Stephen Maher

My guest on this episode is Stephen Maher. Stephen has been writing about Canadian politics for decades as a columnist and investigative reporter at Postmedia News, iPolitics, and Maclean’s. His work has won numerous awards, including the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, the Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism, a National Newspaper Award, two Canadian Association of Journalism Awards, and a Canadian Hillman Prize, and has been nominated for several National Magazine Awards. He is also the author of a handful of thriller novels, which we talk about briefly in this episode. Stephen’s most recent book is The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau, was published in May 2024 by Simon & Schuster Canada. The Globe & Mail called the book “a thoroughly researched and fair-minded accounting of Justin Trudeau’s accomplishments and failings.”

Stephen and I talk about the very recent and ongoing chaos surrounding Trudeau and his government, the particular stresses of researching and writing a biography of an acting political figure whose fortunes could change at any moment, and the book he is currently working on, about another Canadian icon with a very tarnished brand: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus.

Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.