This is a most peculiar book by the well-known now retired CBC journalist and newscaster. Written in the first person singular, in the form of seventeen brief autobiographical snippets, the monotonously uniform writing style indicates that the words were actually written by the author. He must have used a lot of liberties to then create extensive questionable dialogue and present the perspectives of the subjects as accurate self-revelations.
The “extraordinary Canadians” featured are certainly an accomplished lot, whose contributions to our culture should not to be overlooked, ranging through the modern day politically correct fields of advocacy for Aboriginals, minorities, and mental health services to animal rights, social services, and unusual political leaders. But how they were chosen from among the thousands of “extraordinary Canadians” who could have been featured is never discussed. In many of Mansbridge’s later interviews as a journalist, I noted a tendency for him to preface his questions with long expressions of his own opinions on the subject, leaving the interviewee with only one acceptable answer. The same process may have entered his choice of subjects to interview for this book.
Some of the self-revelations are cloaked in false modesty and assertions of altruistic motives that are easily seen through as really just reputation polishing. The only bio that I really enjoyed was that of the remarkable selfless Rabbi Rueven Bullard who at one point granted me an hour-long interview on his radio talk show. The Saskatchewan politician Pat Atkinson’s assertions of enjoying political life hide an overgrown ego and need for public praise; the vegan fashion designer Manny Kohli assertions of no monetary motives disguise boosterism for his multimillion dollar company and the animal rehabilitation worker Hope Swinimer overemphasizes the ultimate importance of her work simply because she enjoys it. The featured Nadine Caron, the first Canadian Aboriginal general surgeon, for all her wonderful accomplishments, seems to think, like many surgeons, that only surgeons are worthy of accolades among medical professionals. “I didn’t just want to be a doctor; I wanted to be a surgeon.” Or was it Peter Mansbridge that has the subconscious bias to worship surgeons? As a retired sub-specialist in Internal Medicine, I could take that choice as the kind of insult she decries in others, if I chose to, but I do not. Most of us lesser minions in the medical hierarchy are used to the haughty attitudes of many surgeons who disparage their colleagues in other specialties. But why not feature the equally accomplished Dr. Marilyn Cook, who earlier was the first Aboriginal family physician in Canada?
In many ways, this book is a deceptive way for Mansbridge to present his own slant on the discussions of our social, cultural and political life. Don’t waste your time on it.
The Passionate Reader 