Sir Wilfrid Laurier wakes up, speaks...
The Montreal Downtowner
July 8th 1992

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(Caption) Jean Nicolas and Pierre-Yves Rochon pose in front of the newly decorated statue of Laurier in Dorchester Square

Sir Wilfrid Laurier wakes up, speaks The Montreal Downtowner July 8, 1992

While the Canada Day parade has been over for a week, and most of the hoopla has been forgotten, there is one Canada Day initiative that is sticking around. The Unity Thinktank Thought Balloon, which was added to the statue of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in Dorchester Square.

The Thought Balloon repeats the words engravedbasetof theestatuee roughly translatedatheytruntheTheudominantdthought inomyhlife haslbeenhssbbeen to harmonize the different elements which make up our country."

Reaction to the Thought Balloon has been mixed. "Few people ever read what's on these statues, they don't even bother to find out who these statues honor," says Jim Muir whose office in the Sun Life Building overlooks the square. "I think if young people were to realize that these statesmen are to thank for the greatness of our country, if they were real, live people, the young too might begin to contribute to building our country instead of standing back or actively working to split it up."

A few people have criticized the installation art as disrespectful and defacing public property. An informal DOWNTOWNER survey in Dorchester Square collected these comments: "I think it's fun, I never noticed it before!" "Who is that guy anyway?" "The cartoon balloon is cool, it's like a comic book. Is he Canadian?" "I think you should do this to all the statues in Montreal!" "Is this a government make-work project?" "That's radical man. I remember this guy from school - he's a mega-dude!"

Source: The Downtowner, Montreal Quebec, July1991.