2013

Dear Friends, For many of us, the holiday season is a time to reach out to friends both old and new. This is certainly the case at the Public Policy Forum. For the past five years, we’ve asked our friends, Canadian leaders from all sectors of society, what they planned to be reading during this time of repose and reflection. The answers we received this year were as diverse and as interesting as the people submitting them. Some individuals responded with a single title, while others provided more ambitious lists. Some noted recent bestsellers, while others shared their plans to re-read a favourite classic. Their recommendations provide a rich mixture of fiction and non-fiction on a wide variety of topics—enough to satisfy the most voracious bookworm. Attached is the Public Policy Forum’s 2013 Holiday Reading List. A few books appear more than once. Joseph Boyden’s sweeping historical thriller The Orenda; An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by our engaging space hero Chris Hadfield; and David and Goliath, Malcom Gladwell’s newest title, are all popular this year and will no doubt be on many gift lists. I’m eager to read two provocative new books by political journalists, Shopping for Votes: How Politicians Choose Us and We Choose Them by Susan Delacourt, and The Longer I’m Prime Minister: Stephen Harper and Canada by Paul Wells, as well as The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society’s Toughest Problems, by Paul Macmillan and William Eggers, two prominent public sector researchers at Deloitte. I’m also pleased to announce that this year’s Holiday Reading List will appear in the December 16th issue of the Hill Times, in conjunction with that publication’s feature on the 100 best books of 2013. I wish you the most joyous of holiday seasons, with enough serenity to allow some precious time for reading and relaxation. We look forward to connecting with you in the New Year.

David Mitchell President & CEO Public Policy Forum

2013 Holiday Reading List

Jacline Abray-Nyman, President and CEO, United Way Canada • Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead, Brene Brown (2012) • Misfit: Changemaker with an Edge, Andreas Souvaliotis (2013) • If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities, Benjamin Barber (2013) Terry Audla, President, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami • Animal Rights, Human Rights: Ecology, Economy, and Ideology in the Canadian Arctic, George Wenzel (1991) • Sacred Hunt: A Portrait of the Relationship Between Seals and Inuit, David Pelly (2001) • 1984, George Orwell (1949) Hon. John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs • Edward Kennedy: An Intimate Biography, Burton Hersh (2011) • With United Strength: Shaikh Zayid Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Leader and the Nation, Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (2005) Jill Baker, Vice-President, Public Policy Forum • Twelve Years a Slave, Solomon Northup (1853) • An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything, Chris Hadfield (2013) “Chris Hadfield is an inspirational Canadian who has reached out to thousands of students across our country and engaged them in science. This man likely has much to teach us all!” Penny Ballantyne, Secretary to Cabinet, Government of the Northwest Territories •

How to See Yourself As You Really Are, His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2007) • “I read this little book once or twice a year to remind myself of the value of compassion and • kindness in everyday life, and that everything passes. It’s a good reality check that helps to keep• things in perspective.”

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The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2007) Thank You for Your Service, David Finkel (2013)

Alain Beaudet, President, Canadian Institutes of Health Research • Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, David Eagleman (2011) • “I have great admiration for writers who can not only popularize elegantly, but also convey their • enthusiasm for science. I am especially demanding • when it comes to the field of neuroscience, since this is an area I know well. But Eagleman meets my expectations with a simple, but never simplistic, style, and provides examples as surprising as they are potent.“ •

Théorème vivant, Cédric Villani (2012)

Michèle Boisvert, Executive Vice-President, Public Affairs, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec • La liste de mes envies, Grégoire Delacourt (2012) • Au revoir là-haut, Pierre Lemaitre (2013) Patrick Borbey, President, Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency • The Son, Philip Meyer (2013) • Never Go Back, Lee Child (2013) • The Third Bullet, Stephen Hunter (2013) • Sur le seuil, Patrick Senécal (1998) Lesley Brown, Executive Director, Essential Skills Ontario • Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?, Anita Bau Badami (2007) • Forgotten Country, Catherine Chung (2013) • The Elephant Keepers’ Children, Peter Hoeg (2013) Mel Cappe, former Clerk of the Privy Council • • • • •

The Longer I’m Prime Minister: Stephen Harper and Canada, Paul Wells (2013) Shopping for Votes, Susan Delacourt (2013) The Frozen Rabbi, Steve Stern (2010) Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann (2011) Leaving the Atocha Station, Ben Lerner (2011)

Andrea Cohen Barrack, CEO, Ontario Trillium Foundation • Big Data: A Revolution that will Transform how we Live, Work and Think, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier (2013) • The Lowlands, Jhumpa Lahiri (2013)


Paul Davidson, President and CEO, Association of University and Colleges of Canada. • The Orenda, Joseph Boyden (2013) • How We Lead: Canada in a Century of Change, Joe Clark (2013) “I am always intrigued by politicians’ post-political life and the insights they offer about contemporary Canada. Former prime ministers of Canada hold an uncertain place in our public life. I greatly admire the Public Policy Forum’s efforts to honour all of them.” •

Discernment: Reading The Signs Of Daily Life, Henri J. Nouwen (2013)

Michael DeGagné, President and Vice-Chancellor, Nipissing University • The Orenda, Joseph Boyden (2013) “It promises to be an exciting combination of First Nations and settler dynamics, the influence of the church, and a sense of Canada’s history.” Bonnie Dupont, Chair, University of Calgary Board of Governors • David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Malcolm Gladwell (2013) • I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai (2013) Karen Ellis, President, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario • Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis (1954) • “I plan to enjoy my annual reading of this book • over the holidays. As a student of medieval history, I never cease to be entertained by the delightful • • and hapless protagonist - a lecturer in this domain - and his adventures. I still laugh out loud at certain scenes and rejoice at the ending. There is something wonderfully compelling and elusive • about the spirit of this story and its telling. It is a hearkening back to a different era and I can see myself there loving every minute.” •

Decline and Fall, Evelyn Waugh (1928)

David Emerson, Co-Chair, Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee on the Public Service and Former Cabinet Minister • The Social Animal: the Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement, David Brooks (2011) “In my economics training, we created a beautiful world of all-knowing, all-seeing, economically rational people and applied it to the world around us and to public policy. It turns out that things aren’t so neat and pure, and I want to understand the implications!” •

China Goes Global: The Partial Power, David Shambaugh (2013)

Suzanne Fortier, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, McGill University • Lives of the Family: Stories of Fate and Circumstances, Denise Chong (2013) “Denise launched her new book this fall at McGill. Hearing her read excerpts got me hooked. Her insight on the experiences of Chinese families immigrating to Canada opens our eyes to what it means to become Canadian for many of our cocitizens. It will also be a pleasure to remember her voice as I read the book.” •

Les Clefs du Paradise, Michel Tremblay (2013)


Jennifer Flanagan, President and CEO, Actua • The Inconvenient Indian, Thomas King (2012) • Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All, David Kelley and Tom Kelley (2013) • When Good is Not Good Enough, Bill Shore, Darrell Hammond, and Amy Celep (2013) Richard Florizone, President and Vice-Chancellor, Dalhousie University • MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood (2013)

Frank Iacobucci, Former Supreme Court Judge • The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914, Margaret MacMillan (2013) Lindsay Kennedy, President and CEO, Canadian Literacy and Learning Network • David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Malcolm Gladwell (2013) • “The Beggar’s Opera, Peggy Blair (2012) “I have a soft spot for mysteries. In fact, most of my leisure reading is occupied by mystery novels, especially those that examine human psychology and describe a place that I’m unfamiliar with.”

“I enjoyed the first two in the trilogy, so am looking forward to once again enjoying Margaret Atwood’s unique blend of fabulous prose and science fiction.” • •

The Orenda , Joseph Boyden (2013) Civilization: The West and the Rest, Niall Ferguson (2011)

Graham Fraser, Official Languages Commissioner • Emancipation Day, Wayne Grady (2013) “A novel about hidden racial identity. The fact that Wayne Grady’s translation of Louis Hamelin’s book, published in English as October 1970, was nominated for a Giller has sent me back to the original: La constellation du lynx.” •

The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914, Margaret MacMillan (2013)

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Saints of the Shadow Bible, Ian Rankin (2013)

Stephen Huddart, President and CEO, J.W. McConnell Family Foundation • Leading from the Emerging Future: from Ego-System to Eco-System , Otto Scharmer and Katin Kaufler (2013) • Indians Wear Red: Colonialism, Resistance and Aboriginal Street Gangs, Elizabeth Comack, Lawrence Deane, Larry Morrisette & Jim Silver (2013) • The Orenda, Joseph Boyden (2013).

John Knubley, Deputy Minister, Industry Canada • The Indian Clerk, David Leavitt (2007) • In One Person, John Irving (2012) • A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs and the Rise of Professional Hockey, Stephen Harper (2013) David Lindsay, President and CEO, Forest Products Association of Canada • Paikin and the Premiers: Personal Reflections on a Half Century of Ontario Leaders, Steve Paikin (2013) •

Edmond Burke: The First Conservative, Jesse Norman (2013)


Andrew Petter, President and Vice-Chancellor, Simon Fraser University • Journey with No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page, Sandra Djwa (2012) “High on my holiday reading list this year is this full-length biography of Canadian poet and artist P.K. Page. It won the 2013 Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction, along with many other accolades and awards.

Paul Wells, Senior Columnist, Macleans Magazine • Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven, John Eliot Gardiner (2013) • Vaka Moana, or Voyages of the Ancestors: The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific, edited by K.W. Howe (2007) “Wade Davis’s 2009 Massey lectures got me fascinated by the ancient Polynesian navigators. This in-depth study will help me understand how they colonized the Pacific.”

Stephen Poloz, Governor of the Bank of Canada • • •

An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield (2013) Sycamore Row, John Grisham (2013) Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country, Diane Francis (2013)

Shaun Thorson, Executive Director, Skills Canada • Start Something that Matters, Blake Mycoskie (2012) Tim Wall, President, Apache Canada • An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield (2013) • The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg (1985)

The Hon. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario • Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark: The West Versus the Rest Since Confederation, Mary Janigan (2012) • God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It, Jim Wallis (2005) • Paikin and the Premiers: Personal Reflections on a Half Century of Ontario Leaders, Steve Paikin (2013) • The Brutal Telling, Louise Penny (2010)