Steve Paikin

In this masterful and engaging biography, acclaimed journalist Steve Paikin brings to life John Turner (1929-2020), one of the most glamorous and successful politicians in Canadian history.

Born in England, raised in BC, Turner was a champion sprinter and a Rhodes scholar who captured the national imagination as escort for Princess Margaret on her 1959 Canadian tour. Elected to Parliament in 1962, he served in Prime Minister Lester Pearson’s cabinet and as Pierre Trudeau’s attorney general, minister of justice, and finance minister. In 1984, he won a hotly-contested Liberal leadership contest and served a brief four months as Canada’s seventeenth prime minister before falling to Brian Mulroney in a Progressive Conservative landslide.

In this surprisingly candid and personal book, Paikin draws on unprecedented access to Turner’s personal and public papers to show how he struggled to meet the towering expectations that came with his abundant gifts, and keep his faith in Canadian democracy despite the challenges of his own career.

A biography of one of Ontario’s most important premiers, who, despite having been out of public life for more than thirty years, is remembered fondly by many as the father of the community college system, TVO, OISE, and was indispensable in repatriating the Canadian Constitution with an accompanying Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Before he became premier, Davis was perhaps the most important education minister in Ontario history, responsible for the creation of the community college system and TVOntario. As premier, he went on to lead Ontario through buoyant and recessionary economic times, leaving a legacy Ontarians continue to enjoy.

Ontario’s fortunes and fates increasingly rest in the hands of the province’s premier. Critics say the role of premier concentrates too much power in one person, but at least that points to the one person Ontarians, and others beyond the province’s borders, ought to know all about.

Few people know the modern-era premiers of Canada’s most populous province the way Steve Paikin does. He has covered Queen’s Park politics, discussed provincial issues from all perspectives with his TVO guests, and has interviewed the premiers one-on-one.

Paikin and the Premiers offers a rare, uniform perspective on John Robarts, Bill Davis, Frank Miller, David Peterson, Bob Rae, Mike Harris, Ernie Eves, Dalton McGuinty, and Kathleen Wynne – from the vantage point of one of Canada’s most astute and respected journalists.

Scoring is up. Fan interest is up. Pinpoint passing is up. Goonery is down. The metamorphosis in hockey has been astonishing and promises to be even more so as changes continue to filter through the game. As the great Jean Beliveau said, the game is once again being played the way it is supposed to be played.

In The New Game, media commentator and lifelong hockey fan Steve Paikin examines the many aspects of Canada’s favourite sport, addressing the major changes that have taken place in the game of hockey.

Public Triumph, Private Tragedy is the story of a great man who lived hard, died hard, and accomplished so much in the process. John Parmenter Robarts, nicknamed ‘Chairman of the Board,’ became Ontario premier in 1961 and set a course to transform the largest provincial government in Canada into a modern, sophisticated operation. The Robarts years represent an impressive record with the establishment of legal aid, a huge system of community colleges and universities, law reform, GO Transit, the Ontario Science Centre, and Ontario Place, as well as a significant enhancement of individual civil rights, a reorganization of school administration, and a start on regional government, among many other things. When Robarts called an election in 1963, he won the highest percentage of the popular vote in Ontario’s post-war history—48.9 percent—a record that still stands.

But for all his success and triumph in the public realm, Robarts struggled with the demons that plagued his private life. John P. Robarts was a man of his times and for his times. His achievements were monumental, but for all his public success, his personal life and his end were ultimately tragic.

In this hard-hitting sequel to his bestseller, The Life, Steve Paikin explores the personal costs of public life.

In his surprise bestseller, The Life, Steve Paikin told the stories of honourable politicians who worked hard and were often well rewarded with political success. In The Dark Side, he shines a light on the politicians who not only experienced the life’s exhilarating highs, but felt its crushing lows.

Taking a hard-hitting, analytical look at public life, Paikin examines the lives of the politicians who fell from grace. Swept up in dramatic events beyond their control, many found themselves powerless to change their destiny. Some were only temporarily thrown off-course, but for others, the devastation was profound.

What keeps politicians coming back for more? It’s certainly not the public’s respect for what they do. Can the monotony of dealing with a myriad of constituents’ problems really be all that satisfying? Do they ever really enjoy wielding power? And why is it that some high-ranking superstars in public life never seem to be able to equal that success after they leave politics for the private sector?

What motivates these people to invite public scrutiny, endanger their marriages, alienate their friends and court exhaustion? Steve Paikin has spent a career covering politics. For this book, he interviewed nearly one hundred politicians who were attracted to politics for various reasons. Some feel that politics is a crusade. Some see it as the family business. A few see themselves as pioneers blazing new trails. Others fall into The Life quite by accident.

The Life is filled with fascinating stories of political life, direct from one-on-one interviews with the politicians themselves. If you’ve ever wondered what motivates these people to step up to the plate, here are the answers—and they may surprise you.