Here’s a thought: How about Rick Mercer for next Governor-General?
He would probably be the first to dismiss the idea, but he has what it takes
This September, there will be a conspicuous hole in CBC’s programming. For the first time in many years, Rick Mercer will not be on the air. The very last “Rick Mercer Report” aired last April, and I am among millions of Canadians who will hugely miss Mercer’s Tuesday evening celebrations of all things Canadian.
But my affection for Mercer’s unique TV presence has not diminished. So let me be among the first to propose something — Oh, I don’t know — radical: Rick Mercer for our next Governor General.
He would be among the first, I suspect, to say “Don’t be ridiculous.” But hear me out.
Mercer sees Canada the way that the late Peter Gzowski did: fully from sea to sea to sea, with every community and every crossroads as important to the fabric of Canada as the big cities that monopolize the attention of politicians, media and even our cultural life. He celebrated tiny North-of-60 hamlets with the same enthusiasm (or more) that he brought to our biggest institutions.
Mercer never made fun of smalltown festivals and events. They weren’t silly or cheesy to him: They were genuine and authentic expressions of people’s love of their homes, of their hometowns, of whatever it is that makes them — and us — Canadian.
Mercer has the rare ability to combine humour (sometimes hilarity) with sincerity and an almost oldfashioned civility. His humour was always at his own expense; his respect and courteousness was extended to the same degree and in the same way (perhaps more so) to farmhands and fishermen as to prime ministers, to blue collars as to starched white collars. There’s nothing Rick Mercer does better than celebrate people — anyone — who in even the tiniest ways make this country a better and more interesting place to live.
He started a charity so that school kids could raise money for mosquito nets for Africa. They’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and saved tens of thousands of lives that would have been lost to malaria. He made it fun and he made them — the kids — the heroes of the whole thing.
Mercer gave an inordinate amount of air time to disabled athletes because, I think, they showed the Canadian trait that he most admired: of rising above what limitations others would put upon us. He climbed a mountain peak and said from the top “I can see Canada from here. And she looks great.”
Mercer never hesitated to sacrifice his own dignity (he’d say he has none) in service of making others look good. He has a sense of the ridiculous that’s as Canadian as maple syrup.
Many years ago, I had the opportunity to speak to Rick Mercer. Well, actually, to apologize to him. As a then-member of the Spectator’s editorial board, I had written a piece about then-MP Carolyn Parrish grinding a George W. Bush action figure under her shoe and I had written she did that on Mercer’s show.
Parrish didn’t. She did it on “This Hour Has 22 Minutes.” I remember Mercer said to me he would never do that sort of stunt on his show. It wasn’t his sort of humour. But I also remember that when I apologized for my mistake, he was gracious to a fault. He raised me from feeling like an idiot to feeling lucky to have had to chance to talk with him.
That’s what Rick Mercer does best: He makes us feel good about ourselves, about our neighbours and about this country. He reminds us that we share Canada with an enormous number of people with whom we have one main thing in common: We love being Canadian.
And whoever is prime minister when our current G-G ends her term should also keep in mind that Mercer hits all the right demographics: He’s from Newfoundland; he’s gay (not that that should matter, but I’d love every fearful young man or woman in Canada to know that our head of state lives with a same-sex partner); he’s travelled to towns big and small in every province and every territory; and he loves Canada in the most infectious way possible.
If all that wouldn’t make Rick Mercer one of the most qualified Governors-General in living memory, I don’t know what would.
So, yes, it may be a few years before the PMO starts shortlisting new candidates to take residence in Rideau Hall. But Rick Mercer should be near the top of that list.
He reminds us that we share Canada with an enormous number of people with whom we have one main thing in common: We love being Canadian.