Editing Michael Valpy

{{short description|Canadian journalist and author|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{BLP sources|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Michael Valpy
| image       = 
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| birth_name  = Michael Granville Valpy
| birth_date  = {{birth year and age|1942}}
| birth_place = [[Toronto|Toronto, Ontario]], Canada
| death_date  = 
| death_place = 
| other_names = 
| known_for   = 
| occupation  = Journalist, author
|| spouse      = divorced
| children    = 3
}}

'''Michael Granville Valpy''' (born 1942) is a [[Canadians|Canadian]] journalist and author. He wrote for ''[[The Globe and Mail]]''<ref name="Francis1997">{{cite book|last=Francis|first=Daniel|title=National dreams: myth, memory, and Canadian history|url=https://archive.org/details/nationaldreamsmy0000fran|url-access=registration|accessdate=20 June 2011|year=1997|publisher=arsenal pulp press|isbn=978-1-55152-043-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nationaldreamsmy0000fran/page/15 15]–}}</ref> newspaper where he covered both political and [[human interest story|human interest]] stories until leaving the newspaper in October, 2010. Through a long career at the ''Globe'', he was a reporter, Toronto- and [[Ottawa]]-based national political columnist, member of the editorial board, deputy managing editor, and [[Africa]]-based correspondent during the last years of [[apartheid]]. He has also been a national political columnist for the ''[[Vancouver Sun]]''. Since leaving the ''Globe'' he has been published by the newspaper on a freelance basis as well as by [[CBC News]] Online, the ''[[Toronto Star]]'' and the ''[[National Post]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/michael-valpy-who-takes-the-crown|title=Latest Breaking News, Headlines & Updates &#124; National Post}}</ref>

==Life==
Valpy was born in 1942<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUMvAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Valpy,+Michael%22+1942|title = The National Deal: The Fight for a Canadian Constitution|isbn = 9780770600198|last1 = Sheppard|first1 = Robert|last2 = Valpy|first2 = Michael|year = 1982| publisher=Fleet Books }}</ref> in Toronto and lived there until his family moved to [[Vancouver]], where his mother's family was from, after [[World War II]].<ref name=valpy/> His great-grandfather, W. W. Walkem, was Vancouver's first European doctor and the brother of [[George Anthony Walkem]], [[British Columbia]]'s third [[Premier of British Columbia|premier]]. He has three children. He has been married and divorced twice, first with ''The Globe and Mail'''s former chief librarian, Amanda Ferguson, and second with lawyer [[Deborah Coyne]].

==Career==
Valpy studied at the [[University of British Columbia]] towards a general arts degree for two years before dropping out of university after the premature death of his father and having no money to continue his studies. After considering entering the [[Anglican Church of Canada|Anglican]] priesthood, Valpy went to work for the ''[[Vancouver Sun]]'' in 1961 as a reporter and was then night city editor at the short-lived ''Vancouver Times''. In 1965, when the Times folded, he was hired by ''The Globe and Mail'' first as a reporter, then as a feature writer and member of the editorial board. In 1966 and 1967, Valpy was a staff member for the short-lived [[Company of Young Canadians]]. He returned to the ''Vancouver Sun'', first as a member of its editorial board and then as a political columnist based in [[Ottawa]], Ontario. 

On 13 December 1971, Valpy revealed in an article the secret deal brokered by Justice [[William Henderson (Canadian politician)|William Henderson]] to end the trial of the "Kingston 13".{{sfn|Fogarty|2021|p=244}} During the [[1971 Kingston Penitentiary riot]], a group of inmates led by [[Brian Beaucage]] had tortured 16 men and killed 2 of them. In October 1971, the "Kingston 13" as the accused were known went on trial in Kingston. Valpy revealed that there had been a secret deal to end the trial as Justice Henderson had called several meetings with the defense lawyers and the Crown Attorneys to discuss how to arrange plea bargains to give the accused the lightest possible sentences with led to a sudden end to the trial on 22 November 1971.{{sfn|Fogarty|2021|p=244-245}} 

In 1981, he rejoined ''The Globe and Mail'' as a national affairs columnist and subsequently served as its Africa correspondent from 1984 to 1988 after which he returned to Canada to serve as the newspaper's urban affairs columnist, its deputy managing editor and, after running for Parliament for the NDP, as the paper's religion writer and feature writer.<ref name=valpy>[http://www.rrj.ca/m3842/ "The True Grit of Michael Valpy"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211181911/http://www.rrj.ca/m3842/ |date=2013-12-11 }}, ''Ryerson Review of Journalism'' (June 1991)</ref>

Valpy left ''The Globe and Mail'' in 2010. He is a senior fellow at [[Massey College]] at the [[University of Toronto]], a fellow at the [[University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance]] and teaches in the university's book and media studies program. He was the 2011–2012 Canwest Global Fellow in Media at University of Western Ontario and was awarded the 2012–2013 [[Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy]]. He continues to write as a freelance journalist with pieces published on the ''[[CBC News]]'' website and the ''[[Toronto Star]]'' as well as ''The Globe and Mail''.

==Political views==
Despite being from what he describes as a "strongly Tory monarchist British imperialist-quite right wing" family,<ref name=valpy/> Valpy was one of the more left-leaning writers at the ''Globe''. In the [[2000 Canadian federal election|2000 federal election]], Valpy ran as a [[New Democratic Party]] candidate in the [[Toronto]] [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] of [[Trinity—Spadina (federal electoral district)|Trinity—Spadina]], against [[Liberal Party of Canada]] incumbent [[Tony Ianno]]. He was not elected.

==Works==
Valpy co-authored three books (two on [[Constitution of Canada|Canada's Constitution]] and the third on the 21st-century generation of new Canadian adults), produced public affairs documentaries for [[CBC Radio]], contributed chapters to several books on public policy issues and written for ''[[Maclean's]]'', ''[[Time (magazine)|Time Canada]]'', ''Policy Options'', ''[[Shambhala Sun]]'' and ''[[Elm Street (magazine)|Elm Street]]'' magazines.

==Awards==
He has won three [[Canadian Newspaper Association|National Newspaper Award]]s (two for foreign reporting and one for an analysis of dysfunctional students in the public education system) and been nominated for a fourth (for a profile of [[Michael Ignatieff]]), In 1997, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (D.Litt.) from [[Trent University]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.trentu.ca/convocation/ceremonies/honours-awards/record-trent-university-titles-honours-and-awards#HDR|title=Record of Trent University Titles, Honours, and Awards - Convocation - Trent University|website=www.trentu.ca|access-date=2020-01-02}}</ref> He also received the [[Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal|Queen's Jubilee Medal]] in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/125-37018|title=Mr. Michael Valpy|last=General|first=Office of the Secretary to the Governor|website=The Governor General of Canada|access-date=2020-01-02}}</ref>
==Books==
*{{cite book |last1=Fogarty |first1=Catherine |title=Murder on the Inside The True Story of the Deadly Riot at Kingston Penitentiary |date=2021 |publisher=Biblioasis |location=Windsor |isbn=9781771964029}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Valpy, Michael}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Canadian columnists]]
[[Category:Journalists from Toronto]]
[[Category:New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons]]
[[Category:Canadian monarchists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Massey College, Toronto people]]
[[Category:University of British Columbia alumni]]
[[Category:The Globe and Mail columnists]]
[[Category:Canadian political journalists]]