The Greatest Prime Minister (Grades 7-9)

To the Students

In this activity, you will:

• describe the role of the prime minister as leader of Canada
• discover how individual prime ministers have contributed to the political process and the development of Canada
• use a decision-making process in order to arrive at a decision with supporting data
   

1. Find out about the places that have been commemorated to honour our prime ministers by visiting the Parks Canada Web site: www.pc.gc.ca > National Historic Sites > administered by Parks Canada > Bellevue House, Laurier House, Louis S. St. Laurent, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and Woodside.

2. Discuss the following: Would you want to be prime minister? Explain. Describe what you know about the day-to-day duties of the prime minister. What would be the best part of the job? What would be the worst part? What skills and traits would help someone succeed as prime minister? If you were elected prime minister, what would you do? - promote world peace? balance the budget? reduce regional differences? something else?

3. Develop a job description for the ideal prime minister, outlining legal requirements, personality traits, leadership qualities, and preferred previous experiences. To help you with your description, visit the Parks Canada Web site: www.pc.gc.ca > National Historic Sites of Canada > Grave Sites of Canadian Prime Ministers (PDF format, page 2) and the Library of Parliament Web site > Prime Ministers of Canada.

Click here to view a larger version of this image. (This image is larger than 450 pixels) Louis S. St. Laurent National Historic Site of Canada. © Parks Canada

4. Find out about other prime ministers who have been commemorated by searching the Parks Canada Web site: www.pc.gc.ca.

• Conduct a keyword search for individual names or for "prime minister".
• Go to What's New > News Releases and search for individual names or for "prime minister".
  Check the bottom of the news releases for associated backgrounders.
• Go to Teachers' Corner > Commemorating Canada's History > People, Places, and Events and search the "Political" theme or the keywords "prime minister".
• Go to This Week in History Archives and search the keywords "prime minister".
   

5. Make note of the following:

• Which prime ministers have been designated as a person of national significance?
• How and why has each one been designated as a person of national significance?
• Which prime ministers have not yet been designated? Why do you think this is so?
   

6. Working in groups, choose five prime ministers, still living or deceased, whom you would describe as "great." Each member of the group chooses one of these five prime ministers and does any additional research that is needed to ensure that all group members have an understanding of his or her qualities, accomplishments, and achievements.

7. Each group member then creates a trading card about the prime minister he or she has studied.

8. The trading card should include the following information: picture and name of prime minister, birthday, brief biography, reasons for his or her fame. Consider the following:

• In what way did this prime minister affect our history?
• How was this prime minister a good role model?
• What events in his or her life helped this person to become prime minister?
• What will Canadians remember most about this prime minister?
   

9. Use the "Decision-Making Chart" to help you decide which prime minister was the greatest. Share your decision with the class and be prepared to defend your selection with data about this prime minister's record.
 

DECISION MAKING CHART

1. In the first column of the chart, list five prime ministers you consider great.

2. In the first row across the chart, write the qualities of greatness that you think are most important.

3. Examine each prime minister for his or her ability to demonstrate each quality and give a rating from 1 to 5 for each (1 = lowest, 5 = highest).

4. Total the ratings to determine which prime minister is the greatest according to your criteria.