Roy MacGregor took the easy way out. He left the country. E-mail has a funny way of dogging you around, though, especially when it comes from Thunder Bay. And we all know those folks are pretty handy with a computer.

MacGregor helped picked the Seven Wonders of Canada for the CBC last week then high-tailed it for South America, reasons unspecified. Wouldn’t surprise me if the denizens of Thunder Bay were hot on his tail, though. MacGregor’s name was added to the list of persona non grata along the shores of Lake Superior after he helped determine the Sleeping Giant did not warrant a place on the country’s top seven. This after a concerted and determined campaign saw the landmark garner some 155,000 Internet votes, outdistancing the nearest competition (Niagara Falls) by a more than two-to-one margin.

Can you imagine the bulging eyes and the jaws agape when the panel of three judges delivered the verdict last week? It couldn’t have been pretty.
So enraged were some of the Sleeping Giant backers at my attempt to defend my community and poke some fun at the competition that they were moved to poetry, although no one suggested a public stoning might be in order. That honour was left to MacGregor.

But poetry! Can you believe it?

I don’t think even my wife has ever written poetry to me. Or about me. Maybe there was that limerick once.

At any rate, we all know what the poets are doing now. Scribbling doggerel to what might have been, I would imagine.

Yes, I thought about being gracious in victory. I almost did it. You’ll notice I didn’t mentioned until now that Niagara Falls did indeed make the Seven Wonders grade. Or that for two of the three judges, MacGregor and Ra McGuire it was a given; the Falls and the Rockies – think of Canada and you think of these.
The Sleeping Giant? Not so much.

You know, I almost feel sorry for the Thunder Bay folks. Almost. But I’m sure they are feeling royally diddled right now. As I said wrote, decisions like this should be in the hands of the people, not three individuals arbitrarily chosen for who-knows-what reason. I’m sure their intentions were honourable. But now a good chunk of the country wants to kill them. Did they really think the losers would take this all in stride? Did they truly believe the results wouldn’t lead to a questioning of their sanity, and perhaps their right to citizenship?

Look, when the CBC holds Seven Wonders of Canada Part Deux, (isn’t it the Canadian way to have another vote when you don’t like the results from the first one?), I have a couple of suggestions. One, let the public choose. That way no one will have to move to Buenos Aires. Two (and this is directed more for the bruised egos in Thunder Bay than anything else), there’s one sure-fire way to make sure you’re on a top-seven winner next time around.

Move to Niagara Falls.