Statues of all 22 of Canada’s PMs proposed for Kitchener park

By Roderick Benns

It’s an unbroken line of public service, stretching from Sir John A. Macdonald to Stephen Harper.  These 21 men and one woman have all occupied the highest office in the land as prime minister — and a Kitchener group aims to celebrate their leadership through 22, life-sized statues created in their image.

The statues are proposed for Victoria Park, the 24 hectare signature park in this city of 220,000. With a postcard lake, an iron bridge and well-treed areas, the park is a haven for many and the status would have excellent visibility.

Dave Caputo is CEO of Sandvine in Kitchener, an international broadband network solutions company. He is also one of the founding members of the initiative. In an interview with Leaders and Legacies, he said that the 22 statues represent a great local project for Canada’s upcoming 150^th birthday.

“But it has national significance, too. First, because it involves national leaders but also because we’re offering recasting rights.”

Caputo refers to the fact that the statues’ casts will be made available to Ottawa and other municipalities across Canada. This will allow other regions to replicate the statues if they choose.

As is common with projects with large price tags – in this case, about $2 million – Caputo says there have been naysayers. This has also been true because of the decision to create statues of all 22 prime ministers, regardless of the length of time the leader spent in office.

“I had one woman who was extremely upset and singled out (former Prime Minister) Kim Campbell as someone ‘who surely doesn’t deserve a statue.’ Yet I found out the same woman has two daughters. I said to her that I would certainly want my daughters to know that becoming prime minister is possible,” Caputo says.

Caputo said that another good reason for choosing all prime ministers is that party affiliations and rivalries are avoided. “It just becomes a celebration of Canada, not one prime minister over another.”

“I think it’s the compendium of leadership that has made Canada great.”

Aside from Caputo, the other two members spearheading the project are former Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate principal Jim Rodger and Pierre Sandor, a teacher with the Waterloo District School Board.

The project has already managed to get a commitment in pledges of more than $1 million and some high level backing from Governor General David Johnston.

The groups is proposing that artists would design each statue to reflect a key moment in each prime minister’s stint as leader. The group is also proposing an ‘Easter Eggs” feature – something that would illustrate the details of each PM’s personal data, party affiliation and historic moments.