Barney Danson

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Barnett Jerome (Barney) Danson, PC , OC , LL.D (born February 8, 1921) is a former Canadian politician and Cabinet minister.

Barney Danson was born to a Jewish family in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood. He joined the Queen's Own Rifles in 1939 as World War II broke out, rose to the rank of lieutenant and served until he was severely wounded in the Battle of Normandy. (He lost an eye.) He maintains an interest in The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and its library for the blind and visually impaired.

He returned to Canada and joined his family's insurance business before entering the plastics industry with his own company, the Danson Corporation. He also served as president of the Society of the Plastics Industry of Canada.

Danson was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1968 general election as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the Toronto-area riding of York North.

In 1970, he became Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and was appointed to the Cabinet in 1974 as Minister of State for urban affairs. In 1976, he was promoted to Minister of National Defence. He served in that position until the defeat of the Liberal government in the 1979 general election, in which he lost his seat. Mr. Danson received an honorary degree (1993) from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, of which he is a former chancellor.

He is the founder of Katimivik, the national youth program. Mr. Danson served as Canada's Consul General in Boston from 1984 to 1986. He served on corporate and not-for-profit boards of directors such as the Canadian Executive Services Organization (CESO), Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, the Atlantic Council, the Empire Club of Canada, the Ballet Opera House Corporation, de Havilland Aircraft of Canada, Algoma Central Corporation, General steelwares, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.

Mr. Danson was named an Officer of France's Order of National Merit (1994), and the Churchill Society's Award for "Excellence in the Cause of Parliamentary Democracy" (1955). In 1996, Mr. Danson was named an Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2000, he was awarded the Vimy Award. In 2006, Mr. Danson was made an honourary Doctor of Laws by York University of Toronto.

In 2007 he was made a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour.

In recent years, Danson has been chairman of the advisory committee of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and produced No Price Too High, a six-part series televised on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation-TV on Canada's role in World War II.

In 2002, his autobiography, Not Bad for a Sergeant: The Memoirs of Barney Danson, was published.