She Dared to Succeed - (Biography and Memoirs) by Fred Langan (Paperback)

About the Book

She Dared to Succeed (in French, Elle a osé réussir), delves into the life of a woman who, for more than 30 years, broke multiple glass ceilings in the Canadian media and political worlds. Well-known in the broadcasting industry, she was propelled to the political forefront following her appointment to the Senate of Canada (1995) and her election as President of the Liberal Party of Canada (2006).

Book Synopsis

She Dared to Succeed (in French, Elle a osé réussir), delves into the life of a woman who, for more than 30 years, broke multiple glass ceilings in the Canadian media and political worlds. Well-known in the broadcasting industry, she was propelled to the political forefront following her appointment to the Senate of Canada (1995) and her election as President of the Liberal Party of Canada (2006).

She had to overcome many challenges throughout her career: sexism, prejudice against single mothers and career women, wage disparities, and harassment in the workplace. Above all, she experienced the opprobrium reserved for Senate members--all of whom were exonerated--targeted as part of the Senate expenses scandal (2012-2016). In this book, she bears witness to the human cost of this chapter of Canadian history.

This biography, with a foreword by the Hon. John Manley, is the fruit of impressive research by the author, who not only interviewed Madame Charette-Poulin at length, but also conducted 67 interviews, including with prominent Canadians such as Right Honourable Jean Chrétien and Brian Mulroney, the Honourable Sheila Copps, Sharon Carstairs, Mike Duffy, Hugh Segal, Céline Hervieux-Payette, Vivienne Poy, Linda Frum, Sheila Fraser, as well as judges Robert Desmarais, and Robert Del Frate.

She dared to succeed... despite it all.

Also available in French (Elle a osé réussir)
Available in hardcover, trade paperback, and accessible PDF et ePUB formats.

Review Quotes

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

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"

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

It came as no surprise to me to learn [...] that Prime Minister Chrétien 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

About the Author

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.