She Dared to Succeed (in French, Elle a ose reussir), delves into the life of a woman who, for more than 30 years, broke multiple glass ceilings in the Canadian media and political worlds. Well-known in the broadcasting industry, she was propelled to the political forefront following her appointment to the Senate of Canada (1995) and her election as President of the Liberal Party of Canada (2006).
She had to overcome many challenges throughout her career: sexism, prejudice against single mothers and career women, wage disparities, and harassment in the workplace. Above all, she experienced the opprobrium reserved for Senate members-all of whom were exonerated-targeted as part of the Senate expenses scandal (2012-2016). In this book, she bears witness to the human cost of this chapter of Canadian history.
This biography, with a foreword by the Hon. John Manley, is the fruit of impressive research by the author, who not only interviewed Madame Charette-Poulin at length, but also conducted 67 interviews, including with prominent Canadians such as Right Honourable Jean Chretien and Brian Mulroney, the Honourable Sheila Copps, Sharon Carstairs, Mike Duffy, Hugh Segal, Celine Hervieux-Payette, Vivienne Poy, Linda Frum, Sheila Fraser, as well as judges Robert Desmarais, and Robert Del Frate.
She dared to succeed... despite it all.
Also available in French (Elle a ose reussir)
Available in hardcover, trade paperback, and accessible PDF et ePUB formats.
Table of Contents:
Prologue
Chapter 1: Deep Roots
Chapter 2 Growing Up in Sudbury
Chapter 3: University Life: A Tale in Three Parts
Chapter 4: A Single Mother Returns to Canada
Chapter 5: The CBC: Reclaiming a Life
Chapter 6: Bernard and Family Life
Chapter 7: CBON (C’EST BON): The Birth of Public French Radio in Northern Ontario
Chapter 8: Going Home
Chapter 9: The NABET Strike
Chapter 10: Head Office
Chapter 11: VP Human Resources and Labour Relations
Chapter 12: Life after the CBC
Chapter 13: Called to The Senate
Chapter 14: Work and Life in the Senate
Chapter 15: A Franco-Ontarian Fights for Canada
Chapter 16: The Law
Chapter 17: President of the Party
Chapter 18: The Inquisition
Chapter 19: Enter the Auditor General
Chapter 20: The Aftermath, Fallout and Reaction
Chapter 21: Elaine and Valerie
Chapter 22: A Busy Post-Senate Life
List of People Interviewed
Acknowledgements
Index
About the Author :
Fred Langan is a Canadian author and journalist. He worked at the CBC for more than 40 years, and also freelanced for many domestic and foreign newspapers, including the Globe and Mail, The Economist, the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor. He has published two novels and has ghost written 12 books. He continues to write obituaries for the Globe and Mail.
Review :
She Dared To Succeed traces the Sudbury native's remarkable rise from social worker to a top CBC executive, then rising above gender discrimination to become a powerhouse of the country's public service, as a senior staff member of the Privy Council, President of the Liberal Party, and a Senator. Starting in 2015, however, her reputation is shattered, along with her health and family finances when the Stephen Harper government sets out to defang the Senate by subjecting her and 19 other Senators to an Inquisition into expenses. In a scene out of Kafka the accused were shunned by fellow members in an unprecedented fog of "fear and cowardice " in every corner. Marie-Paule Poulin was eventually cleared of wrongdoing by the RCMP, but the stress forced her to resign to save her health, one of many public figures in our time who decide the viciousness of politics too vile...even for the daring.--Brian Stewart, CBC Correspondent and former Fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Marie-Paule Charette-Poulin's strong character and unique career stand up against lingering bad karma from the Senate expenses scandal. [...] She Dared to Succeed is an engaging and well-written biography of a hardworking woman with an impressive career.--Christina Leadlay "The Hill Times"
Trailblazing former senator Marie Poulin's career was conspicuous by its precedents--the first founding station manager at Radio-Canada, the first female francophone senator from Ontario, and the first woman francophone president of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Veteran journalist Fred Langan's account of Poulin's life details her evolution from impoverished single mother to a seat in the Senate, from a late blooming legal career to her unlikely victory as president of Canada's natural governing party. It was a rise apparently powered by a forceful and engaging personality.
Langan's well-researched study takes the reader from Poulin's childhood in post-war Sudbury, through her time at the CBC and eventually to the Senate of Canada, where she became embroiled in the expense imbroglio that tarnished the reputations of all it touched.
Poulin emerges as a likeable, dynamic figure whose dedication has fortified some of the country's most important institutions.
--John Ivison, The National Post
