Prime ministers of Canada in popular culture

There have been numerous depictions of prime ministers of Canada in popular culture.

Film and television

Real

Fictional

Fictional prime ministers of Canada have been portrayed in television series, including Rideau Hall, South Park, Jacob Two-Two, The Best Laid Plans and The West Wing, televisions films such as H2O, and motion pictures such as Canadian Bacon, My Internship in Canada, Buried on Sunday, Long Shot and London Has Fallen.

Literature

Real
  • Sir John Sparrow David Thompson plays a significant role in Knights of the Sea by Paul Marlowe
  • Pierre Trudeau appeared in the Marvel Comics series Uncanny X-Men, issues #120-121. He ordered the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight to apprehend Wolverine, who resigned from Alpha Flight to join the X-Men.
  • Justin Trudeau has made appearances in a number of comics and graphic novels. He appears on the cover of the Chapterhouse Comics 2016 Summer Special with Captain Canuck.[4] He also has a cameo in Marvel Comics' Civil War II: Choosing Sides (vol. 1 #5) as a "friend and sparring partner" of Tony Stark's,[5] who attempts to mediate a schism between the Avengers and Alpha Flight known as the Second Superhuman Civil War.[6][7] Trudeau's life, from his childhood as the son of a prime minister to his election to the same position in 2015 and the media attention that followed, was also chronicled in a graphic novel biography from Tidal Wave Productions' Political Power series released in September 2020.[8][9]

Fictional
  • Jean-Jacques Charles: A Very Political Lady (1979) by Judy LaMarsh, said to be based on Pierre Elliott Trudeau.[10]
  • Gary Cody, in Marvel Comics' Alpha Flight (introduced as a low-level bureaucrat in 1978, killed by a supervillain in 2012)
  • Scotty Gutenberg, replaced Cody after Cody's death
  • Ross Hamilton: Party Favours (1997) by Jean Doe, said to be based on Brian Mulroney[10]
  • Bobby Laurier: Party Favours (1997) by Jean Doe, said to be based on Jean Chrétien[10]
  • Sir Henry Marwood: Pour la patrie (1895) by Jules-Paul Tardivel, said to be based on Sir John A. Macdonald.[10]
  • Barton McGarvie: Scribes and Scoundrels (1997) by George Galt, said to be based on Brian Mulroney.[10]
  • April McTavish: Party Favours (1997) by Jean Doe, said to be based on Kim Campbell.[10]
  • Perry Pleaser: Jacob Two Two and the Dinosaur (1987) by Mordecai Richler
  • The Prime Minister: S: Portrait of a Spy (1977) by Ian Adams, said to be based on Pierre Elliott Trudeau.[10]
  • Jean Rioux: Party Favours (1997) by Jean Doe, said to be based on Paul Martin.[10]
  • James Howden: "In High Places" (1961) By Arthur Hailey
  • Gavin Strong: Prime Minister (2016), by Ainsley Booth and Sadie Haller; erotic novel similar to Fifty Shades of Grey in which the protagonist is said to be based on Justin Trudeau.[11]

As themselves

Paul Martin and Stephen Harper have appeared as themselves as the sitting prime ministers on the CTV sitcom Corner Gas:

  • Paul Martin in the third-season episode "Fun Run"
  • Stephen Harper in the fourth-season episode "Gopher It"

Justin Trudeau also appeared as himself in the later spin-off series Corner Gas Animated, in season 2 episode 5 "Paper Sashay" airing 15 July 2019.

Several sitting prime ministers have also appeared as themselves on the CBC sketch comedy series Royal Canadian Air Farce, while Harper, Martin, and Chretien have all appeared in at least one installment of the satirical CBC series The Rick Mercer Report.

Prime minister impersonators

Radio and TV parodies
  • Royal Canadian Air Farce has portrayed several prime ministers
    • Pierre Trudeau, played by Don Ferguson
    • Joe Clark, played by Don Ferguson
    • Brian Mulroney, played by Don Ferguson
    • Kim Campbell, played by Luba Goy
    • Jean Chrétien, played by Roger Abbott
    • Paul Martin, played by Don Ferguson
    • Stephen Harper, played by Craig Lauzon
  • Double Exposure has portrayed several prime ministers
    • Joe Clark, played by Bob Robertson
    • Jean Chrétien, played by Bob Robertson
    • Pierre Trudeau, played by Bob Robertson
    • Brian Mulroney, played by Bob Robertson
    • Kim Campbell, played by Linda Cullen
  • Max Ferguson has portrayed several prime ministers on his radio shows
    • Pierre Trudeau: on CBC Radio's Max Ferguson Show
    • Lester Pearson: on CBC Radio's Rawhide and the Max Ferguson Show
    • John Diefenbaker: on CBC Radio's Rawhide and the Max Ferguson Show
  • Martin Short played Pierre Trudeau on episodes of SCTV
  • Mike Myers played Jean Chrétien on the November 13, 1993 episode of Saturday Night Live (season 19, episode 6) during the Weekend Update segment, in which he offers the "Canadian perspective" on NAFTA but rambles on aimlessly about unrelated subjects. At the end of the skit, "news anchor" Kevin Nealon humourously mispronounces Chrétien's name as "Gene Cretin."[12]
  • Jimmy Fallon played Justin Trudeau during the December 8, 2019 (season 45, episode 8) cold open of Saturday Night Live, "NATO Cafeteria," in which several world leaders portrayed as "cool kids" in a high school cafeteria banded together to tease and isolate U.S. president Donald Trump.[13]
  • Brian Mulroney was portrayed in the "Robin Sparkles" video on season two of How I Met Your Mother.

Other appearances
  • In the 1994-99 CTV/CBS primetime comedy-drama series Due South, RCMP officer Benton Fraser's companion dog was named "Diefenbaker." Paul Gross, the Canadian actor who played Benton Fraser, later went on to portray John Diefenbaker in the 2006 CBC miniseries Prairie Giant about social democratic leader Tommy Douglas.
  • Justin Trudeau himself acted in a 2007 CBC docudrama The Great War portraying WW1 hero Talbot Mercer Papineau.

References
  1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1804093/
  2. "Oscilloscope heads to The Twentieth Century". Playback, August 2, 2019.
  3. "Our Cartoon President - Season 1 Episode 5, State Dinner | SHOWTIME". Showtime. n.d. Retrieved 3 Jan 2021.
  4. Chapterhouse Comics
  5. "Justin Trudeau (Earth-616)". Marvel Fandom Wiki. n.d. Retrieved 3 Jan 2021.
  6. Shalvey, Declan, and Chip Zdarsky (2016). Civil War II: Choosing Sides. Marvel Comics. ISBN 978-1-302-90251-3.
  7. "Civil War II: Choosing Sides Vol 1 5". Marvel Fandom Wiki. n.d. Retrieved 3 Jan 2021.
  8. "Justin Trudeau Gets the Comic Book Treatment". Tidal Wave Productions. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 3 Jan 2021.
  9. Frizell, Michael (2020). Justin Trudeau: Political Power. Tidal Wave Productions. ISBN 978-1949738490.
  10. Brian Busby. Character Parts: Who's Really Who in CanLit. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2003.
  11. Parker, Tamsen (n.d.). "Praise for this book | Prime Minister (Frisky Beavers, book 1) by Ainsley Booth and Sadie Haller". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 3 Jan 2021. Sadie Haller and Ainsley Booth have penned a sexy, smart, and dirty political romance. And if you've got a little thing for a certain Head of State, let's just say you'll enjoy PRIME MINISTER immensely.
  12. King, Don Roy (8 Oct 2018). "SNL Transcripts: Rosie O'Donnell: 11/13/93: Weekend Update with Kevin Nealon". SNL Transcripts Tonight. Retrieved 3 Jan 2021.
  13. Shakeri, Sima (8 Dec 2019). "Jimmy Fallon Channels 'Mean Girls' in Playing Trudeau on 'Saturday Night Live'". Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 3 Jan 2021.
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