TVO’s Steve Paik in speaking next week
A veteran Toronto journalist who’ s written a biography of former Ontario Premier Bill Davis is coming to Peter borough next week to give a talk.
Steve Paikin is the host of The Agenda with Steve Paikin, a current affairs program on TVO. He’s been a journalist for more than 30 years and has written four previous books on politics.
His latest is titled Bill Davis: Nation Builder, and Not So Bland After All.
On Tuesday, Paikin will be giving a talk with a slideshow at the Nexicom Studio at Showplace Performance Centre.
This is the first authorized biography of Davis ,88, who still lives in his hometown of Brampton.
A Conservative and a lawyer, Davis was Premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985.
Prior to that, as Education Minister, he established several universities – including Trent University( Davis was a good friend of Trent founder Tom Symons).
Davis is also considered the father of the college system in Ontario, and was responsible for founding TVO.
He also supported Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’ s plan to repatriate the Canadian Constitution from the U.K. and then add a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Davis is considered to have been a key player in the negotiations that lead to the adoption of the Constitution in 1982.
Paikin said Davis is very modest, and has never really explained his role in successfully bringing the negotiations to a close – until now.
Paikin’s book tour is being coordinated by two local people: David Goyette, an Examiner columnist, and Heather Watson, founder of the local marketing firm acorn30.
Goyette will be interviewing Paikin onstage, and there will be slides to go along with the discussion.
The book was released by Dundurn a little more than a year ago, and Paikin said he’s given 55 speeches about the book so far.
But the Peterborough engagement will be unique: Paikin says he hasn’t offered a multi-media show elsewhere and he hasn’ t been interviewed by anyone onstage.
An Evening with Steve Paikin takes place at Showplace on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are available for sale on the Showplace website at www. showplace.org