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Pierre Trudeau remains Canada’s most popular prime minister

When it comes to the question of Canadians' favourite prime minister, Pierre Trudeau — Justin's father — is in a league of his own.

Earlier this week, Forum Research released the results of their survey that asked 1,525 randomly selected Canadians this question:

Which of the following was Canada's best prime minister?

Pierre Trudeau

26 per cent

Stephen Harper

14 per cent

Jean Chretien

13 per cent

Lester Pearson

12 per cent

Brian Mulroney

8 per cent

Paul Martin

4 per cent

Joe Clark

3 per cent

Don't know/someone else

21 per cent

Trudeau senior — one of the father's of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms — is alone in top spot with more than a quarter of respondents choosing him as Canada's greatest PM.

Then comes Stephen Harper and Jean Chretien at 14 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

Harper's support is undoubtedly buoyed by the fact that he's the current prime minister and you'd have to think Chretien is helped by recent anniversary coverage of his decision not to send Canadian troops to Iraq.

Interestingly, when broken down by region, 27 per cent of Albertans think Harper is the greatest prime minister while only 7 per cent of Quebecers do.

[ Related: Can the Harper Conservatives pull out of their funk after toiling in the polls? ]

Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff commented on Pierre Trudeau's enduring popularity.

"After all these years, he haunts us still" Bozinoff said in a press release accompanying the survey results.

"He may be the most controversial Prime Minister Canada has ever had, but he remains the standard by which others are judged.

"Pierre always gets the last pirouette."

Who is Canada's worst prime minister?

In September 2012, another pollster, Angus Reid, also asked Canadians about their opinions of Canada's post 1968 prime ministers.

Again, Pierre Trudeau topped the best PM list.

[ More Political Points: Nenshi, Redford and Harper showing strong leadership on Alberta floods ]

Angus Reid, however, also asked respondents who the worst prime minister was.

Here's that list:

Stephen Harper

26 per cent

Brian Mulroney

17 per cent

Pierre Trudeau

11 per cent

Jean Chretien

9 per cent

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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