So we have the The Lester B. Pearson International Airport, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, the John G. Diefenbaker Airport, the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport — all named after Prime Ministers or a Father of Confederation. Now we have the The Robert L. Stanfield Intertional Airport in Halifax named after someone who often ends up in polls as the best prime minister Canada never had. Stanfield, of course, was the Opposition Leader when Pearson and Trudeau commanded the government.
So was it Stephen Harper’s plan to name a federal building after an important Conservative politician? You bet your bottom dollar it was.
As Ottawa Citizen reporter Tim Naumetz dug up earlier this year, the Conservatives are keen to name as many federal buildings they can after Conservatives if only to even up the score with the Liberals. Rob Nicholson, the MP from Niagara Falls who is now the country’s justice minister gave an impassioned speech on this subject at a (closed-door) caucus meeting earlier this year. From Tim’s story:
A record provided to the Ottawa Citizen by the Public Works Department of all federal buildings the government owns outright or has leased to purchase confirms names of prominent Liberals from the past outnumber Conservatives 27 to nine.
… Only two past leaders of other parties have federal buildings dedicated in their names, while 43 other buildings have been named after prominent explorers, settlers and distinguished Canadians whose accomplishments did not involve politics.
Of the total of 369 buildings the government owns or is leasing to purchase and two others under construction or planned, 81 have been dedicated to honour political figures and other Canadians.
Mr. [Rob] Nicholson also objected to the Liberal predominance in federal statues — monuments to Liberals on Parliament Hill outnumber Conservatives eight to four — insiders say. Mr. Nicholson reportedly complained the legacy of the old Progressive Conservative party is being lost.
The handful of Conservative political names on federal buildings includes Diefenbaker — with the Saskatoon airport named in his honour — John A. Macdonald, John Thompson, a justice minister under Macdonald, George Etienne Cartier, Macdonald's co-leader of the Great Coalition at Confederation, former prime minister Arthur Meighen, and Harry Stevens, a Conservative MP who opposed Asian immigration at the turn of the 20th century.
In contrast, former Liberal prime minister Lester Pearson, Diefenbaker's arch-foe, has been honoured by a building on Sussex Drive, which acts as headquarters for the Foreign Affairs Department, as well as the international airport in Toronto, Canada's busiest airport.
Louis St. Laurent, the Liberal prime minister who succeeded Liberal wartime prime minister Mackenzie King, has been honoured with his name on two buildings as well, one in the National Capital Region and one in Quebec City, as has Pierre Trudeau. Montreal's Dorval Airport was recently re-named the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport while a proposed new Federal Court building in Ottawa that will not be constructed for years has already been named after Trudeau.
Paul Martin Sr., the late father of recent former prime minister Paul Martin, has been honoured with his name on a building in Windsor, and a new federal building under construction on Prince Edward Island has also been already dedicated to a prominent Liberal historical figure in the province.
Margaret Trudeau's father, James Sinclair, was honoured by dedication of Vancouver's Sinclair Centre in his name.
A string of Cabinet ministers who served under Pearson have been honoured with building dedications, as have two prominent Liberals who became governors general — Vincent Massey and Jeanne Sauve.
The only political figures outside Liberal and Conservative circles who were honoured with building dedications were Stanley Knowles of the CCF and the NDP and Real Caouette, who led the Quebec Social Credit party that helped defeat the Diefenbaker minority government in 1963.
Early in their current term, the Tories decided to name a new federal government building in Vancouver after a Diefenbaker-era Progressive Conservative. only to have that backfire after Japanese Canadians there said the minister, Howard Green, had racist views and had tried to exclude Japanese Canadians from Canada before and after World War II.
Hard to see anyone objecting to Stanfield getting his airport.
I think naming airports after political figures is always likely to be divisive and cause controversy. But, having said that, naming them after celebrities like actors and sportsmen can also be difficult. There was much resistance in the UK to re-naming Belfast City Airport “George Best”, because although he was a great footballer, he had a troubled private life. Best to stick to a geographical name, I think!