Fred Langan is a Canadian author and journalist. He worked at the CBC for more than 40 years, and also freelanced for many domestic and foreign newspapers, including the Globe and Mail, The Economist, the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor. He has published two novels and has ghost written 12 books. He continues to write obituaries for the Globe and Mail.
"Elle a os� r�ussir retrace l'ascension remarquable de cette native de Sudbury, qui est pass�e de travailleuse sociale � cadre sup�rieur � la CBC, et qui a surmont� la discrimination fond�e sur le sexe pour devenir une figure embl�matique du service public au pays, en tant que membre du Conseil priv�, pr�sidente du Parti lib�ral et s�natrice.-- ""Brian Stewart, correspondant � la CBC"" It came as no surprise to me to learn [...] that Prime Minister Chr�tien had called her to the Senate to represent Northern Ontario. She was an ideal nominee to represent, not only the region where she grew up, but also Franco-Ontarians specifically, as well as professional women generally.--The Honourable John Manley Je n'ai pas �t� surpris d'apprendre, quelques mois plus tard, que le Premier ministre Chr�tien l'avait appel�e au S�nat pour repr�senter le Nord de l'Ontario. Elle �tait la candidate id�ale pour repr�senter non seulement la r�gion o� elle a grandi, mais aussi les Franco-Ontariens en particulier, ainsi que les femmes professionnelles en g�n�ral.-- ""L'honorable John Manley"" L'�tude bien document�e permet de d�couvrir son enfance dans la r�gion de Sudbury de l'apr�s-guerre, son passage � Radio-Canada et � la CBC, et jusqu'au S�nat du Canada, o� elle se retrouve m�l�e � l'imbroglio des d�penses qui a terni la r�putation de tous ceux qu'il a touch�s. (...) Poulin y est une figure bienveillante et dynamique, dont le d�vouement a permis de renforcer certaines des institutions les plus importantes du pays.-- ""John Ivison, The National Post"" Le caract�re fort et la carri�re unique de Marie-Paule Charette-Poulin s'opposent au mauvais karma d�coulant du scandale des d�penses du S�nat. [...] Elle a os� r�ussir est une biographie captivante et bien �crite d'une femme travaillante, � la carri�re impressionnante.--Christina Leadlay ""The Hill Times"" Marie-Paule Charette-Poulin's strong character and unique career stand up against lingering bad karma from the Senate expenses scandal. [...] She Dared to Succeed is an engaging and well-written biography of a hardworking woman with an impressive career.--Christina Leadlay ""The Hill Times"" She Dared To Succeed traces the Sudbury native's remarkable rise from social worker to a top CBC executive, then rising above gender discrimination to become a powerhouse of the country's public service, as a senior staff member of the Privy Council, President of the Liberal Party, and a Senator. Starting in 2015, however, her reputation is shattered, along with her health and family finances when the Stephen Harper government sets out to defang the Senate by subjecting her and 19 other Senators to an Inquisition into expenses. In a scene out of Kafka the accused were shunned by fellow members in an unprecedented fog of ""fear and cowardice "" in every corner. Marie-Paule Poulin was eventually cleared of wrongdoing by the RCMP, but the stress forced her to resign to save her health, one of many public figures in our time who decide the viciousness of politics too vile...even for the daring.--Brian Stewart, CBC Correspondent and former Fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto Trailblazing former senator Marie Poulin's career was conspicuous by its precedents--the first founding station manager at Radio-Canada, the first female francophone senator from Ontario, and the first woman francophone president of the Liberal Party of Canada. Veteran journalist Fred Langan's account of Poulin's life details her evolution from impoverished single mother to a seat in the Senate, from a late blooming legal career to her unlikely victory as president of Canada's natural governing party. It was a rise apparently powered by a forceful and engaging personality. Langan's well-researched study takes the reader from Poulin's childhood in post-war Sudbury, through her time at the CBC and eventually to the Senate of Canada, where she became embroiled in the expense imbroglio that tarnished the reputations of all it touched. Poulin emerges as a likeable, dynamic figure whose dedication has fortified some of the country's most important institutions. --John Ivison, The National Post"