I might have been too clever by a half in my last blog post about Stephen Harper and William Shatner, so just to be clear, what we at MSN.ca News would love to hear, is who you'd list as your favourite Canadian. We're going to throw the names out to others for an online vote during the month of June and see who comes out on top by Canada Day. Your choice isn't limited to someone who is alive. If Margaret Laurence is your favourite Canadian she should be on the list. Same goes for Don Cherry and Justin Bieber.

Just to be clear, that also doesn't mean we are not interested in who you'd like to see as Governor General, in fact, we could set a whole new debate on that one closer to the fall when the Prime Minister is supposed to be naming a new GG. And just to complicate matters, your favourite Canadian could also be the person you'd like to see as GG.

Some of names included as favourites we've heard about so far have been pretty interesting, including Romeo Dallaire, Frederick Banting, Tommy Douglas, John Candy and Peter Gzowski. Anne Murray and Margaret Atwood have also been suggested. Rick Mercer was mentioned a few times, as was Terry Fox, Michael J. Fox and David Suzuki. Gordon Lightfoot, Rick Hanson, Emily Carr and James Cameron also got a mention, as well as Guy A. Lepage, Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby. And I'm giving Stompin' Tom Connors his own sentence. Several people also mentioned Canada's war veterans as their favourite Canadians.

We're keen to hear more about your favourite Canadians, so leave a comment here with your suggestions. Our photo here of Stompin' Tom and Gordon Lightfoot is from Canadian Press, shot by Darren Calabrese.

Christine Diemert

On Friday Stephen Harper was in Niagara Falls, Ont., where he faced questions from the press about the

It all seemed like pretty standard fare until a reporter from Hamilton lobbed a query about candidates for the job of Governor General, asking whether William Shatner was in the running. Harper, who generally treats the media with contempt, really did not look amused. Someone with a more public sense of humour (rumours are he does have one) would have run with the question, especially since tens of thousands of people have joined a Facebook group in support of Shatner as GG and hundreds of thousands have engaged in online dialogue about that very subject.

Instead, Harper deflected the question, said existing Governor General Michaelle Jean has done a good job in the role and remarked how glad he was Queen Elizabeth was coming to Canada in July.

It was Matt Hartley at the National Post who started the Shatner for GG Facebook campaign  and apparently he honestly thinks Shatner would do a good job.

So one could surmise (and here's the segue) that Hartley would list William Shatner as one of his favourite Canadians. Others, perhaps a bit more serious, might list Michaelle Jean as one of their favourites. And, possibly, there are others who might even put Stephen Harper on a list of favourites.

(Now here's the point) We'd like to engage people in a dialogue about their favourite Canadians. Throughout the month of June, we will put names into an online voting battle and crown the No. 1 Canadian on Canada Day. It isn't really scientific, but it is a bit of fun.

You could tell us to pick Justin Bieber, or Justin Trudeau. Elizabeth Manley or Elizabeth May.

Wayne Gretzky, or Sidney Crosby. Maybe your favourite Canadian is Don Cherry, or Margaret Atwood.

Over the next few weeks we'll compile the names and get the event underway on June 1. Leave your suggestions here now, or post them on our Facebook fan page (while there, feel free to join others who like the page)

So tell us: Who is your favourite Canadian?

Christine Diemert

I wonder if Bono would let me, or one of my colleagues for that matter, sing with U2?

It wouldn't have to be all the time, maybe just once, perhaps just one song. No doubt there would have to be a compelling reason for this to happen and of course one isn't leaping to mind. I'm certainly not famous and definitely not a musician. But I am a journalist, and so got to chatting about the subject this week when news came out that Bono and Bob Geldof were going to be guest editors of The Globe and Mail. They will be producing a special issue May 10 focused on the future of Africa and its importance to Canadians and the West.

The Globe publisher and its editor made compelling arguments for the decision, among them that The Globe is the only Canadian paper with an Africa bureau and that Bono and Geldof, who have done years of activism on behalf of Africans, have insights and knowledge of the future of Africa. (The publisher, one could assume, has some insight into the future of newspapers and presumably the type of publicity surrounding this event can't hurt.) The question of whether a news organization should let celebrities with causes inside to dictate its coverage is certainly up for debate and no doubt there was plenty of that going on at The Globe before the decision was finalized with the guest editors. It can also be assumed that The Globe would not jeopardize its good reputation for a chance to be associated with celebrities.

Judging by comments on various websites that posted stories about the guest editors and The Globe, most readers compelled to comment (and they make up a special breed at times) had more to say, good and bad, about the Irish activists and their commitment to Africa than what the whole exercise means to balanced journalism.  And let's face it, it's mostly journalists who care about what anything means to journalism, which, it could be argued,  doesn't make them the most objective either.

Putting all those debates aside, if you care about Africa and its place in the world, the event that is Bono, Geldof and the special Globe edition is compelling. It isn't often that a news organization puts that much focus on one continent.

For this special edition, globeandmail.com is giving readers a chance to ask Bono and Geldof, via video, questions about Africa and its future. You can use this link to learn more and upload a video with your question.

If it was me, I'd ask Bono if he keeps in touch with former prime minister Paul Martin.

MSN.ca will have photos and coverage of Bono and Geldof at The Globe Monday.

Christine Diemert