Barnett Jerome Danson

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Barnett Jerome (Barney) Danson (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 sergeant and served until he was severelhy wounded in the Battle of Normandy losing an eye. He returned to Canada and joined his family's insurance business before entering the plastics industry with his own company, the Danson Corporation and 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 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 and served in that position until the defeat of the Liberal government in the 1979 general election in which he lost his seat.

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 CBC on Canada's role in World War II.