Johnson taught sociology at the
University of Toronto before becoming a journalist, working as a
parliamentary correspondent in
Quebec City and Washington, D.C. for
The Globe and Mail and as a journalist and parliamentary reporter for the
Montreal Gazette in
Ottawa, Ontario. In 1982, Johnson was made a Member of the
Order of Canada with the citation that his "daily reports from Quebec on social, cultural, and political affairs have given Anglophone readers new insights into the problems and aspirations of Francophones and have contributed notably to Canadian unity." He wrote about the role that attitudes and misconceptions have played in the history of the
Quebec sovereignty movement. Johnson was elected president of the lobby group
Alliance Quebec in 1998, serving a controversial term until 2000. During that term, he refused to meet with government officials, held two small demonstrations against the
Charter of the French Language, added clauses to the group's constitution denouncing hypothetical declarations of independence by the
Quebec government, and supported the election of members of the tiny
Equality Party to the group's board of directors. In protest, 20 members of the board of directors and most staff members resigned, while six affiliated groups severed their ties, calling his leadership style overly confrontational. Donations and government funding decreased, but membership increased during his tenure. As president of the association recognized by the federal government to defend Quebec's official language minority, Johnson insisted on marching in Montreal's
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade in 1998, over the objections of the organizers and the police; during the parade, the
Entartistes threw a cream pie in his face. ==Bibliography==