A Canada Day Quiz

Awhile ago, I saw a video of this four-year-old wiz kid reciting the names all the presidents of the United States from George Washington to Donald Trump—45 in all. I began wondering how I’d do with the prime ministers of Canada. I began with only the ones since my birth and I couldn’t even name those! I left three of them out completely. In my defense, one of them only served for three months. Plus, I was raising kids during the service of the others and a little distracted.

Here’s a challenge for you. Take my little ten-question quiz WITHOUT looking anything up and without looking at the answers at the end of this post. Total possible points is 45.

QUESTIONS:

#1. List all the prime ministers of Canada since the first. (Hint: there are 29. Three of them appear on the list twice and one of them appears three times.)

#2. Who was Canada’s only female prime minister?

#3. Who served only three months?

#4. Who was the youngest when first elected?

#5. Which former prime ministers are still alive? (Hint: there are seven)

#6. Which prime minister was born the same year as this columnist? (Hint: I’m older than the current one. Shocker, I know.)

#7. Which prime ministers died while in office? (Hint: there were two.)

#8. Which prime minister was elected under two different political parties?

#9. Which prime minister lived in Portage la Prairie? (Hint: we named a school for him.)

#10. Which prime minister won a Nobel Peace prize? (Hint: the year was 1957)

ANSWERS:

#1. (one point for each name)

Sir John A. Macdonald

Alexander Mackenzie

Sir John A. Macdonald

Sir John Abbott

Sir John Thompson

Sir Mackenzie Bowell

Sir Charles Tupper

Sir Wilfred Laurier

Sir Robert Borden

Sir Robert Borden

Arthur Meighen

William Lyon Mackenzie King

Arthur Meighen

William Lyon Mackenzie King

R.B. Bennett

William Lyon Mackenzie King

Louis St. Laurent

John George Diefenbaker

Lester B. Pearson

Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Joe Clark

Pierre Elliott Trudeau

John Turner

Brian Mulroney

Kim Campbell

Jean Chretien

Paul Martin

Stephen Harper

Justin Trudeau

#2. Kim Campbell (June – November 1993)

#3. John Turner (July – September 1984)

#4. Joe Clark (age 40)

#5. (One point for each name) Joe Clark, John Turner, Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, Stephen Harper

#6. Stephen Harper (1959)

#7. (One point for each name) Sir John A. Macdonald (of a stroke on June 6, 1891) and Sir John Thompson (heart attack in 1894)

#8. Sir Robert Borden (Conservative Party 1911/Unionist party 1917)

#9. Arthur Meighen

#10. Lester B. Pearson (for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis.)

How’d you do? Add up your score and let me know in the comments below. But only if you didn’t cheat.

Here’s a bonus question. Whether you agree with their politics or not, what does the Bible say about how we should behave toward our country’s leaders?

ANSWER: I Timothy 2:1-3 says, “The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.” (The Message)

I won’t ask you to share your score on that one. Happy Canada Day.