Ben Mulroney

[Big Voice]

I heard that Ben Mulroney is getting a gig on the weekend with ABC’s Good Morning America.
Huh? I don't know this guy, never worked with him, but trying to watch him is a challenge. The report says he's going to fill in for Dan Harris. Who's Dan Harris? IMHO Ben is a real non-talent, difficult to watch, especially with his red carpet, head nodding attempts at interviews at awards shows. Am I alone?
Sorry Sykes, but I have to add, WTF?

[YesterDaze]

...IMHO Ben is a real non-talent, difficult to watch, especially with his red carpet, head nodding attempts at interviews at awards shows....

If you can't say anything nice about somebody ..... I'd recognize you anywhere.

I guess the people on both sides of the border who are willing to pay this guy the big bucks are delusional.

[freqfreak2]

The cult of celebrity knows no depths.

[Mike Cleaver]

The guy is a no talent dimbulb.
I know people who are forced to work with him and you should hear the stories.
Got his job with CTV strictly through daddy's connections.

[crs]

my grandma has more talent and she's DEAD!

[hagopian]

About as sincere as his Father. Guy makes me gag.
No one in the States qualified?
Bizarre.

[J Kendrick]

Ben Mulroney... Justin Trudeau....

Marquess of Queensbury Rules...

Winner takes all...

[jon]

Sadly, the offspring of politicians that might make interesting PMs have opted out of politics entirely, it would seem. To the point where a "Son of Diefenbaker" is more likely a Saskatchewan expletive than anyone who is running for office. Although not related by blood, Joe Clark is probably as close as we came.

Don't get me wrong. Although John Diefenbaker always hit me as a very decent human being, I'm of two minds on his accomplishments. Most people I know say he blew the biggest majority in Canadian history and didn't get much done. But I also know so many, now retired from the construction industry, who say his Winter Works program revolutionized that industry, especially in the Prairies. Prior to that, you just didn't work in the winter, and that was before the days of (un)employment insurance, so you had no income.

I also am of two minds on Lester Pearson, but none of his children got into Politics either, to the best of my knowledge.

[J Kendrick]

Don't get me wrong. Although John Diefenbaker always hit me as a very decent human being, I'm of two minds on his accomplishments. Most people I know say he blew the biggest majority in Canadian history and didn't get much done. But I also know so many, now retired from the construction industry, who say his Winter Works program revolutionized that industry, especially in the Prairies.

Just two words regarding John Diefenbaker:

Those two words are "Avro" and "Arrow"...

[jon]

Don't get me wrong. Although John Diefenbaker always hit me as a very decent human being, I'm of two minds on his accomplishments. Most people I know say he blew the biggest majority in Canadian history and didn't get much done. But I also know so many, now retired from the construction industry, who say his Winter Works program revolutionized that industry, especially in the Prairies.

Just two words regarding John Diefenbaker:

Those two words are "Avro" and "Arrow"...

Is that a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?

[J Kendrick]

Don't get me wrong. Although John Diefenbaker always hit me as a very decent human being, I'm of two minds on his accomplishments. Most people I know say he blew the biggest majority in Canadian history and didn't get much done. But I also know so many, now retired from the construction industry, who say his Winter Works program revolutionized that industry, especially in the Prairies.

Just two words regarding John Diefenbaker:

Those two words are "Avro" and "Arrow"...

Is that a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?

You're kidding, right?

How do you imagine that having thrown away Canada's one chance at being the world leader in the aeronautics industry and all of the associated technologies that would have gone with it could possibly have been a good thing?

[jon]

You're kidding, right?

How do you imagine that having thrown away Canada's one chance at being the world leader in the aeronautics industry and all of the associated technologies that would have gone with it could possibly have been a good thing?

There is so much myth surrounding what was then a top secret project, it really is tough to tell if it was a Money Pit (doomed to failure) or a Missed Opportunity. The RCAF had meddled so much in the project that it had already missed several opportunities to complete successfully, i.e. - changed specs at the last minute. Plus, the thinking at the time was that there was not enough money to do the Avro Arrow and BOMARC/SAGE. Not doing the latter probably meant pulling out of NORAD, which no one wanted in that time of Cold War "missile gap" fears.

Sputnik had people scared half to death. In fact, its launch overshadowed the rollout of the first Arrow on October 4, 1957. With Sputnik, it was not just long distance missiles (ICBM) but now missiles launched from space.

Looking back, it is hard to imagine a time when little children, like me, were being trained in elementary school to try and survive the aftermath of a nuclear attack. It was not a good time to be asking for money for something risky.

[Neumann Sennheiser]

Well said Jon. I am just old enough to remember the atmosphere of fear of those times; not just a recollection of history you understand, but the actual emotional effect on our society. The newspapers and magazines of the day wrote of how nuclear missiles coming over the pole from Russia would be intercepted by U.S. countering anti-missiles directly over western Canada and graphically described how cities in the path, like Winnipeg, would be seared off the face of the planet. We came so close to an apocalyptic (and probably very short) war during the Cuban crisis of October 1962. I was seven, and didn't completely grasp it all, but I remember everyone watching the updating news on the CBC and knew the adults in my family were very afraid.

[jon]

knew the adults in my family were very afraid.

I was a little older than you, but still in elementary school. When it was discussed in school, one of my classmates said his younger sister hid under the table whenever she heard a Newscast. The rest of us weren't quite as smart.