beyond-dorky rap video about Ed Broadbent’s return to politics was originally made to be aired on This Hour Has 22 Minutes in the lead-up to the 2004 election, but it didn’t run due to fears it was too partisan. Instead, it drew thousands of hits to the NDP website. B-boy Broadbent took the seat for Ottawa-Centre.

Rachel Giese writes about the arts for CBC.ca.

CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window.