Michael Valpy

Michael Granville Valpy is an award-winning Canadian journalist and author. He writes for the Globe and Mail newspaper where he made his reputation on both political and human interest stories. Through a long career at the Globe, he has been 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 also has been a national political columnist for the Vancouver Sun.

Life

Valpy grew up in Vancouver, where his maternal family were early colonial settlers. His great-grandfather, W. W. Walkem, was Vancouver's first European doctor and the brother of George Anthony Walkem, British Columbia's third premier. He has two children.

Career

In 1966-1967, Valpy was a staff member for the short-lived Company of Young Canadians. In the 2000 federal election, Valpy ran as a New Democratic Party candidate in the Toronto riding of Trinity—Spadina, against Liberal Party of Canada incumbent Tony Ianno. He was not elected. He is a senior fellow at Massey College at the University of Toronto, a fellow at the university's School of Public Policy and Governance and a member of the dean's advisory committee at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Works

Valpy co-authored three books (two on Canada's Constitution and the third on 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 Canada, Policy Options, Shambhala Sun and Elm Street magazines.

Awards

He has won three National Newspaper Awards (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. He also received the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 2002.