Canadian prime minister and Nobel peacemaker, cast by Bob as the man who first gave Canada its "interval" role — the neutral broker, the peacemaker, the position McLuhan then performed "in the world of thought and academia" and Trudeau later hijacked. In the global-theater reading he is the "Gutenberg," the "mayor" — the print-age administrator — set against McLuhan the "Marconi." New to it — start with dialogue 47.
Across the dialogues
Given his own page as Canada's interval figure — the peacemaker role McLuhan then performed in thought, set against McLuhan the Marconi to his Gutenberg, after passing turns as the "third option" and the Peace-Prize liberal in earlier sessions
Pearson as the origin of Canada's interval vocation — the peacemaker position no country had held "in any popular awareness," which McLuhan then acted out in academia as "the interval man that nobody could put a finger on."
"Canada was recognized to be the country, beginning with Lester Pearson, to work in the interval,"
The medium contrast drawn as a pair — Pearson the print-age administrator against McLuhan the electronic revolutionary — which Bob immediately relativizes: in the Global Theater the two are "media, capital M media," always in interplay, so neither is truly first.
"Pearson was a Gutenberg. Pearson was the mayor, Marshall was the Marconi."
Connections
The "Gutenberg" / "mayor" against McLuhan the "Marconi" — the print-age administrator versus the electronic revolutionary.
Trudeau took the interval/peacemaker position Pearson opened and "made it a little more interesting."