Policing, MAID among issues on Writers’ Trust short list for $60K policy book prize

By: The Canadian Press Posted:

Advertisement

Advertise with us

TORONTO - Policing, medical assistance in dying and smart cities are among the contentious topics covered by the finalists for a $60,000 public policy book prize.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/09/2022 (1469 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – Policing, medical assistance in dying and smart cities are among the contentious topics covered by the finalists for a $60,000 public policy book prize.

The Writers’ Trust of Canada announced the five titles Wednesday shortlisted for the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy, which recognizes the best non-fiction book shaping Canadian discourse about policy issues. The winner will be named on Nov. 29.

Contenders include “The Last Doctor: Lessons in Living from the Front Lines of Medical Assistance in Dying,” co-authored by Dr. Jean Marmoreo and Johanna Schneller, a first-hand account of end-of-life care, published by Viking Canada.

The cover of the book
The cover of the book ""The Last Doctor: Lessons in Living from the Front Lines of Medical Assistance in Dying," is shown in a handout. Medical assistance in dying and smart cities are among the contentious topics covered by the finalists for a $60,000 public policy book prize. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

Also in the running are legal scholar Kent Roach’s “Canadian Policing: Why and How It Must Change,” published by Delve Books, and journalist John Lorinc’s “Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias,” from Coach House Books.

Kim Stanton, a lawyer and commissioner to the Mass Casualty Commission investigating the 2020 killing spree in Nova Scotia, is nominated for “Reconciling Truths: Reimagining Public Inquiries in Canada,” published by UBC Press.

Rounding out the short list is scientist and policy analyst Vaclav Smil’s “How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We’re Going,” published by Viking.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2022.

Related Articles

Woman with ALS chose assisted suicide after failure to get more home care from province
Sathya Kovac (Supplied)

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Report Error Submit a Tip

Advertisement

Learn more about Winnipeg Free Press Advertising solutions

More Stories

Scare up some social reconnection this fall

Maureen Scurfield 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I’m an emotional mess. My lesbian girlfriend and I broke up in August, and now I hold the lease on the apartment we shared. It’s a great big old place with two spacious balconies.

I just got new roommates — two younger friends who really love it here — but secretly I’m still feeling lonely. Every minute of living here reminds me of my girlfriend because we decorated the place together and hung out on the balconies to sunbathe in the summer.

Would it help to move out of my beloved old block with its memory triggers? Maybe, but what if I died of loneliness in a new place? I need people around me, and no one but my ex-girlfriend has really been the right person. Please help. I feel sick about this.

— Love-Nest Sadness, Winnipeg

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Flooded farmland along Highway 10 between Minitonas and Swan River, Manitoba. Thirty five highways remain closed weeks after intense rainfall caused destructive flooding in several Manitoba communities.

Dozen of Manitoba highways remain closed weeks after storms

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Preview

Dozen of Manitoba highways remain closed weeks after storms

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Thursday, Jul. 16, 2026

Thirty five highways remain closed weeks after torrential rain caused destructive flooding in several Manitoba communities.

Crews continue to assess flood damage and repair roads and highways as conditions allow, after historic precipitation washed away many routes.

Some areas in the Parkland region of the province received more than 200 millimetres of rain between June 6 and July 1.

The majority of road closures are in the Roblin area. A storm at the end of June undid a lot of repair work in the Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman after an early June deluge, officials said.

Read
Thursday, Jul. 16, 2026
Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr arrives at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's World Cup super G, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Sunday, March 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

Odermatt wins super-G, keeps season title hopes alive

The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Odermatt wins super-G, keeps season title hopes alive

The Associated Press 3 minute read Sunday, Mar. 7, 2021

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria - Marco Odermatt dominated the penultimate men’s World Cup super-G of the season Sunday to keep himself in the race for the discipline title.

The Swiss skier finished his gutsy run on the Schneekristall course 0.62 seconds ahead of runner-up Matthieu Bailet.

The Frenchman was the 2016 junior world champion and earned his first podium result on the World Cup circuit.

Vincent Kriechmayr, the double world champion from Austria, trailed Odermatt by 0.81 in third, a day after he won the downhill on the same hill. Another Austrian, Raphael Haaser, finished two-hundredths behind Kriechmayr in fourth.

Read
Sunday, Mar. 7, 2021
Keegan Messing, of Canada, performs in honor of his late brother Paxon during the International Skating Union Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series exhibition Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, in Las Vegas. The rink had always been home for Keegan Messing. But in the days and weeks after his brother's death, the Canadian figure skater struggled to find solace on the ice. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, David Becker

Messing credits teammates for support

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Messing credits teammates for support

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Friday, Jan. 17, 2020

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - The rink had always felt like home for Keegan Messing. But in the days and weeks after his brother's death, the Canadian figure skater struggled to find solace on the ice.

In a sport that requires steely nerves to reel off big jumps, and the ability to dig deep to push through searing pain, Messing had lost his will.

"It was the question of: why am I doing this?" Messing said. "In the grand scheme of life, it was: should I still do this? Can I still do this?"

Less than four months after his younger brother Paxon died in a motorcycle crash in Anchorage, Messing is aiming for his first national title at the Canadian figure skating championships, and a spot on the world championship team. He credits fellow Canadian skaters Nam Nguyen and Piper Gilles for getting him to the start gate.

Read
Friday, Jan. 17, 2020
Free Press file photo Striking Dynacare employees have been declared “essential workers” by the Manitoba Labour Board.

Essential workers ruling raises questions

Editorial 4 minute read Preview

Essential workers ruling raises questions

Editorial 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Ever been to a Dynacare clinic? Most of us have been. It’s an amazing demographic and ethnic slice of the city we’ve become. Old patients. Young patients. New arrivals. Long-time Canadians. People who know the ropes — others who are startled by the crowds and the noise and the lockstep forward motion of professionals doing what they have been trained to do. It seems, all at the same time, both chaotic and diagnostic, as names of patients are steadily called out and thousands of tests are performed.

But Dynacare is at the centre of a new kind of test and this time, we’re all in the test tube together.

It’s the first real test for new labour law put in place by the government of Premier Wab Kinew in 2024 — a law that redefined what essential services are for provincially-regulated workplaces. Under this law, companies and their employee and unions must have an agreement of which employees are essential — which ones must stay on the job during a legal strike for the protection of the health and safety of the public.

Dynacare had that kind of essential employee agreement with its staff and union — the company and the union had agreed the employees were not essential.

Read
2:00 AM CDT
Russell Wangersky / Free Press Spending more than $3 million a year to move 175 rail cars down 13 kilometres of track seems like an unreasonable City of Winnipeg expense.

Wasteful operations should be held accountable

Barry E. Prentice 5 minute read Preview

Wasteful operations should be held accountable

Barry E. Prentice 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Rising water bills are a top-of-mind issue for residents of Winnipeg going into the fall election. Management of the water and waste system is under question, with citizen’s groups, as well as the Free Press, calling for proper oversight of rates (Time for the PUB to review Winnipeg water rates, Editorial, Sept. 26).

The need to increase rates to build the North End sewage plant is understandable. Siphoning off utility proceeds to make up other tax revenue shortfalls is another matter. But it is not the only questionable practice. If there was Public Utilities Board oversight of Winnipeg’s water and sewer rates, it would certainly be asking why the city is spending more than $3 million annually to operate the 164-kilometre-long, Greater Winnipeg Water District railway (GWWD) on ratepayers’ behalf.

The GWWD has come to the attention of the Railway Relocation Study, led by Lloyd Axworthy. All existing rail lines within the city are under review, as is the feasibility of a new railway bypass.

The GWWD is an example of a railway that has outlived its usefulness and sits on a pocket of land close to downtown that could be converted to higher-value uses.

Read
Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT