Join us on May 30th at 5 pm for the Ottawa launch of Steve Paikin’s biography of John Turner, Canada’s seventeenth prime minister. Attendees will receive a copy of “John Turner: An Intimate Biography of Canada’s 17th Prime Minister,” and have the opportunity to interact with Steve, who will be happy to sign books! Reception to follow.
This event will be held in English.
Speaker
Steve Paikin is the host of TVO's flagship current affairs program, The Agenda with Steve Paikin. He co-hosts the weekly provincial affairs #onpoli podcast and contributes weekly columns to tvo.org. Paikin was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, which explains his love of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, we’re still trying to figure out his obsession with the Boston Red Sox. Steve is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and Member of the Order of Ontario.
About “John Turner: An Intimate Biography of Canada's 17th Prime Minister”
In this masterful and engaging biography, 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 B. 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.