TORONTO, March 29 /CNW/ - The finalists for the 2006/2007 Donner Prize, the award for best book on Canadian public policy, were announced today by Allan Gotlieb, Chairman of the Donner Canadian Foundation. Mr. Gotlieb said, "Last year, the Toronto Star wrote 'Donner-winning books tend to have far-reaching influence on government and industry.' This year's first-rate group of finalists all tackle key issues that we hope will have policy makers taking notice."
This year's three shortlisted books were chosen from a field of 65 submissions. The titles skillfully tackle challenging public policy issues ranging from Canada's foreign policy, to economic development in the Maritimes, to exchange rate politics. Our three finalists stood head-and-shoulders above the rest for providing stimulating insight into three very diverse topics.
Jury Chairman Grant Reuber remarked, "As a jury, our intention has always been to find good books that can appeal to a wider audience and thus have a greater impact on public policy and the people who make it. This year's shortlist easily met the criteria and will no doubt contribute to ongoing
policy debate on their respective topics."
The Donner Prize was established in 1998 to recognize and reward the best public policy thinking, writing and research in Canada. The winner of this year's Donner Prize will be announced at an awards ceremony in Toronto on Wednesday, April 25, 2007. The winner will receive $35,000, with $5,000 awarded to each of the other finalists.
This year's finalists are:
Towards North American Monetary Union? The Politics and History of Canada's Exchange Rate Regime by Eric Helleiner (McGill-Queen's University Press)
Dreamland: How Canada's Pretend Foreign Policy Has Undermined Sovereignty by Roy Rempel (Breakout Educational Network)
Visiting Grandchildren: Economic Development in the Maritimes by Donald J. Savoie (University of Toronto Press)
The 2006/2007 Donner Prize Shortlist
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Towards North American Monetary Union? The Politics and History of Canada's Exchange Rate Regime by Eric Helleiner (McGill-Queen's University Press)
Many believe that Canada's deepening economic integration with the United States and the worldwide trend towards currency blocs will eventually lead to a North American monetary union. In this excellent analysis of Canadian exchange rate politics, Eric Helleiner challenges this view and finds little support in the U.S. for the concessions that would be necessary to make a North American monetary union palatable in Canada. Towards North American Monetary Union? is a fascinating book that explores Canada's unusually strong commitment throughout the twentieth century to a floating exchange rate for its national currency - a commitment that Heilleiner argues is likely to endure.
Eric Helleiner is CIGI Chair in International Governance in the Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo. He is the author of several books, including States and the Re-emergence of Global Finance and The Making of National Money: Territorial Currencies in Historical Perspective.
Dreamland: How Canada's Pretend Foreign Policy Has Undermined Sovereignty by Roy Rempel (Breakout Educational Network)
In Dreamland, Roy Rempel argues that the past decade has been marked by an ideological and domestically driven foreign policy agenda that has lost sight of the national interest. As a consequence, Canada's policy options are narrowing, national sovereignty is eroding, and the country risks evolving into a protectorate of the United States. Dreamland is a provocative and bracing book that analyzes how Canada's foreign policy has subverted the myths that Canadians believe about themselves and their place in the world. It provides not only a well-aimed barrage of criticism of Canadian foreign policy in recent times, but also a well-reasoned plan for an alternative approach. Roy Rempel taught international relations for four years at Memorial University in Newfoundland. He was also a foreign and defence policy advisor on Parliament Hill and currently works as a policy advisor in the minister's office for the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
Visiting Grandchildren: Economic Development in the Maritimes by Donald J. Savoie (University of Toronto Press)
In Visiting Grandchildren, esteemed policy analyst and scholar Donald J. Savoie explores how Canadian economic policies have served to exclude the Maritime provinces from the wealth enjoyed in many other parts of the country, especially southern Ontario, and calls for a radical new approach to how Canadian governments determine policies that affect different regions. Well-written and comprehensive, Visiting Grandchildren looks to history, accidents of geography, and to the workings of national political and administrative institutions to explain the relative underdevelopment of the Maritime provinces. Savoie's work serves as the blueprint for a new way of envisioning the Maritime region. Donald J. Savoie holds a Canada Research Chair in Public Administration and Governance at l'Université de Moncton.Two of his previous books were shortlisted for the Donner Prize: Governing from the Centre (2000) and Pulling Against Gravity: Economic Development in New Brunswick (2001).