Success and Glamour: Steve Paikin’s Biography of Prime Minister John Turner

In this podcast episode, Larry Ostola talks to Steve Paikin about his book John Turner: An Intimate Biography of Canada's 17th Prime Minister published by Sutherland House in 2022. In this biography, acclaimed journalist Steve Paikin illustrates the life and times of Canada’s 17th prime minister, John Turner (1929-2020). One of Canada’s most glamorous and successful politicians, John Turner was born in England but raised in British Columbia, Canada. He was a champion sprinter and a Rhodes scholar who captured 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 17th prime minister before falling to Brian Mulroney in a Progressive Conservative landslide. In this surprisingly candid and personal book, Steve 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. Steve Paikin is a journalist, author, and documentary film producer. Over the course of his career, he's worked for a variety of media outlets; for the past 30 years he has been a journalist with Ontario’s provincial broadcaster, TVO. He's been the anchor of TVO’s flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin since 2006. This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt. Photo: Picture of John Turner © Library and Archives Canada. Reproduced with the permission of Library and Archives Canada. Source: Library and Archives Canada/Duncan Cameron fonds/a046363 Credit: Duncan Cameron If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.