By Rachel Cohen
Renowned award-winning Canadian journalist and author Peter C. Newman is living in Belleville primarily because the book he is writing over the next three years is about the United Empire Loyalists.
“I’ve had long-term connections to the Quinte region, and I believe it’s very important for me to write this book about the United Empire Loyalists and the role they played in developing a Canadian national identity,” said Newman of his current book project.
At age 82, Newman has been famously narrating Canadian politics for more than half a century. Building upon his series of books ranging from the Canadian establishment and how it has gained its power, to the history of the Hudson’s Bay Company and its impact on Canada as a nation, Peter’s new book will be called Hostages to Fortune: How the Loyalists Invented Canada.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Newman emigrated from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to Canada in 1940 as a Jewish refugee. Escaping the war at the age of 11, Newman has said of himself, “What I wanted when I ultimately arrived in Canada was to gain a voice, to be heard. That longing has never left me.”
As a child, Newman enrolled in 1944 as a “war guest” at Upper Canada College – the training ground for children of Canada’s most wealthy and powerful families. Newman’s extensive collection of books he has written have been about many of those very boys he went to school with – recounting the lives of the rich and powerful: business tycoons, political players and prime ministers.
“I always felt like an outsider when I first came to Canada. I was labelled a ‘Jew boy’. It took some time before I found my way,” recalls Newman.
It was from there that Newman embarked on a remarkable career, which included writing for the Financial Post, Maclean’s Magazine, and Toronto Star. As a novelist, Newman has written over 20 books, selling more than two million copies.
“My plan was to make a lot of strong statements about Canada, and I think that’s important,” says Newman. “I am neutral,” he says of his opinions. “I attack everybody.
“I think they need to be attacked. They are responsible to us. They may have the power, but I have taken responsibility for proving the powerful accountable,” says Newman about the importance of his work. “That is what I try to do in my books.”
Spanning over six decades, Newman has dedicated his life to emphasizing how Canada will survive, and has ultimately recorded the story of this country. Newman has retired to his beautiful Victorian home in Belleville and is happily married to his wife Alvy in Belleville.
People can expect to see his book released in the upcoming year.