OTTAWA -- A Gordon Lightfoot song about building the Canadian railroad and a sketch-comedy TV show from Second City performers such as Dave Thomas have been ceremoniously dubbed cultural icons.

Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy and Thomas' comedic vehicle SCTV were among 12 artists whose work was honoured at Parliament Hill yesterday as part of the second annual AV Preservation Trust.ca's "Masterworks" program.

The program aims to restore and preserve much-acclaimed Canadian film, TV, radio and sound recordings for future generations to enjoy.

Lightfoot, 62, told onlookers he had been commissioned to write Canadian Railroad Trilogy for Expo '67.

"They gave me three days or a week and I rambled it off in just a few hours," Lightfoot said. "I'm glad I wrote it, I'm glad you liked it and I'm glad it's going into the archives. I'm deeply honoured."

Thomas, 52, accepted his honour on behalf of the cast and crew of SCTV, the sketch comedy series that ran from 1976-84 and boasted such writer-stars as the late John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis, with whom Thomas co-starred as beer-chuggin' hosers Bob and Doug MacKenzie.

In his speech Thomas admitted, "When I saw the Bob and Doug MacKenzie clip (you just displayed) it was kind of embarrassing because they are so stupid! But Moranis used to tell me, 'No one loves a smart comic so let's get on with it.' "

Other honoured works to be archived included pioneering Ottawa company Crawley Films for its 1949 animation-meets-live action flick, The Loon's Necklace; the 1982 feature film The Grey Fox; CBC Radio's broadcast of Glenn Gould: The Solitude Trilogy; and the 1927 Diamond Jubilee Broadcast.