Stevie Cameron

Stevie Cameron (born 1943 in Barrie, Ontario) is a Canadian investigative journalist and author.

Biography

Formerly with the "Globe and Mail" newspaper and CBC Television's investigative news programme, "the fifth estate", Cameron is best known for her 1994 book "On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years", an exposé of alleged corruption in the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney which alleged that, as Prime Minister of Canada, Mulroney accepted "kickbacks" from Karlheinz Schreiber in what has become known as the Airbus affair. The book also described several other seamy episodes from the Mulroney years. The book won several Canadian awards, and sold very well.

Cameron became the focus of a campaign by Mulroney's defenders to discredit the allegations against him.

In 2004, the "The Globe and Mail" turned the tables on its former investigative reporter by running a series of articles claiming that Cameron had worked as a confidential informant for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police during its investigation of the Airbus affair. Cameron has vigorously denied the allegations which, if true, would compromise her credibility as a journalist [http://www.regrettheerror.com/2004/10/stevie_cameron_.html] . In his 2004 book "A Secret Trial: Brian Mulroney, Stevie Cameron and the Public Trust", William Kaplan outlines the evidence that demonstrates the RCMP's perception of Cameron's status as a confidential RCMP informant. Kaplan has since changed his opinion on the central thesis of this book -- that Mulroney was unfairly targeted by the RCMP. The situation has been in the public consciousness in Canada for some 20 years, and developments and revelations continue to the present day. Cameron has been mentioned as a potential witness for the public inquiry called by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in November 2007, as well as for the examination of the Mulroney Airbus Settlement being undertaken in December 2007 by the Canadian House of Commons Ethics Committee ("The Globe and Mail", December 7, 2007). Her appearance before the latter Committee took place on the afternoon of February 14, 2008. Essentially, she said that everything she knows on the subject has been documented in her books. Cameron also stated that the information which she gave to the RCMP was already available in the public domain at that time. [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080214.wmulroney0214/BNStory/National/home]

Cameron has also been a contributing editor at "Maclean's" magazine, a monthly columnist and editor for "Elm Street" magazine, and a contributor to "The Toronto Star", "The Ottawa Citizen", the Southam News Service, "Saturday Night" magazine, the "Financial Post", "Chatelaine", "Canadian Living", and "Homemakers".

Cameron's most recent book, "The Pickton File", published in June, 2007, is on the Robert Pickton murder case in the Vancouver area, where she has resided part-time since 2002 while following the case. She plans a further book on this case, titled "The Pig Farm", once the trials are completed.

Major works

* "Ottawa Inside Out", by Stevie Cameron, 1989.
* "On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years", by Stevie Cameron, 1994.
* "Blue Trust: The Author, the Lawyer, His Wife and Her Money", by Stevie Cameron, 1998.
* "The Last Amigo: Karlheinz Schreiber and the Anatomy of a Scandal" by Stevie Cameron and Harvey Cashore, 1999.
* "The Pickton File", by Stevie Cameron, Knopf Publishers, 2007.

Awards

"Ottawa Inside Out" was a national bestseller. "On the Take" was the best-selling Canadian book in both 1994 and 1995, and won the Canadian Book of the Year award in 1994. "Blue Trust" won Merit Awards for both Best True Crime book and Best Business Book of the year, and has been optioned for a feature film. "The Last Amigo" won the Edgar Award from the Crime Writers of Canada in 2001.

Further reading

* "Mulroney: The Politics of Ambition", by John Sawatsky, 1991, MacFarlane, Walter & Ross, ISBN 0921912064.
* "Presumed Guilty: Brian Mulroney, the Airbus Affair, and the Government of Canada", by William Kaplan, 1998, ISBN 077104593X.
* "A Secret Trial: Brian Mulroney, Stevie Cameron, and the Public Trust", by William Kaplan, 2004, McGill-Queen's University Press, ISBN 0773528466.

External links

* [http://www.regrettheerror.com/newspapers/stevie-cameron-corrects-the-globe Regret the Error: Stevie Cameron corrects The Globe] Text of Cameron's letter to the editor responding to the "Globe"'s allegations that she was an RCMP informant.
* [http://www.missingpeople.net/stevie_cameron1.htm Stevie Cameron: street-side saviour of Canada's destitute - Canada] 2003 article in the '"Catholic New Times" profiling Cameron's work on the issue of homelessness.
* [http://steviecameron.com/ Stevie Cameron official website] and blog
* [http://www.cbc.ca/wordsatlarge/features/feature.php?storyId=473 Author interview, online from CBC Words at Large]
* [http://www.thecommentary.ca/ontheline/20070620a.html Stevie Cameron online interview with THECOMMENTARY.CA, June 2007]