By Jim Hagarty
2007
The other day, I heard Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a radio interview from a national curling bonspiel somewhere say that it was so good to see such a great turnout. It’s a wonderful opportunity for ordinary Canadians to come together for a great occasion, he said.
Now, here’s my problem. (How the hell could he get a problem out of that, you wonder.)
What is an ordinary Canadian? Is he or she a person with ordinary physical traits? Brown hair? Under six feet, over five? Blue jeans? Eyeglasses? Toques in winter?
Or does such a person respond in typically ordinary emotional ways to circumstances around him or her? Cries, laughs, gets mad, etc.
Does an ordinary Canadian have ordinary habits? Couch potato, remote-control kind of routines? Lunch pails to work? Shopping trips to the dollar stores? Does he or she read cheap novels, listen to country music, drive trucks?
I have always been puzzled by this expression and the people who use it.
“This will appeal to the ordinary man on the street.”
“The ordinary joe won’t care about this.”
“To get elected, it will take a huge turnout from ordinary voters …”
Yes, I know. I’m stretching this out. We all probably have a pretty accurate picture of what is meant by the word ordinary in these references. But in order for anybody to be ordinary, there must be classes of people who are not ordinary for them to be compared to. Otherwise, it would be impossible to know just who was ordinary and who was not.
Are those who are not ordinary, extraordinary? Are they rich? Do they have the number of a Mercedes Benz dealer on speed dial? Can they go to Toronto Maple Leafs hockey games any time they want?
What is it that makes these people not ordinary? Are they extra attractive looking? Super smart? Have they won awards? Been on TV? Is their love life in the news? I am thinking that a person who refers to other people as being ordinary does not consider himself or herself in that classification of humans.
Is Stephen Harper, therefore, such a person?
I hardly think so.
If the prime minister of our country was an ordinary Canadian, then all 33 million of the rest of us couldn’t possibly be anything but. I know Harper didn’t really mean any of this and it actually seems like he might be about the most ordinary guy we’ve had at 24 Sussex Drive since Lester B. Pearson was the PM in the sixties.
Harper, after all, is writing a book about the history of hockey. Now what could be more Canadian and more ordinary than that?
And though he remains as stiff as a cat stepped on by a cow in winter, he does seem to be loosening up a bit.
And among the ordinary, the ability to not take themselves too seriously, it seems to me, is a chief trait.
Still, I kind of wish the leader of our country – and anyone else, for that – matter didn’t feel the need to talk about ordinary people when referring to fellow citizens. I can’t help but think there’s a subtle putdown in there somewhere.
I am open to being corrected, but I think l’m an ordinary person. Then I look around for fellow humans who are probably not: Conrad Black comes to mind along with wealthy hockey players who break other hockey players’ necks.
The best I can do is this, with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy: You might be an ordinary Canadian if you recognize a picture of Gordie Howe, know the lyrics to a Stompin’ Tom Connors song and would walk a mile for a jar of true maple syrup.
As for curling bonspiels, I honestly don’t know if an ordinary Canadian would hang out at those.
