WARMINGTON: John A. Macdonald may be resurrected if Bonnie Crombie becomes premier

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Who would have thought Bonnie Crombie would be the one who comes to the rescue of Sir John A. Macdonald and other icons scrubbed from history of this great province and country?

The Ontario Liberal Leader hinted Thursday of ending the cancellation madness that has been rampant the last few years.

“Somebody should show some leadership,” Crombie told the Toronto Sun outside her campaign office opening in Mississauga. “Box up John A. Macdonald?”

She, like so many others, feels it’s just not right and the delay in deciding what to do with the statue inside is even worse.

“Make a decision and deal with it,” said Crombie.

There are only two decisions to be made – take down the boards and restore the Macdonald statue to its original look or remove it all together and rid Queen’s Park of the eye sore of a vertical coffin on the front lawn.

Whatever is decided, Crombie said it’s time to deal with it. And she’s right.

Strange to ponder, but could Ontario’s cultural revolution to eliminate the province’s historical figures based on alleged actions or words dug up from the past be stopped by a Liberal premier known for her progressiveness?

She guaranteed it will be talked about during this election campaign.

“It will come up,” Crombie said.

Somebody has to talk about it and stick up for those maligned pioneers who are being judged on both the realities of different eras as well as shoddy historical research.

Premier Doug Ford sure hasn’t come to their rescue. While he pushed for a stadium to be named after his brother and former Toronto mayor Rob Ford after his rightfully forgiven flaws of the past, he has allowed Macdonald, Ryerson, Dundas and Queen Victoria to be erased with no fight at all.

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In fact, under Ford, Ontario has seen Sir John A. Macdonald statues torn down in Kingston, Picton and Hamilton, and the one on the lawn of Queen’s Park has remained encased in a box coffin so no one can see Canada’s first prime minister – all based on reports of anomalies found on the property of old Indigenous residential schools that have so far not found any physical graves.

Ford has rolled over and let all of this rewriting of history happen.

In the time since Ford has been premier, the statue of Egerton Ryerson was desecrated and the name of the university was changed from his name to Toronto Metropolitan University.

There was also veteran’s statue removed from St. Catharines and now this week the Toronto District School Board has indicated it will rename schools named in the memory of Henry Dundas, Egerton Ryerson and Sir John A Macdonald.

While this fits into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s belief that Canada is a “post-national state,” by erasing these founding icons they are taking a piece of the country away based on torqued information to further their political agendas.

It was refreshing to hear Crombie signalling enough is enough. Finally somebody with some guts.

“You’re going to hear more from me on that,” Crombie promised.

Hopefully soon because this history is disappearing fast. The Sankofa Square renaming of Yonge-Dundas Square is about it happen and is gaining steam. In fact, the rebranded square’s management put out a press release of a poll with 2,900 respondents that indicated people are enthusiastic about the new direction, even though I have never met one whenever I am in the square.

“The study illustrates the community’s desires for Sankofa Square including its new brand identity and experience, site enhancements, and event offerings,” said the release.

General Manager Julian Sleath said: “In 2023, we responded to the need to prioritize justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to one of Canada’s most prominent landmarks… Far from being a singular vision, our rebrand will be one of reflection and deep collaboration” and “the insights revealed in the study will help us navigate and inform the future of the Square as we look to work with the community in new ways to collectively embrace the possibilities under our new name.”

It’s my view that no one should ever call Yonge-Dundas Square by the phony new name. But I do admit if feels like a losing battle.

“I think Torontonians would be much more positive about the change to Sankofa Square if the city had represented Henry Dundas’s role accurately and if it had held the promised public consultations,” said Jennifer Dundas, who is a living relative of the original Dundas.

“At least people would feel that the change was based on a truthful account of the past and input from ordinary Torontonians,” she said. “Rebranding started on the wrong foot after the city ignored eminent historians, shut down public consultations, and allowed a few bureaucrats and hand-picked community activists to control the process.”

She’s so right.

And as the Ontario election campaign kicks off, Crombie seems to agree and is ready to do something Ford has not done.

Stop burying people from the past by using values and standards of today. And that, said Crombie, starts with getting Sir John A Macdonald out of that stupid box.

“Why take so long?” said Crombie.

jwarmington@postmedia.com