Paul Conrad Jackson Paul Conrad Jackson is one of Canada’s most distinguished and thought-provoking journalists.
He is currently senior political commentator for the Calgary Sun and other related newspapers, after being both Editor and Associate Editor for a number of years.
Born in Britain where he studied English literature and economic history, Jackson started off his journalism career in Canada on the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. He later became a business writer on the Edmonton Journal, and then City Editor of the Calgary Albertan.
Between 1971 and 1982, Jackson was a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa where he wrote for newspapers coast-to-coast including the Vancouver Sun, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Calgary Albertan, Lethbridge Herald,  Winnipeg Free Press and the Ottawa Journal.
In 1978, he caused a sensation in Canada and around the world when he revealed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had caught 13 Soviet diplomats in a spy ring but Pierre Trudeau’s government refused to take any action and wanted to cover up the espionage plot. After Jackson’s story appeared, the 13 diplomats were expelled. Jackson then spent the next four years breaking many other espionage stories involving East Bloc activities in Canada.
In 1981, Jackson was again at the centre of national attention when he revealed that a number of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers charged with criminal offences for illegal activities in fighting separatism in Quebec had committed the offences at the express orders of Trudeau and the federal cabinet. Jackson’s work was mentioned - and praised - often in the House of Commons, and eventually the charges against the Mounties were withdrawn.
He has interviewed such world famous political figures as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Diefenbaker, Brian Mulroney,  Pierre Trudeau, Yitshak Rabin and Benjamin Netanyahu. His close friends include popular singers such as the late Tammy Wynette and Roy Orbison, and the very much alive Tom Jones. He has danced with Ginger Rogers, and taken Fay Wray,  of King Kong fame, to the movies.
He specializes in both North American and world politics, having travelled extensively in the United States, Latin America (he owns a home in Guadalajara, Mexico)  Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Jackson has been frequently honoured for his work and his community endeavors,  including receiving the Queen’s Medal for the 125th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, and awards from groups ranging from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Calgary Police Service to the Canadian Cancer Society.
His endeavours on behalf of Canada’s military and its veterans resulted in his being named an honourary life member of the Royal Canadian Legion and the Air Gunners’ Association of Canada. He is also a honourary commander of the Honourable Guard to the Museum of the Regiments in Calgary. In June, 1997, he became the first Roman Catholic in the world and only the fourth non-Jewish Albertan to be made an Honourary Life Member of B’nai Brith, the international Jewish fraternal organization.
In 1998, the Parliament of Croatia, under the authority of President Franjo Tudman, passed a motion to present Jackson with the Croatian Medal of Honour for his endeavors in the early 1990s to bring the world’s attention to Serbian atrocities against men, women and children in Croatia and Bosnia, and particularly the now notorious Serbian rape camps that later became the subject of United Nations condemnation and led to the war crimes trials at The Hague.
In 2003, Jackson was also commemorated with the Stand With Israel organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award for the 25 years he has spent writing columns supporting Israel, and appearing on TV, radio and making public speeches supporting the Jewish state.