Guest column: What's in a name?

The naming of the Windsor-Essex Parkway after former Liberal politician Herb Gray should give us all pause.


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The naming of the Windsor-Essex Parkway after former Liberal politician Herb Gray should give us all pause. It was done without any consultation with the people who are paying for it. While I mean no slight to Mr. Gray, who from all accounts is a very nice man, I have to ask why this huge piece of infrastructure should be named after him or any politician.

Mr. Gray had nothing to do with the idea of the parkway and new bridge. This project will happen because our taxes will pay for it.

It is said that Mr. Gray was a particularly good politician and served our community well. That’s debatable. But the point is all of us contribute to our community. There is no roadway named after my father or the thousands like him who toiled in factories all his life, paid taxes, maintained his home, looked after his children, worked a second job and volunteered in countless ways. Nor would he want one. He did what he did because it’s the right thing to do.

Politicians are fond of naming things after themselves. But why should our public spaces be devoted to self-aggrandizement?

It is infuriating to watch politicians pat themselves on the back for spending our money. Even more infuriating is the idea in vogue among many politicians that somehow they have answered to a higher calling than those of us who toil at “ordinary” jobs; that somehow what they do is ‘public service’ rendered at great personal sacrifice while the rest of us selfishly toil away in lesser callings. This is utter nonsense. There are thousands of persons across this country who, without recognition, without pay and without complaint, volunteer and render public service quietly.

Politicians get paid well for what they do. They are recognized in the media for their service. They often travel all over the country and the world at our expense. Many are paid vastly greater sums than they could ever have dreamed of being paid in the private sector. Some even go on after their public career to private sector jobs paying very high salaries for the simple reason that they still have access to government and therefore influence.

Good politicians, and there are many, can greatly improve our community. So do good people of all occupations. But politicians get plenty of recognition while they are still in office; they don’t need their name on projects we pay for after they retire! Politicians would be well served to show some humility. If they truly are altruistically motivated, they shouldn’t need to have their names on plaques or bridges or buildings.

Large public projects should inspire us. The bridge to Prince Edward Island was named Confederation Bridge. Our public spaces should recognize the values that we cherish, not politicians. Freedom Gateway after our democracy, Memorial Parkway in memory of all who sacrificed for our way of life, Canada Parkway after this great nation, Constitution Way, after the fundamental values that sustain our nation; the options are endless.

Instead we chose to name the largest infrastructure project in our history after a politician who had nothing to do with its construction and did nothing more than thousands and thousands of us do every day: we do our jobs well, we help when we can, we raise our families and we try to do the right thing for our country.

James Cooke is a Windsor lawyer.

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