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Peter Mansbridge has interviewed more than 20,000 people during his distinguished career in television journalism, but none of these interviews were harsher than asking former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher questions. During a presentation of a series of virtual speakers from the Algonquin College Pembroke Campus, Mansbridge described the interview as a “disaster.”
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It happened after Thatcher left office, and she promoted a new book she had written about her political life.
“She kept accusing me of not reading her book like I had, but the interview went nowhere,” Mansbridge said as he answered questions from a large online audience about his career.
The longtime interviewer told the audience that after the interview was over, “The Iron Lady”, as she was often referred to because of her hard reputation as one of the world’s most prominent leaders, offered to sign his copy of the book.
“Eventually I said thank you and the cameras and the light went out. She looked at me and for the first time in the 45 minutes we were together she smiled and said, ‘Peter do you want me to sign your copy of my book’?” The signed copy has been in Mansbridge’s home library ever since, but Mansbridge said he does not think he has ever taken it off the shelf.
Mansbridge described his interview with Gord Downie from Tragically Hip as emotionally charged. It was one of the last interviews the musician gave when he was battling terminal brain cancer.
“It stuck with me. He knew he was dying, and yet he had decided he would dedicate the last year of his life to encouraging Canadians to create a relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. Gord was passionate about it until the day he died, ”Mansbridge said.
For 30 years, Mansbridge was the face of CBC television news. He took over the anchor chair of The National after Knowlton Nash graciously stepped aside to spend more time writing books, but Nash did so because Mansbridge was courted by American television. Nash had been a mentor to Mansbridge and did not want to lose him to CBS News, which offered a very lucrative contract, and therefore he gave up the high-profile position in the CBC news department to ensure Mansbridge stayed with the network. By that time, Mansbridge had already spent 20 years with the CBC as a reporter.
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During a famous career, Mansbridge covered stories all over the world. Most of his time was spent at CBC’s News headquarters in Toronto, but when big stories broke out, such as the war in Afghanistan or the deadly tsunami in Thailand in 2004 that killed nearly 230,000 people, Mansbridge was on the front lines bringing the news back to Canadians.
He also branched out across the country, paying particular attention to climate change and its impact on Canada’s Arctic region. He convinced the CBC to spend a week in the Northwest Passage to show Canadians what happened. Very few Canadians will ever get to see what Mansbridge has witnessed in Canada’s far north, a place he calls “beautiful.”
He also entered the future of the monarchy when he answered a question about the royal family, calling Queen Elizabeth a remarkable person, noting that the first time he covered a story about the Queen was in 1970, when she visited Churchill.
“For most of us, she’s the only monarch we’ve ever known. That’s going to change suddenly in the next few years. I’m not sure how we’ll all deal with it. seen a lot. She is not perfect. When we lose her, it becomes a very different world. Will the monarch, the Queen of England, be the Queen of Canada? These are decisions we will have to make in the coming years. , ”Mansbridge asked.
Mansbridge has recently published a book about his life and journalistic career called “Off the Record.” In his book, he recounts how his career in journalism started in Churchill, Manitoba, when he was overheard making passenger announcements into a microphone at a small regional airport by a local radio station manager and was hired on the spot because this manager thought “I had a good voice. ” His early work in private radio reporting was noticed by the CBC, and he soon worked for Canada’s public television. Mansbridge retired in 2017.
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Among the audience for the presentation of the speaker series were several journalism students at Algonquin College who had the opportunity to ask for advice on how best to set their goals and objectives in a competitive industry that Mansbridge says should reconsider how it builds trust to the Canadians. Mansbridge called trust the most important element in news coverage, adding “we need to focus on being transparent in explaining how we cover the news.”
At the end of the presentation, it was announced that Mansbridge had donated $ 3,000 to Algonquin College to support students in financial need through scholarships. Mansbridge is one of several high-profile speakers who have participated in the college’s virtual speaker series over the past many months. Ron MacLean from Hockey Night in Canada will perform on Tuesday, November 30 at 19.00 as part of the Pembrokes Hometown Hockey Festival this weekend 4-6. December.
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