Tim Harper

Tim Harper headshot

Tim Harper

Tim Harper is a Toronto journalist and author. He spent more than three decades at the Toronto Star as a reporter, Ottawa bureau chief, Washington correspondent, national editor, and national affairs columnist. Tim covered war and revolution in Latin America, upheaval in Russia, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and the rise of Barack Obama in the United States. He covered seven Canadian elections and three American elections. He is co-author, with Alok Mukherjee, of Excessive Force, a study of policing in Toronto, and a contributor to Fish Wrapped: True Confessions from Newsrooms Past, an anthology of life in the golden age of newspapers.

Written By Tim Harper

Building the charitable sector’s policy muscle

The need for the sector to lead on policy advocacy has been described as a moral imperative, yet it often faces criticism that it has lost its sense of urgency and become too content as a service-delivery vehicle. Contributor Tim Harper looks at policy institutes across Canada that are teaching the pragmatic skills of building support, refining a policy “ask,” and having bureaucratic and political doors open.