On May 10, Politics and the Pen—the first of two major annual black-tie events scheduled for the parliamentary crowd over the next month—will roll out the red carpet for corporate sponsors, politicians, and authors at the Fairmont Château Laurier, exactly a month before the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery holds its annual dinner at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., on June 10.

An important revenue source for the Writers’ Trust of Canada, Politics and the Pen raised $350,000 last year—and more than $5-million to support Writers’ Trust literary programs since 2000, when the trust established the $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. The prize was created in honour Shaughnessy Cohen, a popular Liberal MP for the Ontario riding of Windsor-Tecumseh who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and collapsed in the House on Dec. 9, 1998, tragically becoming the first MP to die in the House Chamber. The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is awarded every year for “an exceptional book of literary nonfiction that captured a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers,” and is sponsored by CN. The fundraising evening attracts about 500 people, including politicians, bureaucrats, authors, lobbyists, writers, journalists, media, diplomats, corporate leaders, and more. This year’s co-hosts will be Treasury Board President Mona Fortier (Ottawa-Vanier, Ont.) and NDP MP Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, Man.).

Six non-fiction authors are up for this year’s prize. Each of the books has received $2,500 as a finalist.

The writers in the running include:

Inuk writer and University of Alberta education professor Norma Dunning for Kinauvit?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother, published by Douglas & McIntyre—“a powerful and masterful story about the government of Canada’s implementation of Eskimo Identification Numbers—the little-known system that identified Inuit through digits on physical discs in place of their traditional names,” according to the jury citation. “With Kinauvit?, Dunning [a 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award winner] balances memoir and information, breaking ground with a uniquely Inuit story that contributes to the broader topic of Indigeneity in Canada, especially in the North. Deeply analyzed and with a matter-of-fact writing style, Kinauvit? is a must-read for all Canadians that shines a spotlight on a vital national story told through Dunning’s personal journey of discovery.”

Former journalist Dale Eisler, who later served as Canada’s consul general in Denver, Colorado, and as assistant deputy minister at Natural Resources Canada, for From Left to Right: Saskatchewan’s Political and Economic Transformation, published by the University of Regina Press and which looks at how “the birthplace of socialized medicine bec[a]me a hotbed of commodity-fuelled conservatism,” according to the jury citation. “In a distinct Saskatchewan voice, [Regina-based Eisler] unpacks a history in which potash and petrol helped tilt traditionally progressive voters toward conservatism. Superbly researched, From Left to Right brings us to the intersection of forces that are fuelling populism on regional, national, and global stages.”

Toronto-based Globe and Mail arts and culture reporter Josh O’Kane for Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy, published by Random House Canada—an “engaging, comprehensive tale of Google’s collision with Waterfront Toronto, a federal-provincial-municipal government development agency, as it seeks to cash in on the love affair with Big Tech,” according to the jury citation. “Packed with insightful interviews and tart observations of the zeitgeist, O’Kane deftly combines analysis, telling anecdotes, and a helping of wit to recount how the romance went sour. The result is a definitive chronicle, leaving behind valuable lessons for Canadian policymakers.”

Montreal-based writer and lawyer Andrew Stobo Sniderman, whose profile of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools—”Residential schools: Survivors share the pain,” which appeared in the Montreal Gazette—won the award for best print feature from the Canadian Association of Journalists in 2011, and Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii), a member of the Beaver Clan from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba who holds the Prichard Wilson Chair in Law and Public Policy at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, for their book Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation, published by HarperCollins Canada. “As Canada grapples with a difficult history of residential schools and discrimination against Indigenous peoples,” the jury citation says, Sniderman and Sanderson “tell a moving story that educates and provides potential paths to reconciliation. Valley of the Birdtail not only elicits empathy, but also moves us to action, shedding a shining light on our individual responsibility to respect each other’s humanity. This is a masterfully written and accessible book which will resonate well beyond Canada as we work toward policies that create a better future for all.”

Calgary-based Chris Turner, a 10-time National Magazine Award-winner and whose 2017 book, The Patch: The People, Pipelines, and Politics of the Oil Sands won the 2018 National Business Book Award, for his book, How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World, published by Random House Canada. “The climate debate is inherently pessimistic, and while Chris Turner doesn’t pretend that crafting policy to slow global warming is easy, he presents a compelling argument: gloom and doom is not an effective strategy,” reads the jury citation. “How to Be a Climate Optimist is a self-help guide for the planet and a masterclass in brisk, vivid storytelling. Turner gives us a crisp, upbeat tour d’horizon of gee-whiz innovation coupled with a strongly argued case that we — politicians, voters, and citizens — just need the will to reach for the solutions taking shape before our eyes.”

This year’s jury included McGill University political science professor Terri Givens, leading national pollster Nik Nanos, and Jacques Poitras, a provincial affairs reporter for CBC News in New Brunswick—all of whom have also written books.

Elizabeth Gray-Smith, co-founder of government relations firm GSD & Co. and lead content strategist at GraySmith Communications who has co-chaired Politics & the Pen for the past three years, said the annual event serves as “a perfect marriage of politics and political writing, and it’s not celebrated enough.”

“Political writers glue together tens of thousands of words to bring us the bigger story and the truth. That’s worthy of a glamourous night,” said Gray-Smith, who first attended a Politics & the Pen event with her late father, Herb Gray, a former Jean Chrétien-era Liberal deputy prime minister.

The menu for the sold-out glitzy soirée will feature such appetizers as charred zucchini, burratini, prosciutto, toasted pistachio and fig chutney, with roasted duck breast confit, and braised mustard cabbage, parsnip and white chocolate purée for the main course. For dessert, the 500 attendees will top their meal with red currant meringue tart, hibiscus meringue and gel, and vanilla bean Chantilly.

Ten guests will each be seated at one of 50 tables held by the evening’s corporate sponsors, which get eight of the seats. The planning committee allocates the remaining two to both an author and a parliamentarian, at no cost to either of them, according to Politics and the Pen co-chair Patrick Kennedy, principal at national communications firm Earnscliffe Strategies in Ottawa. The other Politics and the Pen committee members are Jim Armour, Hardave Birk, Maureen Boyd, Heather Bradley, Dan Mader, and Rob Rosenfeld.

Sponsors don’t get to eat for free, though. They pay anywhere from $6,500 to $50,000—based on bronze, silver, gold and platinum contribution levels—to cover such event-related costs as the dinner and the Cohen prize, said Kennedy, who served as chief of staff to former House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken.

Politics and the Pen is “the largest source of funds for the Writers’ Trust of Canada (WTC),” explained Kennedy, a former board member of the WTC and a Politics & the Pen committee member for the past 17 years.

The leaders of all federal political parties have been invited to attend the swishy evening – and the Greens’ Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) plans to be there.

“I’m one of the few MPs today who remembers Shaughnessy Cohen,” said May, who has written nine books. “She was just such a fantastic and fun and brilliant and irreverent and irreplaceable person.” 

“A stellar event,” where at last year’s, May socialized with a disparate group of guests, ranging from Supreme Court of Canada justices to former prime ministers Joe Clark and Jean Chrétien.

“It’s one of those moments when you realize Canada is really a small village, and we all know each other.”

The Hill Times