Mr. Speaker, another famous journalist took an interest in the Heritage Minutes . At the end of the eighties, Patrick Watson was invited at a brainstorming session where Charles Bronfman made the following comment:
If we can take one minute on television to convince people that Corn Flakes cereals, sanitary napkins or Cadillacs are interesting, could we not take a minute to convince Canadians that Canada is interesting?
The Heritage Minutes were born, with the objective of making people like Canada.
In 1988, Patrick Watson became the creative director and chief writer of the Heritage Minutes , which were funded by the CRB Foundation, Canada Post, Power Broadcasting, McDonald's, Canadian Airlines, the Weston Foundation, Bell Canada and the Government of Canada. In 1989, Mr. Watson was appointed President of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a position which he held until 1994, without ever stopping working on the Heritage Minutes .
So, when someone presents the official version of Canada's history on the CBC, he goes up the corporate ladder, like Patrick Watson.