Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Peter Kent: Toronto Mike'd #1372

Episode Date: November 24, 2023

In this 1372nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Peter Kent about his fascinating career as a journalist, covering the Vietnam War from South East Asia, replacing Lloyd Robertson as The National anchor at CBC, writing a letter to the CRTC regarding interference from the PMO, anchoring Global News's First National, entering politics, being Environment Minister under Stephen Harper, abandoning the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, getting called a "piece of shit" by Justin Trudeau, and more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Raymond James Canada and Moneris. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1372 of Toronto Mic'd, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Thank you. The Advantage Investor Podcast from Raymond James Canada. Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. Season 5 of Yes, We Are Open. An award-winning podcast for Moneris. Hosted by FOTM Al Grego. And Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921.

Today, making his Toronto Mike debut is a man Justin Trudeau once called a piece of shit, Peter Kent. Welcome to Toronto Mike, Peter. Thank you very much, Mike. It's a delight to be along for the ride on 1K372 episode. Well, listen, now you can get a tattoo. Yeah, that's right. You can get a tattoo, 1372, and then that's your number. You'll be known as. But it's nice to meet you.

I want to shout out Banjo Dunk. Good friend of the program. Hello, Dunk and Fremlin, if you're listening at home. How do you know Banjo Dunk, Peter? Actually, we met just a few months ago at a book club for geezers. Basically, it's for older guys, retired guys who meet in the Cabbage Town neighborhood. And we haven't read that many books since I, since I joined in the summer,

but, um, we talk about, uh, uh, all the topics of the day, uh, issues of the day.

You call it a book club, but you just sit around drinking Great Lakes beer and talking about what's going on. Well, we do read books and we keep talking about, um, whether or not we will all read the same book or have someone come back and report on an interesting book that they've read. But yeah, no, it's a great chance to get together, have a couple of drinks and talk about the issues of the day.

Have you read, Peter, have you read Banjo-Dunk's book about his relationship with Stompin' Tom Connors? He's got a Stompin' Tom book. Have you ever read it? I've read parts of it and I've certainly heard his accounts, and I haven't been to a show yet, but look forward to it. As a former five-string banjo player in my folk singing youth in the 60s, I

really appreciate his work on the axe. Did you ever play the Riverbowl Cafe? I never did. How about the Purple Onion? I'm going to run them all down. Never the Purple Onion, never Grossman's Tavern. Right, that was my next one there. Did you know, okay, Eric Alper,

you know this name? He's a gentleman who kind of like a publicist who talks about quite a bit about music. Anyway, his grandfather was the Grossman from Grossman's Tavern. Oh, you're kidding. It's a fun fact. No, he used to go there Friday nights in the 60s and enjoyed, always dreamed of playing a sax there.

Although I bought a sax later in life, never became as proficient as one would have had to have. You're like Bill Clinton. You're just going to whip out the sax on Toronto Mike and play a little here. It's like he did it in our cinema. These days, it's the bass guitar. Oh, cool.

So are you in a band right now? I feel like you guys in that book club just turn it into a band. No, during COVID, during the lockdown, I acquired an electric bass, Geddy Lee Fender, and have been working on it about an hour a day for the last couple of years.

So I'm almost ready for a garage. Geddy Lee has got a new book. You got to get that on the list. And he's selling all his baseballs. See, I don't even know if I caught that news. Okay. I always thought like if I had Geddy Lee on the joke would be, I'll get Geddy Lee on Toronto Mike.

Then I won't even talk about Rush. I'll just talk about the Blue Jays. That'll be like the twist here. Uh, but yeah, I would, I got to read this Geddy Lee book. There's been a posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the last couple of weeks, basically that he's got walls and walls of baseballs

in his collection and they're apparently all up for sale. I know his lawyer. That's as close as I get to Getty League. Shout out to David Quinton Steinberg who's also a musician in the mods. He played drums. So it's all about music

today, Peter. Okay, so I'm going to see if you'll give me 90 minutes because I realize I could do 90 minutes on your media career, but I could do 90 minutes on your political career. So I'm going to kind of merge them all. Um, thank you for that remembrance of, um, Justin Trudeau, Justin Trudeau in his, um, backbench mode. Um, he apologized that day in, in parliament. Uh, but the next day he said, after all, it was a compliment because I was biodegradable. He didn't, at least he didn't claim he said fiddlesticks.

No. Fuddle duddle. That was it. You know what? I see. I only know it from the history books, Peter, but yes, fuddle duddle. I don't know why. Fiddlesticks is another fake swear word.

I knew his dad and got along an awful lot better than I have with Justin. So you turned off your ringer, but there's no chance Justin Trudeau would be calling you during this appearance on Toronto Mic'd. I don't think so. All right. So we're going to get into that because I think you have a fascinating career in terms of media. But then again, as a politician. And I want to kind of go back to the beginning here because I want to get you to CBC here. But can you tell me how it all begins for you?

I mean, it sounds like you wanted to be a musician. You wanted to be Neil Young. Am I wrong? But what made you want to become a journalist? Well, in high school, I played the trombone in a marching band and in a big band that the high school had. Took up the banjo when folk singing, the Brothers Four, Kingston Trio, Limelighters, Peter, Paul and Mary. I could use the four or five chords that I had to bang out some of those songs.

Did Toronto Conservatory piano up to grade 7 when the theory sort of overwhelmed me. So I've always had a musical bent, but it was put on hold after high school, after a brief stint in the Navy, and got into journalism almost by accident. I was trying to work on tuition for university, and I went with a buddy to Vancouver

and was looking around, trying to get a job as a copywriter. Stan Freeberg, the great copywriter, was the hit of the day then, and I thought that it might be interesting to do that for a while. I went to a radio station in Vancouver, which was sort of the WKRP of Vancouver in those days, CJOR. Wow. And it was called The Theatre Under the Stairs in the basement of the Grosvenor Hotel.

And I said, I'd like to be a copywriter. And Jerry Gaughan, the manager, said, we don't need a copywriter. But I had a bit of a hangover that morning. And he said, we'd use you to do station breaks. And you could operate for our talk show host, Pat Burns, who was just making a name for himself on the coast. Did a couple of years there, was wooed away to Sifan and did some rock station news for a few months

before the CGR hired me back just in time for their license to be taken away by the Board of Bodgast Governors, which was the forerunner of the CRTC. Okay. Because Mr. Burns was calling the Premier a corrupt politician and every cop on the Vancouver police force the same. And they used to stop us and give us jaywalking tickets

and we left the station every night. So then from there, I was sort of brought into the newsroom and my dad, I grew up in a newspaper household. My dad was a newspaper man with Southern News and I'd always had an affinity for it.

They began sending me out. I enjoyed it. Did a little bit of reporting and after we lost the license I moved to Calgary got a job at a radio TV station learned to shoot film learned a little bit more about reporting

again from mentors that were very considerate and then went to Vietnam as a freelancer in 1966 and after spending most of the fall of that year there, Charles Templeton at CTV saw some of the material that I had actually mailed back to Canada. Those were pre-satellite days. And heard some of the radio accounts that I'd sent back and offered me a job at CTV in Toronto. So spring of 67, Henry Champ and I joined CTV on the same day

and had a good run. Okay, so it's interesting because I thought your return from Vietnam, you'd end up at CBC. No, although the reason that I'd gone to Vietnam was I watched a great documentary by a documentarian called Beryl Fox, The Mills of the Gods. And she did one of the first really thoughtful pieces of the negatives that were involved in that conflict. And that was what moved me to go to Vietnam, to spend those three months there, really extraordinary months pre-Tet,

when it was, journalists could really go anywhere, do anything. I flew in the back seat of a Sabre jet on a bombing mission on the Cambodian border. I flew off aircraft carriers, went to fire bases, but basically could go to any military base and say, what's going on? Show me. After 68, after Tet, that of course all changed.

Anyway, spent a couple of great years with CTV. Went to Montreal as the bureau chief there, was there for the cross-kidnapping, the Laporte murder left CTV briefly in a disagreement of

I can't even recall what the disagreement was went back to Calgary for a year, was rehired by CTV, went to London with Mike McClure covered the Yom Kippur War in 73 from London, and of there until we went into receivership. I had barely returned and my expense accounts were just being bounced back because we were in receivership.

So I stepped away and was hired by CBC to work on the National with Lloyd. I am glad that we covered that because, you know, if you were to go to a basic bio of Peter Kent, it really does say, oh, he went to Vietnam, which I kind of want to revisit with you, and oh, and then he was a producer on the National, and then we'll talk about basically you taking over for FOTM Lloyd Robertson. FOTM Peter means Friend of Toronto, Mike. Lloyd Robertson FOTM Peter means friend

of Toronto Mike you're now FOTM Peter Kent so welcome to the club here. Lloyd was a was a great colleague a great gentleman it was it was wonderful to produce him it was wonderful to co-host with him that it was unfortunate that our paths diverged but yeah no, no, those were, those were good years. My career path is not one that anyone should look to emulate. It's been very erratic. And as we talk further, you'll see why. Yeah. Okay. And very interesting. I didn't realize all that history post, you know, your,

your visit to Vietnam to cover the war as a freelance foreign correspondent, so to speak and your arrival at cbc working as a producer on the national i didn't realize all those steps in between so already this is a note for uh rosy gray to we have some wikipedia edits to make this is what's been happening lately we get i get people like people like Peter Kent in the basement, hear from you and we realize, oh, Wiki's wrong. And we update it. People tamper with Wikipedia and I stopped a long

time ago from going in to do corrections. And the best part, they'll be like, oh, what's your source? And then you've got to say, I am he. Who are you to tell us what Peter Kent did when he returned to Canada? Oh, I am Peter, right? Yes, yeah. Who are you to tell us what Peter Kent did when he returned to Canada? Oh, I am Peter Kent.

Is that good enough for you? No, it's a great resource, but it is one that you have to be very careful with attribution. So let's just go back to Vietnam for a minute. I think it's wild. Can you give us a little more information on what it was like to be, I guess you were in Southeast Asia there.

Tell me what it was like. Well, it was, Vietnam in the 1960s was still pretty much a colonial country. It was, Saigon was filling up gradually with American troops, with Australian, with South Korean troops, which were allies in the war. And for a young journalist like myself, very callow, very green, very inexperienced.

It was quite a lightning education. The press accreditation was in a big old colonial hotel, the Rex Hotel, which the Americans had taken over as MACV, Military Assistance Command 5. And when you went in there on the ground floor, there was a long row of offices, a long, long row of offices along a corridor that were in some ways like travel agencies. Every branch of the U.S. military had an office. And at that point, again, before Tet, when the military, when the U.S. government considered journalists as useful idiots, I think could be one way of characterizing it. But they would invite you to see what all the good things that each of these branches of the forces were doing. And some of them were.

There were some very well-motivated young men in the American forces in those days. But it was essentially a competition to get journalists to tell stories about the work that they were doing. So the Air Force offered lifts anywhere in the country. As I said, I got a ride in the backseat of a saber jet on a three-jet bombing mission. Helicopter patrols puffed the Magic Dragon gunships

at night to support firebases, flying onto aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin, sitting on the demilitarized zone in a firebase. All of these things were accessible. That ended, of course, after journalists later in the 60s, certainly after Tet in 1968, began talking about the fact that the war was not being won, that the South Vietnamese government was not a particularly sterling ally.

Even though some of the South Vietnamese army units were very capable, very qualified, very loyal, very dedicated to the cause that the war was supposed to be all about. Wow. After witnessing that and enduring that, the Canadian media landscape and politics is easy peasy for you, right? It's like, oh, this is nothing.

Well, no, but it was, it was a life, it was a life shaping. It was certainly a career shaping experience. Uh, and on return visits to Vietnam, uh, during, during the war, after the war, uh, and even at, uh, 1999 took a tourist group back over and took my including our daughter to basically show folks what a lovely country what a lovely people are there and to talk about some of the history some of the positives some a lot of the negatives okay now we've got you at The National. So you're producing Lloyd Robertson, who is the anchor of The National.

Well, first I was a writer on The National. When they hired me after leaving Global, I came on as a writer on the desk for Lloyd. We'd sit around all day and put together the show. And then gradually was drawn into News Magazine, which was the weekly half-hour current affairs show that Lloyd hosted, and which was a mini-documentary program.

Some great documentarians worked there over the years and produced Lloyd in a number of situations. Probably the one that we remember most fondly was when the Mackenzie Valley Gas Pipeline was being proposed. We went up to the Arctic with Judge Thomas Berger and followed him around. with Judge Thomas Berger and followed him around. And at one point went out from Inuvik in a dog sled team,

Lloyd in the dog sled and with skidoos pulling rather than huskies. And we had a lot of fun on that shoot. Unfortunately, that Mackenzie Valley pipeline was never built. Not long after that, there was a proposal that the two of us co-host news magazine. And we took all the publicity photos for it, but then CTV came calling and Lloyd went to join my former anchor boss, Harvey Kirk, over at CTV.

Right. And I was honoured to be offered a chance to sit in the anchor chair at The National. So I will take this opportunity to let the listenership know that if they want to hear Lloyd talk about why he left CBC for CTV, this is a big moment in Canadian media. This is episode 1194, and I'll quickly read the description, and then I have a little piece of audio as we talk about you being the successor there to anchoring C cbc's the national but in episode 1194 i chatted with lloyd robertson about his career in broadcasting hosting the national at cbc and leaving for the competition anchoring the ctv national news we

also talked about ian tyson who had just passed. He became friends with Ian. I actually coincidentally just had Sylvia Tyson on Toronto Mic two weeks ago. So speaking of that 1960s scene we had in the coffee houses here and everything. But okay. We also talked about Terry Fox. Dave Hodge's pen flip. Dave's on the show next week. So everybody, Dave's going to unveil his 100 favorite songs of 2023.

I haven't heard 100 new songs in 2023, so I think it's wild Dave can do this. Okay. But The Dismissal of Lisa LaFlamme. What did you think of that? Any thoughts on Lisa getting the surprise boot there? Well, I think typical of Bell Media and the way that they have managed their broadcast holdings.

They did the same thing to Stephen LeDrew at CP24. Whether it was ageism, and certainly it smacked, the details that we saw certainly smacked of ageism. Whether or not it was management not appreciating a strong-willed woman journalist. It was unfortunate, but the good news is she has prevailed. She's still a force in public policy discussions. She's hosted any number of events lately and was in London covering the Royals for City. She's quite the musician herself, you know.

I didn't know that. Yes, they had these events, Newsapalooza, I think is what they call these, and Lisa was a lead singer for whatever the CTV band was called. And I'm told she could sing. She could belt it out. So we got to get all these anchors together to form a band, the Great Canadian Anchor Band. No, I took my turn at the microphone singing La Vida Journo

at a CBC Awards show about 25 years ago. And I was no Ricky Martin. It was more like Leonard Cohen in a dream. Suzanne brings me down. Yeah, I would dig that vibe here. Some people, believe it or not, some people think Neil Young is a terrible singer. This actually upsets me, like it offends me because I like Neil's

voice, but there's something about a voice that's not traditionally, like you're not Luciano Pavarotti here. This is the voice of your music, the artistry, and it works. He conveys his music powerfully. Bob Dylan. Great example. Bob Dylan's another

guy. Even like a Tom Waits. I'll take a Tom Waits. I like the expression of the artistry. Geddy Lee. That's true. There are many people who hate Geddy Lee's voice, and I've had at least one guest who thought the voice of Geddy Lee was actually a woman's voice. This is a true story on

Toronto Mic'd. But to finish real quickly, to move on from the great Lloyd Robertson, we talked about Joe Flaherty's portrayal of Floyd Robertson on SCTV. Very powerful. And his relationship with Peter Mansbridge. That's how we closed. You have any relationship with Peter Mansbridge? Because you're a Peter Kent. I feel like you two would have a lot in common as hosts of The National. Well, of course, when I was the anchor, he was our Ottawa correspondent. We did a lot of The National. Well, of course, when I was the anchor, he was our Ottawa correspondent.

And we did a lot of work together on federal elections, provincial elections, issues of the day, news stories of the day. So, yeah. Well, here's your mind blow, Peter. There'll be many throughout this conversation, but his wife, Cynthia Dale, will be down here kicking out jams in early December.

So, Cynthia Dale in the basement. I don't know if Peter will join her. I bet you she comes solo. But Peter, if you're listening, you're invited, of course. He's been on the program before. Okay. So back to a piece of audio I want to play just to segue us over here. Pardon the quality.

The National with Peter Kent. Good evening. The Gallup poll brings good news for the Conservatives, bad news for the Liberals, and scrambles election guesswork. Bell Canada goes after its highest ever rate increase, but not without an argument. And we find out more about explosions on the sun.

Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberals got a stunning indication today of how the Canadian public feels just before an expected election. The latest Gallup poll shows the Liberals down in popularity and the Conservatives up, way up, to the point where both parties are now tied among the side of both. Okay, I'll bring it down. Only because I think the broadcasts from the moon were better quality than this particular broadcast. All right, so as we spoke of moments ago,

Lloyd Robertson left. Surprise! He's like, I'm leaving as anchor of the National. So how did you get the gig? It feels like you just got there. How did you, Peter Kent, become anchor of The National? Well, I'd been there a couple of years. I joined in 1974.

And in 1975, with News Magazine and the Vietnam War approaching its conclusion, a news magazine sent a couple of crews over back to Vietnam. And I was there for the spring of 1975, covering the end of the war before evacuating with the American embassy from Phnom Penh when the Khmer Rouge entered the capital. And then three weeks later, evacuating from Saigon and covering the end of the war, covering that story for News Magazine and the National and CBC Radio.

News Magazine and the National and CBC Radio. So in the wake of Lloyd's departure, I guess I was the shiny penny of the moment and was offered the job. All right. And that's, you know, I'm sure you might agree that that's the job you want if you're going to be a Canadian journalist. Am I right?

Like this is the anchor of the flagship news program on CBC. I was surprised. I don't think that I was ever as good an anchor as Lloyd. I don't think that I was as good an anchor as Peter Mansbridge. I enjoyed the work. I was honored by it. I thought I was always a little bit stiff. I preferred to be honest field work, whether producing or

reporting and getting out to the story. But it was my couple of years at the National were a wonderful experience. A great crew of folks both in the field reporting to the show. My little, I shouldn't say this, my brother, Arthur, was our Western Canada correspondent. Are you referring to the Scud Stud?

I am. That was pre-Stud-ish. Well, he was perhaps Stud-ish still, but pre-Scud-studdish. I think people who don't realize your brother is the scud-stud. I'm old enough to remember. Scud-stud? From the Iraq War.

Right. Standing on the rooftop in Dharan, Saudi Arabia, as scuds came in and reporting directly into the Super Bowl, which is where, I don't know, that's still the largest or it was the largest viewed event on American television in those days. And he made quite an impact. Still gets underwear in the mail. I bet you still get underwear in the mail.

No, I'm afraid I don't. And I never did. How come I've never received? Now I'm upset. Okay. So I'm very interested in this story of how you stop being, I guess, you step down as anchor of the National.

That story, please, because earlier you mentioned the CRTC, but give me all the details of you exiting that role the CBC. office, Keith Davey, who became a friend later in life, was calling the then president of the CBC to suggest what should be covered and what shouldn't be covered. And as the host of the national and news specials, we received word at one point that our planned coverage of René Lévesque speaking to the Economic Club of New York was not to happen. And it was cancelled. Our planned coverage was cancelled. And instead, we covered Pierre Trudeau speaking to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters with a not particularly important speech in Winnipeg.

So the events went on. There were other things as well. We were being delayed at our usual, in those days the National was on 11 o'clock at night, but we were delayed by hockey until sometimes one o'clock in the morning. We were delayed by country music awards. There were all sorts of, the CBC national news was not being taken as seriously

as we journalists believed it should. So when the CBC license came up for its regular renewal, I quietly wrote an intervention and mailed it in and asked to be able to speak. And in that intervention, I suggested, and a little arrogantly, and looking back,

I probably shouldn't have written that intervention the way I did, but suggested the license should not be renewed unless the president of the CBC stopped interfering in editorial decision-making in the news department. And that's Al Johnson, right? That was Mr. Al Johnson, yeah, who was a fine gentleman,

but he was not one of the preeminent, memorable presidents of the CBC. Forever the diplomat here as I listen to that statement there. Always the politician. In any event, this came to light. I was in Muskoka. We were recording a CBC sports tennis tournament with CBC personalities and hosts and journalists.

And that morning, the Globe and Mail, someone in the Globe and Mail got a copy of my intervention and it broke as a news story. And all of a sudden, I was off the air. Nolte Nash came around to my house in the beach and said, we think you should resign. And I said, I think perhaps somebody else should resign. But we agreed that I should come off the air.

I never anchored another national. But all of a sudden there was an offer to open a bureau in Southern Africa, and I accepted it. Right. Okay. Now, firstly, as I hear you describe this situation, it sounds like this was your pen flip. Okay.

This is your pen flip. This is your moment. Speaking of Dave Hodge who's on the program next week. Yeah. Dave never hosted another hockey night in Canada after he flipped that pen. And you literally typing away on that typewriter, this letter, once that's leaked, yeah, you were done. And what a principled stance by you.

I will just give you credit that there should be no interference from the prime minister's office in what airs on the national. That's like a third rail, and you stood up for that. Well, I didn't think it out as well as I might have. I mean, it wasn't, there are a lot of ways that it might have been done more effectively, more appropriately, but yeah, no. The outcome was, and they brought me back from Africa when the CRTC license hearing was eventually held

to make the presentation. And to the CBC's credit, the way that a prime minister gets on television now is very different than it was then. They rewrote access so that in making a request, it had to be made openly and via a certain formula, which is what Jean Chrétien had to do when he wanted to speak the night before the Quebec separation referendum. So change was done, was achieved and the good news was I met my wife, a journalist in South Africa.

Johannesburg, right? This is a, yes. Okay. So that's, that's amazing right there. It all worked out for you. How long were you in South Africa? Well, Southern Africa, because when I was originally assigned, South Africa wouldn't let a CBC journalist into the country. It was only during the Lancaster house talks when DonaldDonald, who was the foreign affairs minister at the time, basically twisted the South African government's arm and got me permission to set up a bureau in Johannesburg. And it's wild that in 1995, there's actually, you know, you mentioned Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the Quebec referendum,

and that there's a moment where protocols were put into effect that were the result of you writing that letter. Like, that's wild. So good on you. Trickle down. Well, thank you. Good on you. Because you recognize, you know, you have journalistic integrity, right? And you realize that it is absolutely wrong. And you made a stand and it cost you the anchoring job on the National.

But again, you met your wife and it all worked out there. And what happened here? Because there's a note about how, what is it here? You returned in 1978 to testify at a grievance hearing that was initiated by somebody who complained that Knowlton Nash got the job of anchoring the National and that that was not fair because Knowlton Nash was the vice president of CBC News?

Yes, and that was a tempest in a teapot. When I was hired, appointed the anchor of the National, I was the first non-announcer to sit at the anchor desk. I was hired as a journalist, and as a journalist, I was allowed to take a pen to change scripts to write some of my own material in a way that Lloyd had been prevented because he was in the broadcast union. Right. One of the other announcers, classic announcers, a great announcer with a powerful voice, had thought that— Do we name this gentleman?

Who is this person? I'm trying to recall. Oh, okay. I don't want to put you on the spot there. But basically, he thought that he deserved a shot at the job. But Knowlton, having placed me in the job as a former journalist,

and Knowlton was a great journalist in his time before before so he was a worthy successor to you in your opinion yes so and he didn't make that decision on his own he didn't appoint himself Peter Herndorf and and other executives at the CBC and other members of the of the of the news department agreed that Knowlton was an appropriate choice. Now, you mentioned the name Peter Herndorf, so I'm just going to take this opportunity

because he passed away recently. And Steve Paikin came on the program to pay tribute to him because they knew each other quite well. And I will just let people know that Steve Paikin will be back here in the basement Tuesday and that Steve Paikin will be back here in the basement Tuesday and that Steve Paikin is bringing with him Mary Hines

who, it'll be an exit interview of sorts because Mary Hines who currently hosts Tapestry on CBC Radio has announced that at the end of this calendar year, and there's not much time left, she's retiring. So just to let people know, we'll catch up with Steve Paikin and my condolences to Steve

whose mother passed away on Super Bowl, during, I almost said Super Bowl, during the Great Cup, actually, and we're going to talk about that, the passing of his mother. Very sad. Very sad, absolutely. So my condolences to Steve Paikin, but he'll be back here. When you said Peter Herndorf, I just realized, oh yeah, I had a great conversation

with Steve Paikin about Peter. Okay. And you can interject anything at any time. I consider this the Peter Kent show. Even if I move on from something, you can say, Mike, not so fast. Put on the brakes there. Can I give you a little? Yeah, like right now. Perfect. Just a little detour.

Speaking of Steve, who's a friend over the years, but his most recent book, The Biography of John Turner, our daughter edited. Okay. What a mind blow right there. You know, I collect these mind blows and fun facts.

That's wild. What a small world. That's wild. Okay. I'll bring that up. In fact, I know he listens. He only skips episodes about music that's not Frank Sinatra music, okay?

So I do a lot of musical-themed episodes. And if it's not Frank or maybe Tony Bennett, he takes a pass on it. But he will absolutely be listening to this episode. So hopefully he hears it before he visits on Tuesday. Also, shout-out to Ian Hanamansingh who's listening. He's fallen in love with Toronto Mike because he has a big brain and likes fun, good content. And I'm going to start collecting all living anchors of the National. This is my new quest here.

So Ian has promised he'll come on. It's been a lot lately, actually, so it's become more difficult, but I'm going to collect them all. Another solid journal. Yeah, he's great. Don't you think, what was your thought when they said we're going to have four anchors of the National? Like, what was your personal opinion on that?

The inability to make a decision. It doesn't work. I think, you know, we've had over the years a number of, on this continent, south of the border, a number of successful newscasts that were double teamed, you know, Huntley Brinkley. And at Global, we had Peter Truman and Peter Deborah. But for rotating, it never made sense to me,

and I think it just reflected management's inability to make a decision. I think they have found the way to an appropriate outcome. Well, that's your first evidence that they may have erred, is that they undid it fairly quickly. But I did think at the time, when Peter Mansbridge said, I'm stepping down, my thought at the time as just an amateur nobody in his basement was, Ian's the heir apparent. That was my thought at the time, thatan henneman sing will take over and he was one of the four so i didn't i didn't see that coming but okay we're gonna get we got lots of ground still the cover checking in i'm

gonna play a little piece of music because i want to even know if you know who i'm playing here but so you know if you want to dance, Peter, you can dance. You know, you're just dancing aloud on Toronto Mike here. By the way, while we I don't think hit the post because I don't have a song that well, but I do have fresh craft beer from Great Lakes for you to take home with you. You turn my night into days. Lead me mysterious ways. You make me feel like a new man

It's like I'm born once again It's you I know it's you Peter Kent, do you have any idea what you're listening to right now? I do, but I can't put my finger on it. Okay, so I didn't know about this artist either. This is a German singer

who had a, I guess this is like late 70s, maybe early 80s. This was like a mild hit in some corners, but this gentleman's name is Peter Kent. This is Peter Kent.

A little bit of Peter here. This song is called It's a Real Good Feeling. Is this the American Peter Kent or the German Peter Kent? German Peter Kent. There's also an American lounge lizard, lounge singer by the name Peter Kent. And also, there's a stunt actor. Yes, in my Googling, I did see the stunt actor Peter Kent. There are multiple Peter Kents, but I have the definitive Peter Kent right here in the basement.

So, I've given you beer, but I also want to let you know I have a large, a frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta in my freezer. So when you leave here today, Peter, you're going to have some delicious lasagna. I'd appreciate it.

You're going to love it. In fact, if you are around on December 9th, that's a Saturday. That's only a couple of Saturdays from now. I'm doing the math here.

No, three Saturdays from now. Okay. December 9th from noon to 3 p.m. Listeners of the program are collecting at Palma Pasta. They have four locations, but we're at the Palma's Kitchen location near Burnhamthorpe and Mavis. And we're going to enjoy fresh craft beer, pasta, and we're going to enjoy a live broadcast. And if you showed up and said hi, you could pop on the mic and wish everybody happy holidays. That's December

9th. It's called TMLX 14. You're invited, Peter. Thank you. Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of this community since 1921. They have a measuring tape. See the green there? That's for you. That's a measuring tape for you, Peter, in case you need to measure something.

Courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home and I will let listeners know that just yesterday I co-hosted an episode of Life's Undertaking Brad Jones at Ridley Funeral Home has this great podcast and what a wonderful conversation check it out he talks about seeing spam a lot in Stratford and what he learned from Monty Python and it is really really great so go to Life's Undertaking from Ridley Funugh Home. Also, while you're subscribing to podcasts, Peter, this is a wireless speaker for you to take home with you,

courtesy of Moneris. So you can listen to season five of Yes, We Are Open. That's an award-winning podcast from Moneris hosted by Al Grego. Al was here earlier in the week to talk about season five. He went to the Maritimes. He went to Newfoundland. He collects inspiring stories from small business

owners and then he shares them on. Yes, we are open. So you've got yourself a speaker. Thank you. And I'm not quite done here because I want you to know that whether you're pausing for a dramatic effect here, you know,

just to make sure that people can hear some Peter Kent in the background. Whether you already work with a trusted financial advisor or currently manage your own investment plans, The Advantaged Investor provides the engaging wealth management information you value as you pursue your most important goals. So The Advantaged Investor is a podcast and it's hosted by Chris Cooksey. and you can subscribe to that wherever you find your podcasts. Okay. So what happens when you return to Canada from Africa? Well, first I left CBC in Africa to join NBC. I was hired, I was hired away and spent a year covering Africa from Johannesburg for NBC. And that was just about the time that Mark Starowitz was starting up The Journal with Barbara Frum, Mary Lou Finlay.

from Mary Lou Finlay. And they asked me to come back to Canada to rejoin the CBC and to be one of the, an occasional co-host, but one of the journalists at large doing mini documentaries for the new current affairs show, The Journal, which took the back half of the hour

along with The National and was an instant success. It was a great show and spent a couple of years, brought back a wife and daughter and spent a couple of great years back in Toronto working with Barbara Frum and Mary Lou Finlay. What was that like? I mean, these are legendary names. What was that like?

Well, it was, again, it was a pleasure. The CBC in those days was breaking all sorts of new ground using the technology, we were using digital cameras for the first time. The film had been put for the most part to the side. Editing technology was moving forward very quickly. CBC management was, again, Peter Herndorf and Nolten and others were very supportive. And, uh, uh, with Barbara in the chair, uh,

uh, the program was, uh, established itself immediately as a, as a must watch every night. I'll bet. I have a question that came in about an episode of the journal that was broadcast in 1984. And again,

so I, on Twitter, I go, and some of these, we'll get to it when we get to your political career, but some people aren't madly in love with you like they should be, Peter. We're going to talk to that later.

But one gentleman named Diamond Dog wants to know, does Peter still believe, as he did in 1984, that the greenhouse effect must be considered the world's greatest environmental concern. And this is a quote, I guess, because you were referring, there's a documentary called The Greenhouse Effect and Planet Earth that you hosted and narrated. Talk to me about, maybe a little bit about

that particular episode of the journal, that documentary, and that quote that Diamond Dog is wanting you to reference, speak to. Well, yes, the short answer is yes. Climate change is huge. And that was the first, among the first documentaries to actually recognize what we called was the greenhouse effect. It was produced by one of the CBC's legendary producers, David Studer, who went on to the Fifth Estate

after the journal. But the questions at the end of that program are as valid today as they were then. And I'd invite folks to go to the CBC archives, look up the greenhouse effect. I anchored it. I was immensely proud to report that show and to work with David and with the crews on it.

And we talked about exactly the sorts of extreme weather swings that we're seeing today. And we talked about small island states and communities, Florida, any waterfront areas which were likely to be eventually ravaged by the rising seas as a result of the melting ice caps. So, yeah, it was. And that was something that when I was appointed Environment Minister in the Harper government,

the NDP was the official opposition at the time and the environment critic was very gracious in recognizing that program as one of the landmark programs. Unfortunately, I was a little too green as environment minister for some of my caucus and cabinet colleagues, and not green enough for an awful lot of other folks. You know what? It ain't easy being green. Kermit is absolutely right.

That's right. That's right. Actually, quick aside, we're going to come back to that because I'm going to wrap up the media segment and get into the political segment. But I just watched for a random reason, I ended up watching some of Jim Henson's funeral

on YouTube yesterday. And Big Bird sings, it Ain't Easy Being Green. And I'm telling you, tearjerker moment. He's no longer with us either. The voice of Big Bird was Carol Spinney, who was also the voice of Oscar the Grouch. He did both of those voices, and he's passed away fairly recently. But yeah, him singing It Ain't Easy Being Green

at the funeral for Jim Henson is something else. Okay, so we digress on this show a little bit. Just ask Banjo Dunk about that. He'll explain it to you. Okay, so you're now, I'm trying to understand the timeline. So you're at NBC before you come back to the journal. Yes. And then you go to NBC after? Well, in 1984, Scylla, my wife,

and I had decided that Canadian winters were a bit of a shock. And at almost the same time, former colleagues in New York at the Brokaw show called up and said they wanted someone to work the South America Caribbean Bureau out of Miami Beach. So I agreed. We stayed just long enough to cover the 1984 federal election, which Brian Mulroney won. But as soon as that was in the bag, we were off to Miami and spent another almost 10 years with NBC in Miami,

working the wars in Central America, the drug trade in Colombia. Then was moved on to commute to Washington and New York every week to work on a program called 1986 with Roger Mudd and Connie Chung and a number of other journalists. Unfortunately, it never became 1987. a number of other journalists.

Unfortunately, it never became 1987. And I was switched to London as the senior European correspondent covering London, Europe, and the former Soviet Union. Look at your career. Look at this. Okay, wild. Now, I'm just going to pick on a couple of little things

during the NBC chapter of your lengthy and illustrious media career. So, firstly, you won a, or maybe you were part of a team that won a Robert F. Kennedy Award. Yes. That was later, though. Okay, that's later. That was at Monitor Television after I left NBC. Right, Christian Science Monitors, World Monitor, right. Okay, so then in 1987, hopefully this is an NBC thing,

but I want to talk about six days plus 20 years, a dream is dying. Yes. Okay, so that's NBC, right? Yes. Okay, see, eventually I'll get my facts right, Peter. Just got to work with me here. And I'm not even enjoying my Great Lakes beer right now. But okay.

I just think this is very, very interesting. So this is 1987. And maybe tell us a little bit about that. What was, if I want to get the right title here, what was six days plus 20 years, a dream is dying? Well, it was the anniversary of the Six-Day War, 1967, where Israel had been attacked by its Arab neighbors. And in a remarkably short war,

I had been assigned by CTV to actually get over and to cover that conflict, but it ended so quickly I I never got out of, uh, I never got out of Canada, but, um, so basically, uh, the 20 year anniversary, which was, uh, uh, an hour long documentary with, uh, I think there were five of us and Tom Brokaw reporting, uh, on different aspects was a time of soul searching in Israel over exactly as happened. So, so regularly in Israel, how,

how the, how this little country surrounded by, by 1967 or by 1987, more friendly, but still not entirely supportive. More diplomacy here. I would argue that these surrounding nations would like them to die and leave. Well, Jordan and Lebanon were somewhat more accommodating,

but the PLO, the extreme terror organizations were still set on destroying Israel, on basically eliminating every Jew in the country as they're chanting on the streets now from the river to the sea. I was going to say, this is the second time in our little chat here where I don't know who to attribute this quote to. You might know, Peter, but I've heard it and I often think it's true. History doesn't necessarily repeat, but it echoes. I don't know who said that, but a lot of the, you know, we talked about a couple of times now, particularly here where I think I made a reference. I think it was I made a reference that that could be 2023. I think it was regarding the Liberal Party becoming less popular,

the Conservative Party increasing in popularity, etc. But right now, this special ed with NBC, it was talking about West Bank and where military rule controls every aspect of Palestinian life. Today, many conversations happening, because it's Thanksgiving in the States, but in the world right now, many conversations about Gaza and Israel and Hamas

and the Palestinians. And what are your thoughts as this unfolds in real time, in real life right now, when you were a part of this NBC News special that was examining similar themes back? Well, as I said earlier, I was in Israel in 73 during the Yom Kippur War, which again, like 67, involved Egypt and Syria making a raid on Yom Kippur during the highest holy

day, thinking again to destroy the state of Israel. And that was a war that was very nearly lost. The United States sent in emergency military equipment, materiel, ammunition, and it was much closer than it should have in the end Israel prevailed I was fortunate to be able to cross the

Suez Canal in General Sharon's tank column when he surrounded the Egyptian army and the war on that side the truce was done with Egypt at milepost 101 in Egypt. But I can remember sitting up on the night that the truce was to come into effect with Syria, sitting on the side of Mount Hermon with crews, and basically being told by the military escorts that were

with us at that time that this cycle was going to be repeated again and again, and that Israel, eternal vigilance was the only way that Israel would survive. We're seeing that again today. Again, the attack of October 7th during Israel's highest holy period, Yom Kippur, and there is still a reckoning on why they got away with as much savagery and barbarism as they did. But again, Hamas did what the Arab states, Syria and Egypt, had attempted to do previously. Now, as we speak, it's November 24th.

We've got a date stamp because things change very quickly here, but there was a four-day ceasefire in effect today, this morning? It is in effect today, and the first exchange of hostages has taken place. I believe 13 Israeli citizens and a number of foreign nationals have been returned to Israel, and in return, 50 criminals have been released from prisons in Israel. Okay, so this is... And this is to continue for the next four days, and perhaps longer,

if Hamas agrees to continue releasing hostages. At times like this, do you wish you were still covering these events? I've been following this conflict very closely, as I have the war in Ukraine. And I hope folks keep their eyes on that at the same time. But yeah, no, this is a tragedy. Hamas is responsible for the tragedy on all sides. And I think that the only way anything,

any opportunity for peace in the future rests upon the absolute destruction of Hamas as a terror organization. So let me ask this question. There's many a family that's divided at this time. time i know that i've i learned a story about two good friends who are local musicians who are currently not speaking because one posted something on facebook uh something to the effect of cease fire now and the other gentleman uh proud jewish man uh doesn't won't be in the same room with him right now like this is happening right now with people we know and love and FOTMs left, right and center here. But what do you say at what cost? This is not even me speaking personally, but just repeating arguments that are happening, which is if civilians in Gaza who have nothing to do with Hamas, they might, you know, they're not Hamas. These are Palestinian civilians in Gaza are being killed in Israel's effort to destroy Hamas. Is that simply the cost of preserving

Israel's solidarity and freedom and right to live without fear of death? Well, as I said, Hamas is responsible. Hamas has held its own civilians. Hamas achieved its ends in a number of ways when they launched the attack on Israel. One, they killed the greatest number of Jews since the Holocaust at one time. At the same time, Israel's response, and I believe it's an appropriate response, to destroy Hamas once and for all. A ceasefire will allow Hamas to regain a footing, to continue, to plan to recover for another attack maybe years from now, but that is their game. But what Hamas also achieved was a terrible loss of also achieved was a terrible loss of Palestinian civilians because that's a propaganda device.

And as we've seen in the videos now being revealed of the terror bases underneath hospitals, underneath schools, underneath... Human shields. Exactly. And it is a tragedy. The other thing that makes this different is that previous wars

have not had the access, the social media access, the public has not been, during the Second World War, when Coventry was destroyed on one hand and and the the Allies responded in in their attacks on on civilian populations that the video wasn't available the reports the suffering wasn't there to torment the soul, to torment those. But again, the Second World War was fought to an appropriate end.

And I hope that this terrible suffering notwithstanding, You know, this terrible suffering notwithstanding, I believe that Hamas does need to be eliminated. Its ability to wage war, its ability to terrorize, its ability to hold its own people hostage. You know, Palestinians have, the Palestinian people, the fact that there are still areas, they're no longer actual camps, but the UN on the West Bank and in Gaza, are held hostage by leaders who are not legitimate representatives of the people but are being supported by governments like Qatar, by other Arab countries, by Iran, most notably now, with an eye to destroying and eliminating the state of Israel. So until that influence can be countered, ended, eliminated,

we will, I'm afraid, as you say, be going through this cycle for the foreseeable future. Wow. You bring such an interesting perspective to that. So thank you, because you were there in 1967. Now we're talking 87 when that documentary comes out, six days plus 20 years, a dream is dying. What was, I was reading a little bit about the response from the Israeli government to

that particular report documentary that you guys released at NBC in 1987. So what was the reaction to that? Before I bring you back to global news. Sure. Well, the Israeli government of the day did not like that hour long documentary because it looked at the good news, but it was warts and all.

Right. It looked at the, at the fact and the population of Israel was divided as it off, as, as we've seen in recent months, even before October 7th this year. Not everyone agrees with where an Israeli government of the day is going. And in those days, there were those who did not agree with, for example, the destruction of the houses of families of terrorists, sort of retribution. But we also looked at the courage of the defense forces.

We looked at the vulnerability of the State of Israel to terror organizations based in Lebanon, in Syria, and elsewhere, and the outside agitators that were contributing to the intifadas, to the stone-throwing, to the uprisings, and to the fact that other countries of the day, Saudi Arabia, for example, was subsidizing the families of suicide bombers. It was very complicated,

and Israel was going through a period of self-examination, as it will again after this war is over. Very complex. This is a very multi-layered complex situation of course and on that note just before we leave this part uh maybe your thought on this and because i believe this to be true and i'd like to hear your thoughts on this because this is a basis for a number of arguments that i'm uh witness to at this time can you peter can you be pro-Israel, want Hamas liberated, and want humanitarian aid for Palestinians living in Gaza? Yes.

All three can be true, right? All three can be true. are so compromised by their presence there and by the influence of Hamas that there is very legitimate concern that humanitarian aid will be diverted from the proper civilian recipients, as we know that gasoline, for example, was going to support Hamas, not to support the hospitals or the power generators. What a, okay, I almost called it a clusterfuck, but I don't know if I can say that in front of the former anchor at The National. But okay, this will help us segue to your return to Canada. Global's going to change the way you see the news. Peter Kent, a veteran journalist.

There's no substitute for experience. Now, for the first time, you can see all the national and international news at 6.30 on Global's First National. First National, your first look at the news from across Canada and around the world. First National brings all the resources of the Canwest global system together to give Canadians a new, earlier choice for national news. First National with Peter Kent. Experience the difference weeknights at 6.30. Do you want a little more? I pulled another minute here just so we could get a little more taste.

Global News Update brought to you by Canadian Tire. Here is Peter Kent. Good evening. A verdict has been rendered in the giant gold mine trial in Yellowknife. Roger Warren has been found guilty of nine counts of second-degree murder in the October 1993 explosion at the mine. The trial heard 45 days of testimony and the jury deliberated for nearly five days before reaching their decision. Meanwhile, the province has unveiled a new photo ID health care card. Ontario Health Minister Ruth Greer unveiled the new cards today. She says the new photo ID will save the province millions by reducing fraudulent health care claims.

The cards will be phased in over a three-year period. We'll have details of these stories and more at 11 on The World Tonight. This global news update has been brought to you by canadian tire do you have any idea whose voice overwork that is right there do you have any any clue i feel like i know that voice and uh i do know the voice but no i can't put the name there were a number of terrific booth announcers so if anybody listening can tell me whose voice that was over top of the Global News hit their first national, let me know, let me know.

Okay, so why did you return to Canada and join Global News? And by the way, this is my introduction to Peter Kent, so finally I can tell you I now know who Peter Kent is. I did not see you on the national. I did not see you earlier in your career, but I definitely saw you at Global News in 1992.

How did that come to be? Well, first of all, I was with NBC until after the Berlin Wall came down. And then in the summer of 1990, we decided to move back to North America and accepted a job with the then fledgling television network of the Christian Science Monitor, Monitor Television, which in some ways was the purest journalism that I ever was able to practice, despite the fact that it was owned and operated by a religion based on faith healing.

There was absolutely no interference in our editorial decision-making and the stories we covered. We covered the trials of the church when families, the trials of the church when families, when parents were charged with neglect and unsuccessfully healing their dying children with prayer. We covered stories about alcohol, about smoking, even though those were not permitted within that religion. And spent a couple of good years there. It was the fastest growing cable network in the States,

faster than even the Playboy, the fledgling Playboy network at the time. That's a mind blow right there. Yeah, but unfortunately there was a schism within the church itself saying, basically the Christian science newspaper, which was started by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the church, was the journalistic mandate,

and that there were a number of folks that basically still thought that broadcasting was in some ways the devil's handiwork. At the time, we also had the largest non-governmental shortwave radio network in the world. We had stations or broadcast towers, rebroadcast towers on islands in the Pacific and in Eastern Europe. And as a journalist with the Monitor,

you could get access in any developing country where mainstream broadcasters or journalists would have difficulty because the monitor's reputation for its even-handed, balanced, fair, just-the-facts journalism was as strong as it was. In any event, the schism in the church meant that the monitor television was shut down on very short notice. The church was, the network was very gracious in respecting all the contracts

and helping folks find new jobs. Cameramen, for example, were given their equipment. Editors were allowed to take their editing equipment with them. And in our case, we had an opportunity to either go to join another network in the States, but Global came calling and said, come back to Toronto. So we came back to Toronto, as you say, in 1992 and had another good run with Global Television. In that news report that I aired there,

they talk about bringing in the photo health card. And I just want you to know, Peter, I resisted the move from that red and white one I resisted until I think just maybe just pre-pandemic when they just said something like I got the message like I was going to show up at St. Joe's with a bleeding out or something and they'll be

like sorry you didn't get the photo health card get out of here or whatever and I eventually did succumb and get the photo health card but I did resist that for a long time so did I. Just to the last year or two. Yeah. It was like 2019, I think, when I finally did it.

So I held on as long as I could. I said, I don't want an expiration date on my card. Because this is one more thing. And there's enough things, right? Renewal. Yeah. Renewals. Did Global consider promoting?

I know they say, you know, distinguished. You know, there's a lot of great things, veteran journalist Peter Kent. What about this? Okay. Brother of Scud Stud, Peter Kent. Do they consider that as their promo? Because 92, that's prime year now. Now it's Stud Scud has arrived by 92. Well, Arthur had sued NBC successfully, if you'll recall, because NBC News, after his celebrity status was established, wanted him to come back and be studio bound in New York. He wanted to stay. He was the bureau chief at that point for NBC in Rome, and he wanted to stay on the road telling stories.

He'd gone into Afghanistan, lived with the Mujahideen. He had covered that war as he covered the Gulf Wars. And when he refused to come back, they basically put out information saying he was a scud studs a dud. They questioned his courage. They put his crew in Rome at risk in the Bosnian War and fired him. And he sued and successfully won a very large lawsuit, not the least being the testimony when they were doing their legal interviews,

pretrial interviews, where the president of NBC couldn't draw Serbia or Bosnia on a map. I'm not surprised. Yeah. So in any event, yeah, no. So he was retired and doing his own documentaries. Okay, it's in the blood. It continues today.

It's in the blood. Yeah. Telling stories. Okay. Now, again, I went on Twitter. You got questions for Peter Kent.

I've been accused of being a bleeding heart lefty. I think it's because I bike everywhere. But regardless, I love having conversations with people, even if they're MPs in Stephen Harper's government. I just enjoy talking to you. It's okay. We have different political stripes,

Peter. That's what we're here to call. You're not even the first Peter with that kind of a background. I want to shout out FOTM Peter Sherman, who was an MPP for the Progressive Conservative Party. My counterpart in Thornhill. That's right, okay. A former broadcaster at CGAD.

Right, so he has a deeper voice than you, though. He did. He still does. I sometimes think, let me try really hard. I close my eyes and I'm going to try to sound like Peter Sherman. No go. He still does. I sometimes think, can I, let me try really hard. I close my eyes and I'm going to try to sound like Peter Sherman. No go. When he,

he's phoned me occasionally and it's like my phone vibrates. I know you just dropped your phone. I thought maybe Peter was calling you. It's like that, that bass,

it's just, it just shakes. It's wild. Okay. So neither of us sound like that. Okay. So I won't read

all the comments on Twitter because a lot of them are actually kind of rude, but I will read a couple just to give us a flavor. But Bobby just wrote this. When journos enter politics, trouble often follows. This is Bob B. on the app formerly known as Twitter.

Let me use that as my segue to ask you, why did you decide to leave the world of media and journalism and become a politician? media and journalism and become a politician? Well, at the time, and it came back to Canada, just as the government of Brian Mulroney, who was succeeded by Kim Campbell, but had the disastrous election defeat where the Conservative Party was reduced to a party of two. election defeat, where the Conservative Party was reduced to a party of two. And there was almost then 13 years of unopposed liberal government. Jean Chrétien did achieve many positive things as Prime Minister, Paul Martin as his successor. But when the Conservative Party of Canada was reformed,

when Conservatives... Unite the right. Yes, exactly. When the party reunited from its more than a decade in the wilderness as Eastern and Western parties. I was impressed by Stephen Harper and Peter McKay's leadership. Their policies made sense. There was fiscal responsibility.

There was social responsibility. And I decided in 2005, we took global television. By then, I was in senior management. I was away from the microphone. And we took our current affairs show, Global Sunday, which was hosted by Danielle Smith and which featured Ezra Levant and Stephen LeDrew as right and left. FOTM Stephen LeDrew.

Right. We took the program to Montreal for the first policy convention of the Conservative Party. It was a very interesting convention. And three weeks later, I was a candidate for the Conservative Party in Toronto, St. Paul's. Okay, that's key detail there. So you do not win that election.

That's Carolyn, who was it? Carolyn Bennett. Carolyn Bennett, right, Liberal Party. Okay. All right, so you don't win that. That's your first foray into running for office, right? Right. And at the wake that night, I mean, the bitterness of defeat was eased more than

a little by the fact that we had won a minority government. But at the wake that night, the journalists, a number of them former friends, one of them but at the wake that night the journalist a number of them former friends one of them piped up and said okay Kent are you going to do it again and I was trying to think of a deflecting answer when a voice

from behind me that I recognized as Scylla's said of course he will decision made so almost overnight I decided to look for a more accommodating, more supportive riding and eventually ended up in Thornhill, where I stood for the nomination, was nominated, and in 2008 elected the Member of Parliament for Thornhill,

representing a big piece of Vaughan and a big piece of Markham. I want to shout out FOTM, great listener. Brian Gerstein, real estate agent in Thornhill, Ontario. And I'm actively searching. An occasional door knocker. Well, that's it. I saw this on Twitter and I'm sure I took it down. Again, we're going to spend the last 15 minutes talking about your political life

here. You're doing great by the way, Peter. How's this going for you? Fine. Okay, good, good, good, good. Brian. Okay. I got it now. Brian Gerstein back in 2016. Oh, there's two things. Oh no, there's two things. I'll start with the door knocking. I thoroughly enjoyed door knocking with Peter during one of his campaigns many years ago. I can only imagine how hard it is to reach people today doing that. Nobody answers their door and

we all have ring cameras. By the way, I should get a ring camera, right? Maybe I won't disclose. I don't have one. I get to get one. I got a big angry dog that sits outside of mine. He's just ready to bite people. Okay. Are town halls for those interested the best way to do it now? So what do you say about Peter who did enjoy did enjoy firstly enjoyed doing the door knocking thing and and i mean you're not actively a politician anymore but uh i know there's still no i know because it's kind of funny when i think i'm about to ask you about um kyoto accord and uh being an environment minister and it's funny because we're going to do 90 minutes and then i'm going to be doing a recording with diane sacks who was the environmental commissioner uh for under

the Liberal government. Well, this position has been eliminated by Doug Ford here provincially. But regardless, now she's an active councillor. But I just think it's interesting to do the two back to back. But she's not on my show. I'm actually producing her show. But she does door to door still. I know this because they just had an election like a year ago and she

was knocking on every door in her ward here. But what do you want to say to Brian here? I think the main question here is do you still knock on doors in 2023? I think you still have to knock on doors. People expect door knocking although it's not nearly as effective as it once was. Social media unfortunately has come to dominate in many ways. And we've also seen,

since I got into politics in 2006 as an active politician, social media has really polarized and led to a lack of intolerance and a lack of civility that is counterproductive to the democratic process. Unfortunately today, election campaigns are engaging emotions, and as I said, intolerance, ignorance. People are not as well as informed as they should be about the public policy decisions that governments make on their behalves. And that's because,

and we've seen it in the decline of the mainstream media, people are not reading newspapers. They're not feeding themselves enough information to make solid decisions. And they live in echo chambers. Exactly. And it, so yes,

I agree 100% with that. Now here, let's see if you, how you respond to this one. Here's where it gets heavy here. So brace yourself. But Derek Raymaker, you're already,

you know what you're doing, Peter. Derek Raymaker writes, he was the environment commissioner. Sorry, you're not, that's Diane Sacks. Don't mix up these people. He was the environment commissioner. Sorry, you're not, that's Diane Sachs. Don't mix up these people.

He was the environment minister who officially pulled Canada out of the Kyoto protocol on climate change in 2011. And again, I'm reading Derek here. The result was Canada's climate change efforts were set back a decade. Interested to hear if he regrets that. decade. Interested to hear if he regrets that. Well, no. The Kyoto Accord, and this has been admitted by Prime Minister Kretchen's senior advisors of the day, that was written on the back of a napkin at the Kyoto Agreement. A lot of people jumped on board. It was aspirational, but it was meaningless. In the decade after the Kyoto Accord was signed by the liberals, Canada's emissions went up 35%. There was no legislation. was the first environment minister, then John Baird, and then myself,

we shut down the construction of, for example, during my time, any new coal-generated power stations. We brought in, we did sign accords. We did reduce, there was, because of the recession in 2008, 2009, 2010, there was a reduction coincidentally of greenhouse gas emissions. But we did work forward. We participated in the conferences of the parties around the world. And we urged the, you know,

we worked to urge the principal polluters. Again, Canada emits barely one and a half percent of global emissions. We worked to urge China to reform. The other large emitters in developing countries, India, Brazil, South Africa, the United States, which has never signed on. So it was a challenging time. And as I said earlier, I was too green for many of my caucus and cabinet colleagues and not green enough for other people, but we did make progress. And our intention was, as many people say today,

was to do our best for the environment while not destroying the economy, given Canada's the size of the country. And it was always a red herring when people pointed out that by a per capita basis, Canada was the biggest emitter in the world. Per capita doesn't count. Canada, in its total tonnage of emissions, is one of the, as the Auditor General said in the last year, in the last year, if Canada were to stop all emissions entirely today,

it wouldn't move the gauge at all. Now, I'm naturally curious, why in this instance does per capita not apply? Because you said, you know, that's a red herring. Well, because a small country with millions of people, the per capita, you know, Norway, for example, small country, large population, you do your per capita, their emissions are misrepresented compared to Canada, tiny population, huge country. Huge mass, second biggest country in the world. country. Huge mass, second biggest country in the world. Exactly. Well, at one point we were being charged forest fire emissions as volcanoes weren't, for example, in other countries. That's interesting. That's interesting. Again, I promised some listeners I'd read these again. The rude ones have been swiped out, the really rude ones. But okay, so Diamond Dog,

as I recall, Peter Kent was environment minister who instead of acting on behalf of the environment, consistently acted to undermine and endanger the environment. One of the uglier sides of Harper's government, in my opinion. Obviously, you don't agree with this, gentlemen. I'm just curious how you respond when people, they just, many people have a very guttural reflex. I mean, people told me they won't listen to this episode

because I'm having on a Harper, a minister in the Harper government. It's like, okay, listen, let's get a check on here. What would you say to these types of comments that came in? Well, again, an awful lot of people who would love to shut down Canada's oil and gas industry don't realize that that, in fact, is the largest contributor to the gross domestic product that makes life in Canada what it is today,

which provides our comforts. And in fact, we should be. One of my great regrets is that we weren't able to get the Keystone Pipeline to the United States done because of, one, because the government in the United States was dragging its feet and accepting, instead of accepting relatively clean heavy oil from Alberta for the Gulf refineries, heavy oil from Alberta for the Gulf refineries, they continued to bring in very environmentally unfriendly heavy oil from Venezuela, which is also not a democratic ally of the United States. So I think I agree with those who are today pushing to get the Trans Mountain Pipeline going, to get clean and responsibly extracted and refined and produced oil and gas, petroleum products, to the world to displace material from Nigeria, material from Nigeria, from other states that are generating far greater emissions as a result of their environmentally unsound extraction and refining processes.

So the Peter Kent who produced that documentary in 1984, what was it called again? Greenhouse Effect? The Greenhouse Effect, yeah. Right. So the Peter Kent who produced, and we're talking about you like you're not you. You're a third person in this room now. The Peter Kent who produced 1984's Greenhouse Effect documentary, that's the same Peter Kent

who led Canada's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. They're one and the same and that is the same, right? But led up to the Paris Accords. Okay. Well, that's why I brought Peter Kent in here

to speak for Peter Kent. I thought that might be a great idea. So it is this withdrawal, though, that leads to the, in the introduction, I talked about Peter, I talked about Justin Trudeau calling you a piece of shit. You piece of shit, I believe, is the quote.

So that's regarding this, right? This is, he was like heckling you as a backbencher? No, a question had been put from an NDP member of parliament about the conference of the parties that we had attended in South Africa.

The question was inaccurate. The question was based on flawed information. And I responded to that question that if you had attended the conference as it was their right to do, but they wanted us to pay their way. And we said, no, if a party wishes to go, they should pay their own way. Elizabeth May, as the Green Party, paid her own way, and we supported her there. But I said to the NDP questioner, if you had been there, you would realize that your question is unfounded. Your accusation is unfounded. That was at that point that Mr. Trudeau responded with his childish remark. You piece of shit. Yes, okay. So when you were a backbench, so after you were Minister of

Environment, you were a backbench MP. I just want to point out that you called on the government to fund HPV vaccinations for boys. Yep. Because they was only girls. Yes. And you had survived a bout with throat and tongue cancer. How are you doing these days? Stage four. Yeah, no, I was stage four cancer.

10 years ago, right? 2014. Yeah. So five years, they gave me the all clear. Now I'm coping with skin pre-cancers and prostate. But you look great considering all these ailments Peter. Listen, so how are you feeling though? I feel fine. Jamie Campbell's dealing with, what do you call pre-skin cancer? Is that what they're calling it?

Yeah, I've had bits cut from overexposure, improper exposure to sun over the years. I think that's coming for lots of us, unfortunately. So yeah, no, I've had lots of biopsies over the years and a few pounds of flesh taken here and there. But you're holding up here, you're trying to make a debut. May I ask your age or is that a personal question here? I won't give you a number, but I'll tell you I hit four score. See?

And you have no—what are you up to these days? You're still working? What are you doing? No retirement for you? For the past year, I was the president and a member of the board of directors of a phosphate company, First Phosphate. First phosphate. We have a mine in the Saguenay region of Quebec aimed at supplying high quality pure phosphate and purified phosphoric acid for the LFP battery sector. But I retired after my birthday this past summer. Okay, good for you.

I spend most of my time, an hour a day, on the bass guitar. Okay. And a little songwriting. So you're doing a little songwriting, and that's where Banjo Dunk comes in to help you maybe record that and make that some music I can play on Toronto Mic, possibly. Sure. Quick note here,

I'm going to nail my targeted time here, but I did get a note from Tim Herron, and Tim, I will see you at TMLX14 because I know you and your daughter, Lauren, are coming here. And Tim wrote in, I just heard as I was listening to Toronto Mic'd with El Grego, episode 1371.

That was a previous episode. You are having Peter Kent in the basement. Peter was our MP for many years in Thornhill. In fact, he actually lived in a lovely house before moving, on John Street before moving downtown.

I used to see Peter at the Tim Hortons on Yonge Street walking distance from his house. For many years, Peter would show up at the Thornhill Village Festival. It was a small town parade

and closed streets fun. I saw Peter eating corn, drinking cider, and wandering amongst the quilts. Then he points out that Peter handed the keys of Thornhill to Melissa Lansman, who will likely be known for her place next to Pierre Polyev. What are your thoughts on Pierre Polyev and the current Conservative Party leadership? And, you know, we talked about echoing where they look like they may well win the next election with a majority possibly.

We'll see. My crystal ball is not functioning today. But what are your thoughts on Pierre Polyev and Michel Lanzmann? Pierre Polyev is a very smart politician. In my post-partisan time and a year ago, I supported for the leadership another candidate.

I'm no longer a member of the Conservative Party. I'm now a member of the Canadian Future Party, but looking forward to the election. I think, as I said earlier, we need more civility. We need a center-right opportunity for voters who might be disenchanted with the populism of the right or the fiscal irresponsibility of the left. And I'm, again, from my non-partisan perch, watching with great interest as we approach the next election. Peter, you were a wonderful conversationalist, and I really enjoyed hearing about your interesting history, not only in Canadian media and journalism, but also your

pivot to politics, where you won, how many elections did you win? Two or three? Four. Four. I'm undercutting you there. Okay. You lost the first one and then you went on a streak and then you said, that's it for me. You're out of there. Okay. So I'm about to play us out. It's been amazing.

But I have a Brian Gerst. Since he knocked on doors, I feel I actually get his question is, but it's a bit of a heavier one. So I'm going to close with it and it's unrelated to anything we were just talking about. But I don't want to leave this on the cutting room floor because but it's a bit of a heavier one. So I'm going to close with it. And it's unrelated to anything we were just talking about. But I don't want to leave this on the cutting room floor because Brian is such a good supporter of this program. But he wrote, back in 2016, you stated in the House of Commons that the Americans have listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since Reagan. I guess this is your quote. Well, here we are in 2023. And it has gotten worse, way worse. How close is Iran from nuclear capability?

And please tell me the West won't allow it. Please, let's speak to Brian here and his concerns about Iran. Well, we know that Iran is constantly striving to achieve nuclear capability and needs to be isolated from the world. And despite an overwhelming vote in the House of Commons by liberals and conservatives that the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, be listed as a terrorist organization, the current government has refused. The current government has refused. And I think that that needs to be a continuing issue for Canadians to consider and to continue to work,

particularly after the barbarism of Hamas on October 7th, which is paid for and sponsored largely by the government of Iran, that we have to step up and we have to broaden sanctions and we have to isolate the terrorist government of Iran. So, Brian, there you go. If Peter needs any more doors knocked on, you know where to find him. He'd always appreciate your support. And, Peter, thanks for doing this. This was a great thrill for me. Thank you. It was a great thrill for me.

Thank you. It was a lot of fun. And that brings us to the end of our 1,372nd show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. I'm at Toronto Mike. Okay. There's kind of two of you out there on the Twitter land. Which is the one, what is your Twitter handle?

Do you know offhand, Mr. Kent? Prosaic P. Kent. Right. Because there is a Peter Kent MP, but it seems to be un... Oh, that's an old... An old unmanned account there. Okay, so follow the Prosaic... Prosaic P. K.?

At Prosaic P. Kent. Follow Peter there. Much thanks to all who made this possible. That is Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Raymond James Canada, Maneris, Recycle My Electronics.

Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca to find out where you can drop off your old electronics, your old tech, your old devices so they can be properly recycled so that the chemicals don't end up in our landfill. Cables too, I'm told

by Cliff. It's the cables too that you should be dropping off at these depots. And Ridley Funeral Home, see you all Sunday when my special guests are Rob Pruce and Bob Lillette, because it's time for Toast.

It'll be live at live.torontomike.com at 7 p.m. Of course, also, it'll be the next episode of this podcast. See you all then. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears And I don't know what the future can hold or do For me and you But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true because

Everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow Everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't stay today.