Born in Montreal, Quebec, Corcoran received a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in 1969.
In 1974, he joined the Montreal Gazette where he worked as a business writer (1974–1976) and financial editor (1976–1978).
With Laura Reid, he co-authored the 1984 book Public money, private greed: the Greymac, Seaway, and Crown Trusts affair (Collins, ISBN 0-00-217376-X).
The judge also "ordered the Post to remove the articles from its electronic databases, withdraw any consent given to third parties to re-publish the columns, and publish a full retraction online.
[citation needed] Charlie Smith, writing an opinion piece in the political blog for The Georgia Straight, states that Corcoran takes a libertarian viewpoint.