John Bassett

John Bassett   (publisher, politician)
Born	August 25, 1915 Ottawa, Ontario
Died	April 27, 1998 (Age 82) Toronto, Ontario
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	Bishop's University
Spouse	• Eleanor Moira Bradley • Isabel Bassett
Spooky Canadian media mogul and "great friend" of the United States and Israel, who attended two Bilderbergs in the early 1960s

John White Hughes Bassett was a Canadian media proprietor who controlled CTV, Canada's largest private television network, and a great friend of the United States and Israel. He was personal friends with the founders of modern Israel -David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan and Menachem Begin. He "worked tirelessly to support the young state", and became the first non-Jew honored by the Jewish National Fund of Canada for his work.

He attended the Bilderberg 1961 and Bilderberg 1963 meetings, around the time of the regime change against Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, and was friend of the Kennedy family. He later became Chair of the Canadian Security Intelligence Review Committee.

He was married to media executive Isabel Bassett, who attended a Bilderberg meeting after his death.

Background

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he was the son of John Bassett (1886–1958), publisher of the Montreal Gazette, and Marion Avery (née Wright).

Education

Bassett attended Ashbury College, Bishop's College School and graduated from Bishop's University with a BA in 1936.

Politics

After fighting with the Army in World War II, Bassett ran unsuccessfully for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, in the 1945 Canadian election in the riding of Sherbrooke, losing to Liberal incumbent, Maurice Gingues. He also ran in the 1962 election in the riding of Spadina losing to Liberal candidate Perry Ryan by less than 2,000 votes.

At the Jewish National Fund Negev Dinner held in December 1971, 11 families each subscribed $25,000 in honor of John W.H. Bassett, at that time publisher of the Toronto Telegram, one of the largest dailies in Canada, as a mark of tribute for his friendship for Israel and the Jewish community. These funds were used to establish a sports center in the Arava kibutz at Yotvata in Israel.

Publishing and broadcasting

He became a reporter for Toronto's The Globe and Mail newspaper after graduating from university. After World War II, he was hired by the Toronto Telegram as advertising director. His first experience in newspaper ownership was with the Sherbrooke Daily Record, which he bought from his father. In 1952, Bassett purchased part ownership of the Toronto Telegram. In 1960, he founded Telegram Corporation (later Baton Broadcasting) to run Toronto's first commercial television station, CFTO-TV. A few months later, he won the television rights to the Eastern Conference of the Canadian Football League. He needed a network in order to broadcast the games. The result was the Canadian Television Network, later to become CTV, with CFTO as the flagship station. Starting in the 1980s, Bassett began a drive to take over CTV by buying as many stations as possible. He succeeded in 1997, a year before his death.ref name=ency/>

He was also appointed to the Privy Council of Canada.

He was a friend of Robert F. Kennedy and was a pallbearer at his funeral. He visited the president John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1961	21 April 1961	23 April 1961	Canada Quebec St-Castin	The 10th Bilderberg, the first in Canada and the 2nd outside Europe.
Bilderberg/1963	29 March 1963	31 March 1963	France Cannes Hotel Martinez	The 12th Bilderberg meeting and the second one in France.

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