Poet Laureate of Ontario

The Ontario Government passed a bill yesterday creating the role of Poet Laureate of Ontario  in memory of the late Gord Downie. 

Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Percy Hatfield initially proposed the bill in memory of the Tragically Hip frontman. 

“I just thought when I was a member of the city council back in 2011, we need Gord Downie to be our first poet laureate” said Hatfield.

 Downie was best known as the lead singer in the Canadian band, The Tragically Hip.  In December, 2015 he was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer. The band went on across Canada tour in 2016 prior to Downie passing away. Their final concert was held on August 20 in  Kingston, Ontario. CBC broadcast the concert live to more than 12 million viewers. 

Hatfield spoke to the MediaPlex in a phone interview and said, “It was like God was like we were asked in advance to attend Gord Downey’s wake and the outpouring of love and support for the band for Gord was outstanding. And then when he passed away, just over a year after that, all of the media experts are calling him one of Canada’s greatest poets. He had published one book of poetry, Coke Machine Glow. And he said, at the time and I just hope that this book gets more people to come into the poetry section at the bookstore. A lot more people to buy it  because poetry characterizes a nation”

Hatfield added that he’s “very pleased that this came about it was a private member’s bill. It’s very rare for an opposition members, private member’s bill to pass.  I think only 2 or 3% of the members are accepted.”

Both Canada and the community of Windsor have poet laureates.