Tom McLaughlin

Tom McLaughlin
Biographical Information
Real Name	Thomas McLaughlin
Home country	Canada
Homeworld	Earth
Relatives	Matthew McLaughlin (father) Julia McLaughlin (mother) Margaret McLaughlin (sister)
Physical Information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Chronological / Political Information
Affiliation(s)	World Court
Citizenship	Canadian (defunct) American
Base of Operations	24 Sussex Drive
Marital status	Married
Fictional Information
Created by	Paul Gross John Krizanc
Portrayed by	Paul Gross
First Appearance	H2O
Final Appearance	The Trojan Horse

“	I will strip this country of its uniform. No longer will the face of this nation be razor wire and kevlar. They took my country- I'll take theirs!	”
–President-elect Tom McLaughlin, to journalist Helen Madigan

Thomas David "Tom" McLaughlin was a Canadian-born American lawyer and politician who served as the 25th and last Prime Minister of Canada from 2004 to 2006, before winning the Presidency of the United States prior to his assassination.

The son of Prime Minister Matthew McLaughlin, Tom McLaughlin became a Rhodes Scholar and became an international business and criminal lawyer, and became heavily intertwined in international politics. He soon became involved in a conspiracy to divert all of Canada's fresh water to the United States for a profit. To that end, he worked alongside Ottawa lawyer Madeleine Manzel, and business figures Randall Spear, Kazio Izumi, and Gerhard Oehme of the Burnham-Woods Institute to concoct the Ungava Compact, a bill masquerading as funding for a hydro corridor that would in actuality funnel water to the Great Lakes, where it could in turn be used to supply the Ogallala Aquifer. After Matthew McLaughlin caught wind of the plot, he attempted to reach out through Mansell to her superiors, but both were killed by Theodore Jackman on the orders of assassin Lt. Daniel Holt. McLaughlin reeled from his father's death, but after being convinced of the possibility sought leadership of his father's party and to become Prime Minister. Spear manipulated incumbent Marc Lavigne into calling a leadership convention; McLaughlin successfully convinced senior politician Cam Ritchie to back him instead of Lavigne. McLaughlin won the convention on the slimmest margin since 1919, when William Lyon Mackenzie King defeated William S. Fielding.

McLaughlin immediately moved to implement the Ungava Compact; strongarming Premiers of Ontario and Quebec Weaver and Marcel Coté with the assistance of Grand Chief Katie Blackfire to accept the deal. McLaughlin announced the bill during his first state visit to the United States alongside President Monroe. Sgt. Leah Collins, Detective Michel Duguay, and now-Solicitor General Lavigne all independently investigated McLaughlin and the Ungava Compact during this time, with Collins and Duguay uncovering that Matthew McLaughlin had been murdered and Lavigne realising that the Compact was an international plot. Collins and Lavigne then informed McLaughlin of the true nature of his father's death. After receiving the information, he wrested control of the conspiracy from Spear, Izumi, and Oehme, and invoked the Emergencies Act, instituting martial law and declaring a hunt for several Islamic terrorists rather than the true culprit, Holt. McLaughlin invited the FBI to investigate the matter rather than relying on Canada's own intelligence agencies, and ordered indiscriminate arrests of men who practiced the Muslim faith. While Premier Daniel Lambert supported the federal government's measures, Coté did not and had to be convinced by Lavigne. Riots broke out nation-wide; 200 arrests within 24 hours of the implementation of the act. After wresting control of the conspiracy, Spear and the others noted that McLaughlin's plans far exceeded their own. In a meeting with American Ambassador Conrad, McLaughlin made known his first demand in exchange for the water: merger of the U.S. and Canadian dollars at par. McLaughlin then arranged for First Nations unrest in Quebec as a pretence for American invasion. McLaughlin sought to implement his longstanding belief that nation states and borders should not exist by turning Canada into a client state of the United States, in the vein of Scotland's status in the United Kingdom. After Lavigne and Ritchie crossed the floor and defeated his government, forcing an election, McLaughlin had Sgt. Collins and Cantron Steel executive Paul Frommer assassinated, ensuring that no evidence of his role in the conspiracy could come to light. Two months later, on election day, the United States government informed McLaughlin that it was cancelling the election, leaving him in the role of Prime Minister but suspending Parliament.

Two years later, the administration of President William Stanfield ran a referendum across Canada, polling the citizens on whether Canada should remain a country, or be absorbed into the United States. After the narrow win of the yes vote, McLaughlin sought revenge, becoming the head of another international conspiracy to seat himself as the next President of the United States.

Biography

Early life

McLaughlin was born to Matthew and Julia McLaughlin.

Prior to politics

McLaughlin's sister Margaret died ten years prior to the death of his father. (TV: H₂O, Part One) He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and pursued the law as a vocation; defended "Big Tobacco"; and prosecuted war criminals at the World Court. (TV: H₂O, Part One) He divorced (TV: H₂O, Part One) Mary Miller. (TV: The Trojan Horse) He also served as a consultant for the World Bank, during which time he met Madeleine Mansell and became involved in the Ungava Compact conspiracy. (TV: H₂O, Part One)

Death of Matthew McLaughlin

Scheme

McLaughlin was at the World Court in the Hague when he received notice of his father's death. (TV: H₂O, Part One)

Funeral

“	The truth is, I have no idea why my father entered politics. Whatever his initial reasons, however, I know that they changed. And I know this because I was there to see them change. Ironically, it was on a canoe trip. I was not an easy teenager. And my mother insisted that my father take me on a paddle down the Great Nahanni River thinking it might shake me into line. Which it did. But as much as it shook me, it rattled my father to the bone. One night we sat on the bank of the river and we watched this heard of caribou moving through the valley and this impossibly huge sun was setting. This equally huge moon was rising. And I looked at my father and I could see that he was crying. And I said, 'Why are you crying?' And he said, 'Because this is ours. All of this is part of our country.' And we carried that moment. My father and I. We carried that. And from that point on, whenever he was presented with the question, 'What is Canada?' my father never had to search for an answer because he knew. He knew that the question itself is the answer. And to those who live among us — and they do live among us — who would say, 'What is so rare about this nation that we should struggle to preserve it?' My father would say, 'For shame. For shame.' And he would buy them a ticket, on an airplane, or a train, or a bus, or a boat. Or he himself would drive them to another country so they can look back at their own nation and see it for themselves for what it is. See it, for its singular beauty. Because we are like the river. We are always moving. And we are not set in stone, because even the hardest of stones cannot endure. And the only thing that does endure is change. The ever-whirling, wheel of change. And we are not finished. We are not nearly finished. We are not remotely finished. No sir, we are not finished.	”
–Tom McLaughlin, off-the-cuff eulogy dedicated to his father

He attended the funeral alongside his mother, notably stepping out of the government vehicle transporting him to gain attention. When it came time to read his eulogy, McLaughlin briefly read from a pre-prepared speech written for him before halting to seemingly speak from the heart. (TV: H₂O, Part One)

Aftermath

In the wake of McLaughlin's speech and calls for him to succeed his father as Prime Minister, media baron Randall Spear advised newly-appointed incumbent Marc Lavigne to call a leadership convention immediately to shore up his leadership. To his mother and the public,

Notes

Behind the Scenes

• McLaughlin was portrayed by Canadian actor Paul Gross. Gross did not consider McLaughlin's success in the American election to be unrealistic, noting Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful bid to become governor of California.

Trivia

• Gross also portrayed McLaughlin in a sketch on "The Rick Mercer Report" satirising the trailer for the film.
• Gross advocated for Lester B. Pearson, former Prime Minister of Canada, to be nominated for the CBC's "The Greatest Canadian".
• Brandon drew comparisons between McLaughlin's eulogy for his deceased father, Prime Minister Matthew McLaughlin, and Justin Trudeau's eulogy delivered at the funeral of father Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Gross spoke on the matter in 2004.

Appearances

• H₂O (first appearance)
• The Trojan Horse (final appearance)