Philippe Gigantès

Philippe Deane Gigantès (August 16, 1923, Salonica – December 9, 2004, Montreal) was a veteran of the Second World War, journalist, war correspondent, POW of the Korean War, author, television commentator, Greek minister of culture, and Canadian senator.

War and Journalism

Gigantès served in the British Royal Navy during the Second World War. After the war, he became a journalist, working for the London Observer, in Greece, North Africa, and South Asia, from 1946 to 1961.

Whilst covering the Korean War he was taken prisoner, and spent 33 months in a North Korean prison camp. After his release he wrote the book I was a Captive in Korea and returned to his career in journalism. He became the Washington correspondent for the London Observer and the Globe and Mail.

Greek Minister of Culture

After his career in journalism he worked as a United Nations official and then as Secretary-General to King Constantine II of Greece. He was appointed to the post of Greek Minister of Culture. He later resumed his career in the media as a television commentator.

Canadian Senator

In 1980 he ran for MP in the Canadian riding of Broadview-Greenwood, but was defeated by Bob Rae. In 1984 while working as an editorialist at the Montreal Gazette he was appointed to the Senate of Canada by Pierre Trudeau, for whom he had worked between 1978 and 1980 as a researcher then head of the Liberal Caucus Research Office. He served in the Senate until his 75th birthday in 1998.

While in the Senate he served on many committees but was particularly proud of his work as chair of an adhoc committee on the future of work. His report of this work was published by Parliament under the title Only Work Works and in French under the title "Il n'y a que le Travail qui Vaille.

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 1980: Broadview—Greenwood
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	(x) Bob Rae	12,953	40.37
	Liberal	Philip Deane Gigantes	10,601	33.04
	Progressive Conservative	Michael Clarke	7,677	23.92
	Libertarian	Walter Belej	352	1.10
	Rhinoceros	Vicki Butterfield	196	0.61
	Communist	Ed McDonald	164	0.51
	National (1979)	Don Hayward	53	0.17
	Marxist–Leninist	Dorothy-Jean O'Donnell	53	0.17
	Independent	Milorad Novich	40	0.12
Total valid votes			32,089	100.00
Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			270
Turnout			32,359	70.04
Electors on the lists			46,204

Author

He was the author of 15 books including I Should Have Died, Is the Free Trade Deal Really for You? (1988) and Power and Greed: A Short History of the World (2002).

In his book "Nice Work: The Continuing Scandal Of Canada's Senate", journalist and author Claire Hoy wrote that the late Philippe Gigantes, during a filibuster in the Senate, read one of his books into the record; another senator suggested that he did this to get the work translated into French by parliamentary staff responsible for Hansard.

Death

Gigantès died on December 9, 2004 of prostate cancer. He left behind three daughters Eleni, Claire and Eve Marie, two grandsons and a granddaughter.

External links

• CBC obituary
• Philippe Gigantès - Parliament of Canada biography