William Johnson (author)

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For other persons named William Johnson, see William Johnson (disambiguation).

William Johnson C.M. (born 1931) is a Canadian academic, journalist and author.

Bilingual in the English and French languages, Johnson attended College Jean-de-Brebeuf in Montreal. He taught sociology at the University of Toronto before becoming a journalist, working as a parliamentary correspondent in Quebec City and Washington, D.C. for The Globe & Mail and as a journalist and parliamentary reporter for the Montreal Gazette in Ottawa, Ontario.

In 1982, William Johnson was made a Member of the Order of Canada with the citation that his "daily reports from Quebec on social, cultural, and political affairs have given Anglophone readers new insights into the problems and aspirations of Francophones and have contributed notably to Canadian unity." He has written about the role that attitudes and misconceptions have played in the history of the Quebec sovereignty movement.

He was elected president of the lobby group Alliance Quebec in 1998, serving a controversial term until 2000. During that term, he refused to meet with government officials, held two small demonstrations against the Charter of the French Language, added clauses to the group's constitution denouncing hypothetical declarations of independence by the Quebec government, and supported the election of members of the tiny Equality Party to the group's board of directors. In protest, 20 members of the board of directors and most staff members resigned, while six affiliated groups severed their ties, calling his leadership style overly-confrontational. Donations and government funding decreased, but membership increased.[1] He also insisted in marching in Montreal's Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade, over the objections of the organizers; during the parade, the Entartistes threw a cream pie in his face.

In 2005, Johnson authored the book on then Leader of the Official Opposition and current Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. He also translated from the French language to English the 2006 book Young Trudeau: Son of Quebec, Father of Canada, 1919-1944 by Max and Monique Nemni.

[edit] Books

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