I do want to say that I'm a little saddened to hear that anyone thinks the museum of Canadian history will be a pick-up truck, because I think Canadian history is fascinating. It's romantic, it's dynamic, it's amazing.
Growing up in the fifties, I had four brothers and we used to watch television. We lived in Toronto, so we got the Buffalo TV station WBEN. We got American news and stuff, including Walt Disney. We saw some really good cartoons and shows about Paul Bunyan, with songs that were very catchy, and Davy Crockett, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington. We didn't learn our own history. And this generation is not getting it in high school. We have to talk about our history more.
I'm thinking about our history and people like Sir John A. MacDonald, a man who basically assembled this country— the second largest country in the world—with the force of his personality. Or Sir John Graves Simcoe, who banned slavery 60 years before the American Civil War, without a shot being fired.
I want to ask Mr. Rabinovitch a question. As you may know sir, Michael Bliss, a Canadian historian and an award-winning author states that it's very exciting that Canada's major museum will now be explicitly—not exclusively, but explicitly—focused on Canadian history.
In addition, John English, former Liberal MP and Trudeau biographer, says, “Congratulations on the Canadian Museum of History. This is a great boost to the museum.”
Do you agree with these comments, and if not, is there some common ground?