- John Bassett
John White Hughes Bassett, PC , OC , O.Ont (
August 25 ,1915 –April 27 ,1998 ) was a Canadianpublisher andmedia baron .Born in
Ottawa, Ontario , he was the son of John Bassett (1886-1958), publisher of the "Montreal Gazette ", and Margaret Avery. Bassett attended Ashbury College and graduated fromBishop's University with a BA in 1936. He became areporter for theToronto "Globe and Mail ".Politics
After fighting with the Army in
World War II , Bassett ran unsuccessfully for theProgressive Conservative Party of Canada , in the 1945 Canadian election in the riding of Sherbrooke. He lost to the Liberal candidate,Maurice Gingues . He also ran in the 1962 election in the riding of Spadina. He lost again to the Liberal candidate, Perry Ryan.Publishing and broadcasting
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 foundedBaton Broadcasting to runToronto 's first commercialtelevision 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.ports
From 1957 until 1979, Bassett was the owner of the
Toronto Argonauts , a team in theCanadian Football League .In 1957, he was named to the "Silver Seven," a committee that oversaw hockey operations for the
Toronto Maple Leafs . In 1961, longtime Maple Leafs ownerConn Smythe sold most of his shares in Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. (which owned the Maple Leafs andMaple Leaf Gardens ) to a partnership of his son Stafford,Toronto Marlboros presidentHarold Ballard and Bassett for $2.3 million Conn later claimed that he thought he was selling only to his son, but it is very unlikely that Stafford would have been able to raise the money on his own. Bassett became vice-chairman of the Gardens' board of directors, succeeding Smythe as chairman in 1964.In 1969, Ballard and Stafford Smythe were charged with tax evasion and accused of using Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. to pay for their personal expenses. Bassett persuaded the board to fire Smythe as president and Ballard as executive vice president. The board elected Bassett as the new president.
However, Bassett did not force Smythe and Ballard to sell their shares, and they both remained on the board. This was a serious strategic blunder on Bassett's part; Smythe was still the largest shareholder, and he and Ballard controlled almost half the shares between them. A year later, Ballard and Smythe staged a proxy war to win back control. Faced with an untenable situation, Bassett resigned and sold his shares to Smythe and Ballard.
Government
In 1989, he was appointed for a three-year term as chairman of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, an independent body that reports to the
Parliament of Canada on the operations of theCanadian Security Intelligence Service . Due to the requirements under theOfficial Secrets Act , Bassett was sworn into theQueen's Privy Council for Canada .Family
Bassett married
Isabel Bassett in 1970. He had six children: John F., Doug and David from an earlier marriage and Avery, Sarah and Matthew from his marriage to Isabel. In the 1970s, sonJohn F. Bassett was also the owner of theToronto Toros , a hockey team in theWorld Hockey Association . Formertennis starCarling Bassett-Seguso is the daughter of John F. Bassett.Honours
* 1985 - Made an Officer of the
Order of Canada .
* 1988 - Appointed to theOrder of Ontario .
* 1989 - Appointed to theQueen's Privy Council for Canada .
* 1992 - Promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada.
* 2000 - Inducted into theCanadian Broadcast Hall of Fame .
* 2003 - Inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.External links
* [http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=719 Order of Canada Citation]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.