Beach Memories: A tribute to late Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson on the date of his birthday

By GENE DOMAGALA

In these troubled times we have in the world with wars, economic problems, social injustice, and the United States led by a President and his eccentric shenanigans the world has never seen the like of, I would like to talk about the person who I think was Canada’s best Prime Minister.

There comes a time when governments, and especially Canada’s, have to stand up to Donald Trump who is an usurper of peace and justice.

Our government is now led by a majority Liberal Party with Prime Minister Mark Carney, and I don’t think they are doing much against President Trump and his cronies!

But at one time we had a Prime Minister who in my humble opinion would not only stand up for Canada and the rest of the world, but would teach Trump a political and economic lesson from the country to the north. Lester B. Pearson was one of my favourite, if not my favourite, Prime Minister – the best Canada ever had.

He was born just north of Toronto on April 23, 1897. He died on Dec. 27, 1972.

I remember his death personally because I went to his funeral in Ottawa.

He was a politician who served his country in many ways. Pearson served in the First World War, was a teacher, a historian, a football coach, civil servant, and family man before going into the government. He worked for the Canadian government before entering the Liberal Party and politics.

Pearson went to many parts of the world on behalf of Canada. He was sent to England, Europe and other countries where he saw first hand corruption, dictatorship, and aggression during the 1930s and 1940s.

He was also once Canadian ambassador to the United States, and he was instrumental in the creation of the United Nations in 1945. He was very interested in the United Nations and was also involved in the creation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in 1949. When in government, Pearson was Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. He served as Prime Minister of Canada from April of 1963 to April of 1968.

Pearson’s issues with the United States were in 1952 when he was President of the United Nations General Assembly. The U.S. was angry with him due to his criticisms of their policies in Asia and the Korean War and tried to sanction him and dispose him from that position, but to no avail.

Now we have war in the Middle East with the United States, Israel, Iran, and other countries involved. In my opinion this is being led by President Trump. So what would Pearson say and do about this if he were still alive today?

In 1956 there was also war in the Middle East and it seemed there was no solution in sight. But Pearson proposed that the United Nations send a peacekeeping force to the Middle East, and the United Nations did as he requested.

And for his great diplomatic efforts, Lester B. Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957. There has never been another Canadian to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pearson was a great Canadian. In my mind he was the best Prime Minister Canada has had.