Nathan Hunt is joined by Gilles Breton - a former Canadian diplomat and a current CERBA National Chair. Gilles has served three assignments at the Canadian Embassy in Moscow and shares some great stories about his experience working in Russia during the Cold War; a 25,000km trip across the Soviet Union, heading CERBA and Canada-Russia Business Council.

Related links to the episode:

Canada Eurasia Russia Business Association (CERBA)

Russia Canada Business Council (RCBC)

Timeline

00:00 Intro

00:40 Introducing Gilles Breton

1:41 Meeting Robert Ford and the first posting

3:43 Mr.Costakis' Fine Arts collection

7:52 Living in Soviet Moscow as a Canadian Diplomat

10:35 Alexander Yakovlev speech writing power

13:20 The art of the Communist Party discussions

14:45 First visit of the Canadian Prime Minister to Russia

17:54 "Fire!" with CTV news

20:24 25,000km across the USSR

21:39 visiting the Baltic States

22:56 A magical rediscovery of Moscow

26:24 Becoming CERBA National Chair

28:14 Canada Russia Business Council

29:19 What are the greatest opportunities for Canada-Eurasia economic cooperation?

31:38 What made Gilles a leader?

32:14 What does the future hold for Gilles?

33:46 Conclusion

Icebreakers is produced by CERBA, an independent non-profit organization that promotes bilateral trade and investment between Canada and Eurasia. www.cerbanet.org