John Ibbitson
John Ibbitson became the Globe and Mail's Washington columnist and correspondent in May 2007, capping a remarkable career as journalist and writer.
Born in the small Ontario town of Gravenhurst, he wrote plays and fiction after graduating from the University of Toronto in 1979 with an Honours B.A. in English. His best known works from those years were the play Mayonnaise (Simon and Pierre, 1982), which premiered at Toronto's Phoenix Theatre in 1981 and was subsequently produced across Canada and adapted for television by the CBC, and the young-adult novel 1812: Jeremy's War (Maxwell MacMillan, 1991, republished by Kids Can Press, 2001), which has been read by many thousands of students in Ontario schools and elsewhere, and is still in print.
In 1988, Ibbitson graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Masters degree in Journalism, and joined the Ottawa Citizen. He worked as a reporter, columnist and Queen's Park correspondent for Southam papers until 1999, when he joined the Globe and Mail. For the Globe he served as Queen's Park columnist, Washington bureau chief and Ottawa political affairs columnist, before returning to Washington to inaugurate his column and commentary on American politics and society. Along the way Ibbitson published three works of political analysis: Promised Land: Inside the Mike Harris Revolution (Prentice Hall, 1997); Loyal No More: Ontario's Struggle for a Separate Destiny (HarperCollins, 2001) and The Polite Revolution: Perfecting thee Canadian Dream (McClelland and Stewart, 2005).
His young-adult novel The Landing (Kids Can Press) won the 2008 Governor General’s award. And a new book, Open & Shut: Why America Has Barack Obama and Canada has Stephen Harper, arrives in bookstores in May.
Ibbitson’s writing has been nominated for the Donner Prize, the Governor General's Award, the National Newspaper Award, the Trillium Award and the City of Toronto Book Award.
Apart from writing, John Ibbitson's interests include reading (mostly history and biography) music (mostly classical) and playing poker with reporters.
Rural overrepresentation defeats the people's will
The gun registry is popular with Canadians - about two thirds of them want it retained - so why was it defeated in the House?
HARPER'S HARMONY, IGNATIEFF'S DISCORD
Despite efforts by the Opposition to bring down his government, a confident Prime Minister wows the crowd in Ottawa and calls four by-elections, showing determination to carry on while the Liberal Leader navigates a series of setbacks
He held the torch for his fallen brothers, but now the Kennedy dynasty is no more. As the world mourns the passing of a great American optimist, a country is left to question te future of his fractured politics
THE END OF CONSENSUS Kennedy was the Senate's great negotiator, who saw eye-to-eye with his enemies, healed rifts and knew how to deliver THE END OF CAMELOT The dynasty dies with the last brother as young Kennedys prefer to stay out of the political spotlight THE NEXT GREAT HOPE The lion's final act was to pass on the Kennedy crown in his endorsement of a new hope, Barack Obama
America's an argument that never ends
Canadians keep their voices down for fear an honest argument would wreck the country
Hard to Digest
A magazine that once educated the middle class is fading away
Americans argue to extremes, sure, but they also care deeply
In U.S. politics, it's fair game to just flat out lie
Bush's ghosts threaten Obama's agenda
Word that Cheney may have broken the law by concealing CIA program from congress could overshadow health-care reform and Supreme Court nominee
The man who keeps on pedalling
For some Europeans, especially the French, Lance Armstrong is George Bush on a bike
Palin's resignation keeps everyone guessing Will she or won't she? It's anyone's guess
Sarah Palin remains mum on motives, but some observers convinced she's clearing the deck for 2012 bid for White House