Here’s a look back at past winners and the books that made that year’s shortlist. You’ll also find our Jury from each award season.
2010 Winner
Arrival City: The Final Migration and Our Next World
Doug Saunders
( Knopf Canada)
Doug Saunders argues that migration is one of the most important trends of the twenty-first century, one that has profound implications for the success of local, national and international economies. These transitional spaces [arrival cities] are where the next great economic and cultural boom will be born, or where the next explosion of violence may occur.
Runners – up
Perverse Cities: Hidden Subsidies, Wonky Policy, and Urban Sprawl
Pamela Blais
(UBC Press)
Urban sprawl – low density subdivisions and business parks, big box stores and mega-malls – has increasingly come to define city growth despite decades of planning and policy. Pamela Blais argues that flawed public policies and mispricing create hidden, “perverse” subsidies and incentives that promote sprawl while discouraging more efficient and sustainable urban forms.
Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights
Tom Flanagan, Christopher Alcantara & André Le Dressay with foreword by C.T. (Manny) Jules
(McGill-Queen’s University Press)
While land claims made by Canada’s aboriginal peoples continue to attract attention and controversy, there has been almost no discussion of property rights that have been in place since the Indian Act of 1876, or the ways in which First Nations lands are managed. Challenging current laws and management, the authors propose the creation of a new system that would allow First Nations to choose to have full ownership of property, both individually and collectively.
Le CHUM: une tragédie québécoise
Robert Lacroix & Louis Maheu
( Les Éditions du Boréal )
The story of CHUM, the university hospital centre that was to open its doors in 2005, is well known. Studies, extensions, evasions, new contradictory studies, power struggles, theatrics – one followed the other yet no ground was broken. Less well known is that the project of building a Université de Montréal hospital dates back to 1927. Nearly a century has passed and Montreal still awaits its French teaching hospital. Why does the largest Quebec university and one of the most prestigious francophone universities in the world not have a hospital matching its stature?
Oka: A Political Crisis and its Legacy
Harry Swain
(Douglas & McIntyre)
This book is an unvarnished, revealing narrative of the dramatic events that shocked a nation. Swain provides a robust, frank assessment of mistakes made and lessons learned, and offers readers unsettling insights into how government operates in times of crisis.
2010 Donner Jury
A. Anne McLellan
Chair
The Honourable Anne McLellan joined Bennett Jones LLP after a distinguished career in federal politics, where she served four terms as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre from 1993-2006. During her political career McLellan was Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Minister of Health, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister of Natural Resources and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. As Deputy Prime Minister, she chaired two Cabinet committees: the Operations Committee and the Security, Public Health and Emergencies Committee. She was appointed Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Alberta’s Institute for United States Policy Studies in July 2006 and currently is acting director of the Institute.
Marcel Boyer
Marcel Boyer is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Université de Montréal; Research Associate, Department of Economics, École Polytechnique de Paris; Fellow of the C.D. Howe Institute, CIRANO and CIREQ; and Vice-president of the Society for Economic Research on Copyright Issues. He taught economics at York University, UQÀM and at Université de Montréal, and held the Bell Canada Chair in Industrial Economics in the Department of Economics of the University of Montreal. He was Vice-President and Chief Economist of the Montreal Economic Institute, President of the Canadian Economics Association, and CEO of CIRANO. He has acted as expert economist on behalf of several national and international corporations and government organisations, and has testified as expert witness before various organizations and tribunals.
Wendy Dobson
Dr. Wendy Dobson is Co-director of the Institute for International Business in the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. She is a former Associate Deputy Minister of Finance in the Canadian government and a former President of the C.D. Howe Institute. She is also Vice-Chair of the Canadian Public Accountability Board, a director of the Canadian Ditchley Foundation, Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation and member of the Advisory Committee of the Peterson Institute of International Economics. She participates actively in a number of international networks, including the Pacific Trade and Development Network (PAFTAD).
Kevin G. Lynch
The Honourable Kevin G. Lynch is Vice-Chair, BMO Financial Group. Prior to joining BMO, Mr. Lynch built a distinguished career in the Government of Canada, serving as Clerk of the Privy Council, Secretary to the Cabinet, and Head of the Public Service of Canada. Mr. Lynch began his public service career at the Bank of Canada in 1976 and has held a number of senior positions in the Government of Canada, including the post of Deputy Minister of Industry, and Deputy Minister of Finance. From 2004 to 2006, he served as Executive Director (for the Canadian, Irish and Caribbean constituency) at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. Mr. Lynch is on the Boards of Waterloo University, Perimeter Institute, Gairdner Foundation, Shannon School of Business, the U.K. Ditchley Foundation, and is also Chair of the Canada Ditchley Foundation.
Denis Stairs
Dr. Stairs is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Dalhousie University, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a past-President of the Canadian Political Science Association. The founding Director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies, he was Dalhousie’s Vice President (Academic and Research) from 1988 to 1993. A former Chair of the Board of Visitors of the Canadian Forces College and for many years a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Research on Public Policy, he is currently Senior Research Fellow and Chair of the Advisory Council of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006.