Ex-justice minister’s book up for Balsillie Prize

Former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-raybould’s memoir of policy-making in the federal cabinet from which she was famously forced is among the nominees for a new literary prize sponsored by one of Canada’s richest industrialists.

Indian in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power is one of four books on the list for the new annual Balsillie Prize for Public Policy.

The $60,000 prize is sponsored by Jim Balsillie, a former CO-CEO of Blackberry maker Research In Motion, who has used his fortune to sponsor philanthropic work, support the Arctic search for the Franklin expedition ships, create the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ont., and engage in a long and eventually failed effort to buy a professional hockey team.

Balsillie also sponsors the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, which was renamed earlier this year for Margaret Atwood and her late partner Graeme Gibson. Both prizes are administered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada.

The four books on the shortlist are recognized for being “comprehensive and thoroughly researched,” and for advancing policy discussions on social, political, economic, and cultural topics relevant to Canadians, according to the prize announcement. Jury members looked for books that were bold in intent and accessible to both policymakers and the public.

Dan Breznitz, a professor of innovation studies at the University of Toronto, is nominated for Innovation in Real Places: Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World, which the jury members praised for its insight that innovation does not mean invention, and that the challenge for leaders is not to invent but to bring innovation to market more effectively.

Gregor Craigie, a CBC early morning radio host on Vancouver Island, is nominated for his book on earthquake preparedness, On Borrowed Time: North America’s Next Big Quake.

André Picard, a Globe and Mail journalist, is nominated for his book on elder care, Neglected No More: The Urgent Need to Improve the Lives of Canada’s Elders in the Wake of a Pandemic, which the jury members described as “more than a wake-up call. It is an urgent, powerful appeal to the nation and a blueprint for treating all seniors with the dignity, respect, and compassion they deserve.”

The jury members are Samantha Nutt, a Toronto physician and founder of War Child Canada; Taki Sarantakis, president of the Canada School of Public Service; and Scott Young, a digital strategist. They will reveal the winner on Nov. 24.