Peter Mansbridge
Former Chief Correspondent for CBC News and Anchor of The National
For more than five decades, Canadians have trusted Peter Mansbridge to guide them through the political, economic, and cultural events that have shaped our nation. He is one of Canada’s most respected and recognizable figures, having spent 30 years as CBC News’ chief correspondent and anchor of The National. Through his unique journalistic lens, Mansbridge takes audiences on a journey through our shared national story and heritage, sharing lessons on how to cultivate trust and lead through extraordinary times.
Mansbridge joined CBC in 1968 in Fort Churchill, Manitoba, where he helped develop CBC Radio’s news service in Northern Canada. In 1971, he became a reporter with CBC Radio before joining CBC Television in 1972 and becoming a reporter for The National in 1975. After serving as the program’s parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa, Mansbridge was appointed chief correspondent and anchor in 1988, a position he held for 30 years. He also anchored all CBC News specials and hosted the weekly interview program, Mansbridge One on One.
During his career at CBC, which spanned 50 years, Mansbridge covered major Canadian and international events, from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to 13 Olympic Games, 34 Canada Day celebrations, 12 Remembrance Day ceremonies, four D-Day anniversaries, and every visit by the Queen since 1970. He has covered every federal election since 1972 and anchored all ten since 1984. He has conducted almost 15,000 interviews, including Canadian and global leaders.
Mansbridge is also a bestselling author of three books, Mansbridge: One on One; Extraordinary Canadians: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation, and his latest, Off the Record. He has also contributed to The 100 Photos That Changed Canada, Canada’s Great War Album, and the essay collection 100 Days That Changed Canada.
In recognition of his extraordinary career, Mansbridge has received multiple national awards for excellence in broadcast journalism and 13 honorary degrees from universities in Canada and the US. He’s been a Fellow at Yale; a two-time named Chancellor of Mount Allison University, now its Chancellor Emeritus; and is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2008, he received Canada’s highest civilian honour, the Order of Canada.
Mansbridge retired from the CBC in 2017. Today, he is the president of Manscorp Media Services, where he develops documentary films, and is the host of one of Canada’s leading political podcasts, The Bridge. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto and a member of several boards and committees.
Speakers Like Peter Mansbridge
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Speaking Topics
Our National Stories: Inspiring Canadians at Home and Abroad
Peter Mansbridge celebrates Canada’s heritage and shows audiences how our shared national story has shaped us, both as individuals and as a collective, and how we are all helping to write and re-write Canada’s story everyday. Mansbridge also draws on his experience interviewing some of the world’s greatest leaders to share lessons learned on what makes a great leader and how we can achieve that whether in politics, academia, or business.
The Trust Factor: What Happened and What Does It Mean for Leaders?
Trust and truth exist in almost every facet of our lives, but recently, on a national and global stage, they’ve been put in crisis.
In this interactive keynote, Peter Mansbridge leads audiences through an exploration of how two of the key fundamental pillars of our democracy — trust and truth — have been jeopardized. Through the lens of his journalistic expertise, Mansbridge engages participants in a discussion, applicable to all industries, to understand why, how, and where we’ve deviated from trust and truth. He leaves audiences with a strengthened understanding of the ways politics affect businesses, what a deviation from trust and truth means, and how leaders can respond.
Ordinary Canadians: Extraordinary Leadership
What does Canadian leadership look like? In this engrossing talk, based on his reporting from around the world, Peter Mansbridge offers accounts of extraordinary acts of leadership by ordinary Canadians, at home and abroad. He shares stories of courage and selflessness from Sri Lanka to the Netherlands, Afghanistan to our own Indigenous communities, to show how Canadian leadership, at its core, is about caring. It’s about being there for our neighbours — down the street, across the country, or even around the world — when and where they need us the most.
Recent Publications by Peter Mansbridge
Off the Record
One on One
"In 30 years of hosting this dinner, we’ve never had a speaker who customized—and personalized—their presentation for our Tribute stage more than Peter Mansbridge did. His appearance on behalf of St. Joseph’s here in London will be long remembered." - St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation
"Touching. Emotional. Authentic. Real. Not your typical corporate presentation." - Myriad, Inc.