WINNER
Seized by Uncertainty: The Markets, Media and Special Interests that Shaped Canada’s Response to COVID-19; Kevin Quigley, Kaitlynne Lowe, Sarah Moore, and Brianna Wolfe; (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
Seized By Uncertainty is a deep dive into Canada’s response to the COVID crisis; exploring how cultural, institutional and political factors influenced decision-making, as well as the impact of government measures on various segments of the Canadian population. The authors argue that Canada’s response was inadequate, and that institutional inertia will prevent us from learning the right lessons from the pandemic. It delivers a clear message to policymakers that a more comprehensive understanding of risk tolerance and emergency preparedness is required to face the next pandemic.
Kevin Quigley is Director of the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance and a professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs at Dalhousie University.
Kaitlynne Lowe, Sarah Moore and Brianna Wolfe are research assistants at the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance at Dalhousie University.
Runners-up
Fiscal Choices: Canada After the Pandemic; Michael M. Atkinson and Haizhen Mou (University of Toronto Press)
Fiscal Choices offers a succinct and sobering, yet vital, analysis of Canada’s post-pandemic fiscal landscape. The authors navigate the “polycrisis” of stagnation, inflation and inequality and offer a welcome discussion of the benefits and costs associated with government interventions during a difficult period. They offer valuable reflections on economic recovery strategies as well as prescriptions for the policy-making process itself, and perceptively capture federal/provincial dynamics. Fiscal Choices is a timely contribution to the policy landscape, given the importance of federalism in dealing with emerging threats.
Michael M. Atkinson is an emeritus professor at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan and an adjunct professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria.
Haizhen Mou is a professor at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan.
And Sometimes They Kill You: Confronting the Epidemic of Intimate Partner Violence; Pamela Cross (Between The Lines)
And Sometimes They Kill You is a powerful combination of legal expertise and advocacy, exploring the systemic failures in addressing intimate partner violence. Cross has made an important contribution to our understanding of what has been done and what is left to do to diminish violence against women and children and persuasively discusses the need for wider use of restorative and transformative justice. Her call for a “whole-of-society” strategy to address this pervasive issue makes it essential reading for policymakers.
Pamela Cross is a feminist lawyer who works in the gender-based-violence movement, focussing on the intersections between intimate partner violence and Canadian legal systems. She lives in Kingston, ON
Constraining the Court: Judicial Power and Policy Implementation in the Charter Era; James B. Kelly (UBC Press)
Constraining the Court explores what happens when a statute involving a significant public policy issue – French language rights in Quebec, or medical assistance in dying – is declared unconstitutional by the Court. It tackles with nuance and subtlety the inherent tension between the Supreme Court’s supremacy on constitutional matters and the legislature’s democratic mandate to set policy. Kelly discusses how the ways in which the Court responds to policy issues tell a compelling story about judicial power in Canada. The book offers valuable insights for those navigating Canada’s legal and policy landscape.
James B. Kelly is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University. He is the author of Governing with the Charter: Legislative and Judicial Activism and Framers’ Intent, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Donner Prize.
Hard Lessons in Corporate Governance; Bryce C. Tingle (Cambridge University Press)
Hard Lessons in Corporate Governance extensively reviews current corporate governance, challenging many conventional issues — basically eviscerating the claims of the corporate governance “industry” that performance will improve. One by one, Tingle shows that “best practices” are nothing of the sort and provides a well-thought-out roadmap and precise policy recommendations for more effective and socially responsible internal governance. This has a wider importance as corporate governance has an impact on policymaking, and aligning corporate decision-making with societal goals would make for better policy.
Bryce C. Tingle KC is Professor and N. Murray Edwards Chair in Business Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary.
Andre Beaulieu
CHAIR
Since 2015, as Senior Vice-President, Corporate Services for BCE, André Beaulieu has been responsible for one of the largest procurement portfolios in Canada, and the Strategic Business Transformation team which leads all major restructuring initiatives as well as the integration of BCE acquisitions. He is also in charge of Real Estate operations, Corporate Security — including cyber-security and corporate responsibility, including ESG, for BCE.
Between 2012 and 2015, André served as Senior Vice President for Wholesale, a $1B division serving 700 telecommunications customers in 180 countries. During the same period, he was President of BCE Nexxia, the entity that owns and manages Bell’s network in the U.S. Between 2007 and 2011, André has occupied a series of executive functions, including VP Strategy.
Before joining Bell, André was a strategy consultant with Kearney (in Paris) and Bain & Company (in Paris and Boston.) His main areas of client service were in private equity investment on the buy side and strategy for large technology companies. Previously, André has worked with the Privy Council Office of the Government of Canada and the United Nations.
Born in Québec City, André received both his BA (Honours) and his B.C.L/LL.B from Montréal’s McGill University.
An active member of the community since his return to Montreal in 2007, he sits on the boards of the Azrieli Foundation — the largest public foundation in Canada disbursing approximately $150M annually (Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee), Equitas (Chair), CORIM (Executive Committee), the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation (Executive Committee), and the Public Policy Forum (Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee). He is also a co-founder of the Banff Forum.
Neil Desai
Neil Desai is executive vice-president with Viral Nation where he focuses on the company’s technology solutions with enterprise and government clients.
Neil is a senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation and entrepreneur-in-residence with the Rogers Cyber Catalyst. He is a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News Network. Neil also serves on the Board of Directors of the Public Policy Forum, Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, Innovation Asset Collective, ClearRisk Inc. and is a past director of YMCA Canada. He previously served in the Government of Canada in senior roles at Global Affairs Canada and the Prime Minister’s Office.
Prior to joining Viral Nation, he served on the leadership team of Magnet Forensics, a technology company that develops digital investigation solutions used by more than 4,000 police, national security and other public and private organizations in over 100 countries to investigate crimes such as human trafficking, child exploitation, terrorism and ransomware.
Antonia Maioni
Antonia Maioni is a Professor in the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University, and the 2023-24 William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor in the Canada Program at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. She previously served as McGill’s Dean of Arts, as Associate Vice-Principal for Research and International Relations and as Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (2001-2011). She has also served as the President of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, as a member of the Board of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Institute for Research in Public Policy, on the management team for the Banff Forum, as a mentor with the Action Canada Program and as a Fellow with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. Fully fluent in both English and French, she has extensive experience in local, national and international media.
She holds a B.A. from Université Laval, an M.A. from Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University.
Jack M. Mintz
Jack M. Mintz is the President’s Fellow of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary after serving as the Palmer Chair and founding Director from January 1, 2008 to June 30, 2015. He serves on the boards of Mackenzie Health, the Canada West Foundation, and the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy. He is also a senior fellow to numerous think-tanks including the C. D. Howe Institute, MacDonald-Laurier Institute, CESIfo Germany and International Tax and Investment Centre, Washington D.C.
Jack Mintz also served on numerous panels, corporate boards and federal and provincial bodies including Vice-President and chair of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council 2012-2018. He has consulted widely with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, federal and provincial governments in Canada, and various businesses and non-profit organizations in Canada and abroad.
Jack Mintz became a member of the Order of Canada in 2015 as well as receiving the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 for service to the Canadian tax policy community. He also received the Queen Elizabeth Platinum medal in 2022 for chairing the Alberta Premier’s Economic Recovery Council. Jack Mintz’s 2001 book Most Favoured Nation was the runnerup for the Donner Prize and Purvis Prize for best policy book in economics.
Maureen O’Neil
Maureen O’Neil chairs the board of WaterAid International and is a member of the boards of the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
She is the former senior executive officer of EHealth Ontario and the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CFHI). She was also President of the International Development Research Centre and Deputy Minister of Citizenship for the Government of Ontario.
Maureen O’Neil is former chair of the board of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), the Board of Trustees of the International Institute for Environment and Development, Chair of the Board of Carleton University, former President of the International Development Research Centre, IDRC’s Think Tank Initiative and earlier in her career Deputy Minister of Citizenship in Ontario.
She has also represented Canada on the UN Commission on the Status of Women and on committees of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and has been a member of the UN Committee for Development Planning and the Board of the UNRISD.
She has received honorary doctorates from Laurier University, Carleton University, and the University of Ottawa. In June 2011, Maureen was named an officer of the Order of Canada for public service, recognizing her contributions to international development, gender equality and human rights.
Frederick Wien
Fred Wien served as Director of the Maritime School of Social Work at Dalhousie University from 1981-86 and then as Deputy Director of Research at the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples heading the research program on employment and economic development.
At the national level, he has served as a member and chair of the Advisory Board for the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples Health (IAPH/CIHR). In recent years, he was the Nominated Principal Investigator for a major research grant from CIHR for the project: “A Poverty Reduction Approach to Improving the Health and Well-being of First Nation Communities in Canada” as well as for a CIHR-funded project on “Building a Social Policy Framework for the Health and Well-being of Mi’kmaq Communities in Nova Scotia”. His most recent publication is the edited book Contested Waters: The Struggle for Rights and Reconciliation in the Atlantic Fishery.
A graduate of Queen’s University, with M.S. and PhD from Cornell University, Wien was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015.