Walter Stewart
Encyclopedia
Walter Douglas Stewart was an outspoken Canadian
writer, editor and journalism educator, a veteran of newspapers and magazines and author of more than twenty books, several of them bestsellers. The Globe and Mail
reported news of his death with the headline: "He was Canada's conscience."
, the son of Miller Stewart and Margaret (Peg) Stewart, both atheists
, Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
activists and writers and CBC Radio
broadcasters on nature, he was a class of 1949 graduate of London South Collegiate Institute in London, Ontario
. In grade 11, he and a classmate became unpaid high school reporters for the London Echo community newspaper, where they co-wrote "The Lads Who Know," a muckraking
column that criticized teaching methods. After the Echo folded, they shifted their attentions to the high school newspaper, alternating as editor-in-chief.
Stewart became an honours student in history at the University of Toronto
, but dropped out
in 1953 after three years. He took a taxi to the Toronto Telegram
, where an editor offered him twenty-nine minutes until deadline to write up a piece on why he'd dropped out. The Telegram took him on as a reporter. He covered police and courts and wrote financial features. His time at the Telegram left him cynical about the news trade: "What I learned about journalism there was that it was a suspect craft, dominated by hypocrisy, exaggeration, and fakery. At the Tely, we toadied to advertisers, eschewed investigative reporting, slanted our stories gleefully to fit the party line (Conservative
) and to appeal to the one man who counted – the publisher,[sic] John F. Bassett
."
correspondent for Star Weekly, a magazine then published by the Toronto Star
. From 1968 to 1977, save a one-year interlude at the Star, he worked at Maclean's
magazine, posted to Ottawa and Washington
and eventually managing editor
of the title. His later time at Maclean's was marked by conflict with editor Peter C. Newman
.
From ca. 1988 until 1992, he edited Policy Options, the respected magazine of the nonpartisan Institute for Research on Public Policy
.
Stewart headed the journalism program at University of King's College
in Halifax, Nova Scotia
, and later took the Max Bell chair in journalism at the University of Regina
in Regina
, Saskatchewan
. In the 1990s, Stewart wrote a left-wing
column for the Toronto Sun
until it was retired in a newspaper budget cut, and was a regular guest host
on CBC Radio's As It Happens
.
Pierre Trudeau
and the Canadian political
and media scenes
around him, remained on Canadian bestseller lists for more than a year. He continued writing exposés on issues of public interest with Divide and Con: Canadian Politics at Work (New Press, 1973) and Hard to Swallow: Why Food Prices Keep Rising and What Can Be Done About It (Macmillan of Canada
, 1974).
But Not in Canada! Smug Canadian Myths Shattered by Harsh Reality (Macmillan of Canada
, 1976, revised paperback 1983) was a forceful exposition and attack on racism
, anti-immigrant feeling and the far right
in Canada which, his Globe obituary recalled nearly three decades later, "angered many."
As They See Us (McClelland and Stewart
, 1977), on American perceptions of Canada, foresaw Talking to Americans
, and Strike! (McClelland and Stewart
, 1977) took an independent-minded look at strike
s and labor-management relations. Paper Juggernaut: Big Government Gone Mad (McClelland and Stewart
, 1979) slammed public management of the Pickering airport
and Montréal-Mirabel airport
projects.
, 1982; Totem, 1983) was a massive success, staying on Canadian bestseller lists for more than a year. More than seventy thousand copies of his lengthy critique of the Canadian banking system were sold. The title references the Royal Bank tower in Toronto
, whose windows are covered with a gold
film. The book was translated into French as Les géants de la finance: un dossier-choc sur l'entreprise bancaire canadienne (tr. by Jacques de Roussan; Inédi, 1982).
He next released True Blue: The Loyalist Legend (Collins
, 1985), on the United Empire Loyalists
, and Uneasy Lies the Head: The Truth About Canada's Crown Corporations (Collins
, 1987). With outspoken Quebec
politician Eric Kierans
, Stewart co-authored The Wrong End of the Rainbow: The Collapse of Free Enterprise in Canada (Collins
, 1988; Harper & Collins
, 1989).
Stewart edited Canadian Newspapers: The Inside Story (Hurtig Publishers, 1980) and The Environment (IRPP
, 1988).
Costs You Money (McClelland and Stewart
, 1992), Belly Up: The Spoils of Bankruptcy
(McClelland and Stewart
, 1995) and Bank Heist: How our Financial Giants are Costing You Money (HarperCollins, 1997). Too Big to Fail
: Olympia & York: The Story Behind the Headlines (McClelland and Stewart
, 1993), an ultimately sympathetic treatment of the Reichmann family and the rise and fall of their high-profile international property developer Olympia and York
, was probably Stewart's most widely-read title outside Canada.
A 1996 book on charity was Stewart's most controversial. Under threat of a libel suit, Douglas & McIntyre
, the Vancouver
-based publishers of The Charity Game: Greed, Waste and Fraud in Canada's $86-Billion-a-Year Compassion Industry, withdrew their copies from sale and asked their distributors to return all unsold copies within a few months after release. Nonetheless, the book helped spur considerable discussion on the role and governance of charities.
Dismantling the State: Downsizing to Disaster (Stoddart, 1998) critiqued neoconservatism and neoliberalism in Canada, and the haste in many quarters to cut back and privatize
public services.
Stewart also wrote two lighthearted murder mysteries, starring small-town reporter Carlton Withers and set in the Kawartha Lakes
region where Stewart's family had cottaged since his youth and the author lived out his own later years: Right Church, Wrong Pew (Macmillan of Canada
, 1990; McClelland and Stewart
, 1991) and Hole in One (McClelland and Stewart
, 1992).
His love for the Kawartha Lakes was also regularly featured in his columns for the Toronto Sun, in which he often mentioned the fictional town of Bosky Dell, described as "a sylvan paradise in the heart of the Kawarthas".
(Stoddart, 2000), commissioned by the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
, was welcomed as a long-overdue biography of the democratic socialist
parliamentarian. My Cross-Country Checkup: Across Canada by Minivan, Through Space and Time (Stoddart, 2000) presented a charming portrait of Stewart and his wife Joan retracing a trip they had taken in 1964 for a Star Weekly series – Joan driving, as the irascible Walter had never learned to – at the dawn of a new century.
Stewart worked again with Kierans, a longtime friend, on the politician's memoirs, Remembering (Stoddart, 2001). His final book, The Life and Politics of Tommy Douglas
(McArthur, 2003), recounted the life of the first leader of the New Democratic Party
; a 2004 paperback reissue, as The Life and Political Times of Tommy Douglas, marked Douglas' win in the national popularity contest to name The Greatest Canadian
.
Stewart died at his home in Sturgeon Point, Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
, of
cancer
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
writer, editor and journalism educator, a veteran of newspapers and magazines and author of more than twenty books, several of them bestsellers. The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
reported news of his death with the headline: "He was Canada's conscience."
Early life and career
Born in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, the son of Miller Stewart and Margaret (Peg) Stewart, both atheists
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
activists and writers and CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
broadcasters on nature, he was a class of 1949 graduate of London South Collegiate Institute in London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
. In grade 11, he and a classmate became unpaid high school reporters for the London Echo community newspaper, where they co-wrote "The Lads Who Know," a muckraking
Muckraker
The term muckraker is closely associated with reform-oriented journalists who wrote largely for popular magazines, continued a tradition of investigative journalism reporting, and emerged in the United States after 1900 and continued to be influential until World War I, when through a combination...
column that criticized teaching methods. After the Echo folded, they shifted their attentions to the high school newspaper, alternating as editor-in-chief.
Stewart became an honours student in history at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, but dropped out
Dropping out
Dropping out means leaving a group for either practical reasons, necessities or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves....
in 1953 after three years. He took a taxi to the Toronto Telegram
Toronto Telegram
The Toronto Evening Telegram was a conservative, broadsheet afternoon newspaper published in Toronto from 1876 to 1971. It had a reputation for supporting the Conservative Party at both the federal and provincial level. The paper competed with the liberal Toronto Star...
, where an editor offered him twenty-nine minutes until deadline to write up a piece on why he'd dropped out. The Telegram took him on as a reporter. He covered police and courts and wrote financial features. His time at the Telegram left him cynical about the news trade: "What I learned about journalism there was that it was a suspect craft, dominated by hypocrisy, exaggeration, and fakery. At the Tely, we toadied to advertisers, eschewed investigative reporting, slanted our stories gleefully to fit the party line (Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
) and to appeal to the one man who counted – the publisher,
John Bassett
John White Hughes Bassett, was a Canadian publisher and media baron.Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he was the son of John Bassett , publisher of the Montreal Gazette, and Margaret Avery. Bassett attended Ashbury College and graduated from Bishop's University with a BA in 1936...
."
Feature writer, editor and educator
He moved on from the Telegram to become picture editor and OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
correspondent for Star Weekly, a magazine then published by the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
. From 1968 to 1977, save a one-year interlude at the Star, he worked at Maclean's
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
magazine, posted to Ottawa and Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and eventually managing editor
Managing editor
A managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
of the title. His later time at Maclean's was marked by conflict with editor Peter C. Newman
Peter C. Newman
Peter Charles Newman, CC, CD is a Canadian journalist and writer.Born in Vienna, Austria, Newman emigrated from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to Canada in 1940 as a Jewish refugee. His father, Oscar, was a self-made wealthy factory owner. Newman was educated at Upper Canada College, where he was...
.
From ca. 1988 until 1992, he edited Policy Options, the respected magazine of the nonpartisan Institute for Research on Public Policy
Institute for Research on Public Policy
The Institute for Research on Public Policy is Canada's oldest non-partisan public policy think tank. Based in Montreal and founded in 1972, it publishes Policy Options, edited by L. Ian MacDonald...
.
Stewart headed the journalism program at University of King's College
University of King's College
The University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small liberal arts university offering mainly undergraduate programs....
in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, and later took the Max Bell chair in journalism at the University of Regina
University of Regina
The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a junior college in 1925, and was disaffiliated...
in Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province and a cultural and commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. It is governed by Regina City Council. Regina is the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic and Romanian Orthodox...
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
. In the 1990s, Stewart wrote a left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
column for the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
until it was retired in a newspaper budget cut, and was a regular guest host
Guest host
A guest host is a host, usually of a talk show, that substitutes for the regular host if they are, for example, ill or have other commitments...
on CBC Radio's As It Happens
As It Happens
As It Happens is a long-running interview show on CBC Radio One in Canada. Its 40th anniversary was celebrated on-air on 18 November 2008. It has been one of the most popular and acclaimed shows on CBC Radio; it is also distributed in the United States by Public Radio International.The bulk of the...
.
1970s
Stewart's first book, Shrug: Trudeau in Power (New Press, 1971 and paperback, 1972; released in the U.S. as Trudeau in Power, Outerbridge & Dienstfrey, 1971), a sharp critique of both prime ministerPrime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
and the Canadian political
Politics of Canada
The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is head of state...
and media scenes
Media in Canada
Canada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output — particularly in English films, television shows, and magazines — is often overshadowed by imports from the United States. Television, magazines, and newspapers are primarily for-profit corporations based on advertising,...
around him, remained on Canadian bestseller lists for more than a year. He continued writing exposés on issues of public interest with Divide and Con: Canadian Politics at Work (New Press, 1973) and Hard to Swallow: Why Food Prices Keep Rising and What Can Be Done About It (Macmillan of Canada
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
, 1974).
But Not in Canada! Smug Canadian Myths Shattered by Harsh Reality (Macmillan of Canada
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
, 1976, revised paperback 1983) was a forceful exposition and attack on racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, anti-immigrant feeling and the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
in Canada which, his Globe obituary recalled nearly three decades later, "angered many."
As They See Us (McClelland and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
, 1977), on American perceptions of Canada, foresaw Talking to Americans
Talking to Americans
Talking to Americans was a regular feature presented by Rick Mercer on the Canadian political satire show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. It was later spun off into a one-hour special that aired on April 1, 2001 on CBC Television....
, and Strike! (McClelland and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
, 1977) took an independent-minded look at strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
s and labor-management relations. Paper Juggernaut: Big Government Gone Mad (McClelland and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
, 1979) slammed public management of the Pickering airport
Pickering Airport
Pickering Airport is a proposed international airport for the Greater Toronto Area, to be located in the city of Pickering, Ontario, Canada, 50 kilometres north-east of downtown Toronto, and 65 kilometres east of Toronto Pearson International Airport...
and Montréal-Mirabel airport
Montréal-Mirabel International Airport
Montréal-Mirabel International Airport, originally called Montréal International Airport and widely known simply as Mirabel is an airport located in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal and was opened October 4, 1975...
projects.
1980s
Towers of Gold, Feet of Clay: The Canadian Banks (CollinsHarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, 1982; Totem, 1983) was a massive success, staying on Canadian bestseller lists for more than a year. More than seventy thousand copies of his lengthy critique of the Canadian banking system were sold. The title references the Royal Bank tower in Toronto
Royal Bank Plaza
Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is the de facto headquarters of the Royal Bank of Canada. The building shares with the Fairmont Royal York Hotel the block in Toronto's financial district bordered by Bay, Front, York, and Wellington streets....
, whose windows are covered with a gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
film. The book was translated into French as Les géants de la finance: un dossier-choc sur l'entreprise bancaire canadienne (tr. by Jacques de Roussan; Inédi, 1982).
He next released True Blue: The Loyalist Legend (Collins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, 1985), on the United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists
The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris...
, and Uneasy Lies the Head: The Truth About Canada's Crown Corporations (Collins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, 1987). With outspoken Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
politician Eric Kierans
Eric Kierans
Eric William Kierans, PC, OC was a Canadian economist and politician.-Life and career:Born in Montreal on Feb. 2, 1914, Kierans grew up in the working-class Saint-Henri neighbourhood; his father worked at Canadian Car and Foundry and his mother came to Canada as a domestic...
, Stewart co-authored The Wrong End of the Rainbow: The Collapse of Free Enterprise in Canada (Collins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, 1988; Harper & Collins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, 1989).
Stewart edited Canadian Newspapers: The Inside Story (Hurtig Publishers, 1980) and The Environment (IRPP
Institute for Research on Public Policy
The Institute for Research on Public Policy is Canada's oldest non-partisan public policy think tank. Based in Montreal and founded in 1972, it publishes Policy Options, edited by L. Ian MacDonald...
, 1988).
1990s
In the 1990s, Stewart's critical attention turned again to financial exposé. He released The Golden Fleece: Why the Stock MarketStock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
Costs You Money (McClelland and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
, 1992), Belly Up: The Spoils of Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
(McClelland and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
, 1995) and Bank Heist: How our Financial Giants are Costing You Money (HarperCollins, 1997). Too Big to Fail
Too Big to Fail
Too Big to Fail is a television drama film in the United States broadcast on HBO on May 23, 2011. It is based on the non-fiction book Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The TV film was directed by Curtis Hanson...
: Olympia & York: The Story Behind the Headlines (McClelland and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
, 1993), an ultimately sympathetic treatment of the Reichmann family and the rise and fall of their high-profile international property developer Olympia and York
Olympia and York
Olympia & York was once a major international property development firm based in Canada. The firm built major financial office complexes like Canary Wharf in London, the World Financial Center in New York City and First Canadian Place in Toronto...
, was probably Stewart's most widely-read title outside Canada.
A 1996 book on charity was Stewart's most controversial. Under threat of a libel suit, Douglas & McIntyre
Douglas & McIntyre
Douglas & McIntyre is an independent Canadian publishing company founded in 1971. They are the publishers for such noted authors as Margaret Atwood and Douglas Coupland; poet Lorna Crozier; actress Kim Cattrall; chef John Bishop; and politician Mike Harcourt...
, the Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
-based publishers of The Charity Game: Greed, Waste and Fraud in Canada's $86-Billion-a-Year Compassion Industry, withdrew their copies from sale and asked their distributors to return all unsold copies within a few months after release. Nonetheless, the book helped spur considerable discussion on the role and governance of charities.
Dismantling the State: Downsizing to Disaster (Stoddart, 1998) critiqued neoconservatism and neoliberalism in Canada, and the haste in many quarters to cut back and privatize
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
public services.
Stewart also wrote two lighthearted murder mysteries, starring small-town reporter Carlton Withers and set in the Kawartha Lakes
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
The city of Kawartha Lakes is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Although called a city, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontarian county and is mostly rural....
region where Stewart's family had cottaged since his youth and the author lived out his own later years: Right Church, Wrong Pew (Macmillan of Canada
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
, 1990; McClelland and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
, 1991) and Hole in One (McClelland and Stewart
McClelland and Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is partially owned by Random House of Canada, now a subsidiary of Bertelsmann....
, 1992).
His love for the Kawartha Lakes was also regularly featured in his columns for the Toronto Sun, in which he often mentioned the fictional town of Bosky Dell, described as "a sylvan paradise in the heart of the Kawarthas".
2000s
In his last several years, Stewart's books retained his sharp eye and social concern but moved to a more positive pitch. M.J.: The Life and Times of M.J. ColdwellMajor James Coldwell
Major James William Coldwell, , usually known as M.J. , was a Canadian social democratic politician, and leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation party from 1942 to 1960. He was born in England, and immigrated to Canada in 1910...
(Stoddart, 2000), commissioned by the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
The Douglas-Coldwell Foundation is a Canadian think tank devoted, in the words of its slogan, to "promoting education and research into social democracy." It was founded in 1971, and is based in Ottawa....
, was welcomed as a long-overdue biography of the democratic socialist
Democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...
parliamentarian. My Cross-Country Checkup: Across Canada by Minivan, Through Space and Time (Stoddart, 2000) presented a charming portrait of Stewart and his wife Joan retracing a trip they had taken in 1964 for a Star Weekly series – Joan driving, as the irascible Walter had never learned to – at the dawn of a new century.
Stewart worked again with Kierans, a longtime friend, on the politician's memoirs, Remembering (Stoddart, 2001). His final book, The Life and Politics of Tommy Douglas
Tommy Douglas
Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, was a Scottish-born Baptist minister who became a prominent Canadian social democratic politician...
(McArthur, 2003), recounted the life of the first leader of the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
; a 2004 paperback reissue, as The Life and Political Times of Tommy Douglas, marked Douglas' win in the national popularity contest to name The Greatest Canadian
The Greatest Canadian
Officially launched on April 5, 2004, The Greatest Canadian was a television program series by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to determine who is considered to be the greatest Canadian of all time, at least among those who watched and participated in the program...
.
Stewart died at his home in Sturgeon Point, Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
Kawartha Lakes, Ontario
The city of Kawartha Lakes is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Although called a city, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontarian county and is mostly rural....
, of
cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
.
External links
- Taking on the big guys (Frank Jones, 50Plus, December 1999)
- Gone, But Not Forgotten, a memoir of Stewart by classmate Bill McMurray (Lions Pride, South Secondary School Alumni Association newsletter, spring 2005) [pdf file]
- The Book Game, a criticism of The Charity Game (John Hochstadt, The Canadian FundRaiser via CharityVillage NewsWeek, December 9, 1996)