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| The Hon. Paul T. Hellyer |
Hellyer was born and raised on a farm near Waterford, Ontario, and that is where I first met him when serving as a still-wet-behind-the-ears news editor with the Simcoe Reformer newspaper in the nearby town of the same name. I recall fighting off feelings of inferiority and intimidation on the several occasions in 1966 and '67 that I sat down with him for chats (not interviews, in all honesty). On one visit to the Hellyer home I was thankful for the company of George Bramwell, a newspaper curmudgeon with a long history in Norfolk County. When the conversation slowed down, George would pick up the pace.
It was during this period that Hellyer was formulating his "Agenda: a Plan for Action" that would ultimately be published in 1971 by Prentice Hall. The Plan underscored the urgency to cut through the words, the cliches and the myths to solve economic problems facing Canada in that day and age. His major policy recommendation was that mandaory wage and price controls were necessary to the regulation of the non-competitive part of the economy. He was not suggesting that government set individual wages or prices, but that it should enforce guidelines based on the average annual increase in physical output in real terms.
Nothing wrong with that!...His liberalism was dynamic and human.
By means of review, Hellyer sat in the House of Commons from 1949 to 1957 and was re-elected in a by-election in December 1958. From 1958 until 1963, when the Liberals gained power, he was instrumental in developing the party's defence policy and urged Lester Pearson to accept nuclear weapons. After the election victory, Pearson appointed him minister of national defence, and under Hellyer's direction, the Canadian Armed Forces were unified. The controversy surrounding the unification likely did not help his political career and in 1967 Hellyer was moved to the Ministry of Transport.
In 1968 he ran unsuccessfully for the Liberal leadership. The victor, Pierre Trudeau, gave him the additional responsibility for housing policy. After the report of his Task Force on Housing and Urban Development did not win Cabinet approval in 1969, Hellyer resigned from the Cabinet and later from the Liberal Party. He tried to form a new political movement in 1971, Action Canada. When it faltered, he drifted towards the Conservative Party, winning re-election under that banner in 1972 before losing his seat in 1974. Hellyer then unsuccessfully ran for the leadership in 1976.
He has not re-entered the House of Commons since, but has voiced political views through a syndicated column he wrote from 1974 to 1984 and through several books. In 1997 he created a new political party, the Canadian Action Party, and promoted economic reform, particularly in the area of monetary policy. In that year's general federal election he ran for the Canadian Action Party in the Ontario riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore but lost to the incumbent Liberal.
As mentioned at the outset, I've always had empathy and admiration for Paul Hellyer. He was a genuinely nice man, perhaps too serious and intelligent and lacking sufficient charisma in the end to be accepted by an impressionable Canadian public. He was, after all, almost 75 when he last ran for political office while carrying the banner of his newly-created federal party -- an unthinkable challenge for anyone of lesser fortitude.
As mentioned at the outset, I've always had empathy and admiration for Paul Hellyer. He was a genuinely nice man, perhaps too serious and intelligent and lacking sufficient charisma in the end to be accepted by an impressionable Canadian public. He was, after all, almost 75 when he last ran for political office while carrying the banner of his newly-created federal party -- an unthinkable challenge for anyone of lesser fortitude.
AN ADVOCATE OF ALIEN VISITATION
Of particular recent interest to me as I considered writing this post, was the fact that Hellyer is not only a man who’s been a respected politician, holding office in the highest echelons of public governance -- he’s also a trained aeronautical engineer. It’s a grounded background which would come in handy for anyone interested in -- surprise -- unidentified flying craft. He’s also a military man -- having served in the Royal Canadian Artillery as a gunner during World War II. This is a man versed in hard sciences and a veteran soldier who’s been on the front lines of combat -- he’s trained and experienced to know what’s tangible and what’s a threat.
Hellyer’s first public connection to UFO’s came in 1967, when he flew by helicopter into the town of St. Paul, Alberta, to commemorate a UFO landing pad. Constructed as a kind of tourist attraction for the town’s centennial, the landing pad’s sign boasted this inscription:
"The area under the World's First UFO Landing Pad was designated international by the Town of St. Paul as a symbol of our faith that mankind will maintain the outer universe free from national wars and strife. That future travel in space will be safe for all intergalactic beings, all visitors from earth or otherwise are welcome to this territory and to the Town of St. Paul."
This sort of public spectacle in benefit of a town’s celebration, could be quickly dismissed as simply a government official lending support to his constituency. Indeed, it wouldn’t be until 2005 that Hellyer came out loud and proud as a UFO believer -- someone who, in no uncertain terms, believes our planet has been host to many alien visitors. Hellyer didn’t restrict his beliefs to merely visitation, he went so far as to accuse then American President George W. Bush of plotting an Intergalactic War. While giving a speech at the University of Toronto, Hellyer made this incredible statement:
"The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning...The Bush Administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide."
What’s perhaps most fascinating, though also arguably troubling I must confess, about Hellyer’s assertions, is his belief alien visitation isn’t a relatively new phenomenon. According to him, the Earth’s been visited by several alien races, and their trips to our little blue marble have been ongoing for many thousands of years.
Personally, I have been engrossed in Ancient Aliens an American television series that premiered on the History Channel not long ago. Produced by Prometheus Entertainment in a documentary style, the program presents hypotheses of ancient astronauts and proposes that historical texts, archeology, and legends contain evidence of past human-extraterrestrial contact. The show has been widely criticized by historians, cosmologists and other scientific circles for promoting pseudoscience and pseudo history, but it is indicative of the fact that Hellyer is not alone in his theories.
Now approaching the century mark, the invincable Hellyer says he still gets dozens of emails a week from people who have either had close encounters with aliens or who have even been abducted. It’s a safe bet to argue that anyone who hears him speak on the subject has to come away with a respect for the man and his reputation, which is probably why he’s getting so much correspondence on the UFO subject. However, as a man of science and clear thinking, he must also respect the demand for physical evidence to prove these claims. Both the scientific community and our government agencies would have to be more forthcoming if more witnesses could produce truly convincing photographs, videos or physical evidence to back up their astounding claims. Until then, what are we to make of it all?
Like Paul Hellyer, we'll have to keep watching the skies I guess.
Of particular recent interest to me as I considered writing this post, was the fact that Hellyer is not only a man who’s been a respected politician, holding office in the highest echelons of public governance -- he’s also a trained aeronautical engineer. It’s a grounded background which would come in handy for anyone interested in -- surprise -- unidentified flying craft. He’s also a military man -- having served in the Royal Canadian Artillery as a gunner during World War II. This is a man versed in hard sciences and a veteran soldier who’s been on the front lines of combat -- he’s trained and experienced to know what’s tangible and what’s a threat.
Hellyer’s first public connection to UFO’s came in 1967, when he flew by helicopter into the town of St. Paul, Alberta, to commemorate a UFO landing pad. Constructed as a kind of tourist attraction for the town’s centennial, the landing pad’s sign boasted this inscription:
"The area under the World's First UFO Landing Pad was designated international by the Town of St. Paul as a symbol of our faith that mankind will maintain the outer universe free from national wars and strife. That future travel in space will be safe for all intergalactic beings, all visitors from earth or otherwise are welcome to this territory and to the Town of St. Paul."
This sort of public spectacle in benefit of a town’s celebration, could be quickly dismissed as simply a government official lending support to his constituency. Indeed, it wouldn’t be until 2005 that Hellyer came out loud and proud as a UFO believer -- someone who, in no uncertain terms, believes our planet has been host to many alien visitors. Hellyer didn’t restrict his beliefs to merely visitation, he went so far as to accuse then American President George W. Bush of plotting an Intergalactic War. While giving a speech at the University of Toronto, Hellyer made this incredible statement:
"The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning...The Bush Administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide."
What’s perhaps most fascinating, though also arguably troubling I must confess, about Hellyer’s assertions, is his belief alien visitation isn’t a relatively new phenomenon. According to him, the Earth’s been visited by several alien races, and their trips to our little blue marble have been ongoing for many thousands of years.
Personally, I have been engrossed in Ancient Aliens an American television series that premiered on the History Channel not long ago. Produced by Prometheus Entertainment in a documentary style, the program presents hypotheses of ancient astronauts and proposes that historical texts, archeology, and legends contain evidence of past human-extraterrestrial contact. The show has been widely criticized by historians, cosmologists and other scientific circles for promoting pseudoscience and pseudo history, but it is indicative of the fact that Hellyer is not alone in his theories.
Now approaching the century mark, the invincable Hellyer says he still gets dozens of emails a week from people who have either had close encounters with aliens or who have even been abducted. It’s a safe bet to argue that anyone who hears him speak on the subject has to come away with a respect for the man and his reputation, which is probably why he’s getting so much correspondence on the UFO subject. However, as a man of science and clear thinking, he must also respect the demand for physical evidence to prove these claims. Both the scientific community and our government agencies would have to be more forthcoming if more witnesses could produce truly convincing photographs, videos or physical evidence to back up their astounding claims. Until then, what are we to make of it all?
Like Paul Hellyer, we'll have to keep watching the skies I guess.
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