2003

$35,000 WINNER

FIRE AND ICE: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values
by Michael Adams (Penguin Canada)

Can Canada survive and prosper as a distinct society in an era of globalization and technological change, or are we drifting inevitably towards a greater political and philosophical alliance with the United States? Fire and Ice challenges the myth of inevitability and concludes, not only are our preconceptions incorrect, but that values in the two nations are actually diverging. Adams has written an outstanding book that addresses a critical issue underlying many current policy arguments.

Michael Adams is the president of the Environics group of research and communications consulting companies and author of the bestseller Sex in the Snow: Canadian Social Values at the End of the Millennium.

RUNNERS-UP
$5,000 EACH

HIDDEN AGENDAS: How Journalists Influence the News
by Lydia Miljan & Barry Cooper (UBC Press)

Whether it's television, newspapers, or radio, most Canadians rely heavily on these news sources to not only bring them the news, but to shape their opinions about critical issues and to form images of people and places making the headlines. Skillfully written, Hidden Agendas is an exceptional book on an important subject. The authors carefully examine how the attitudes of journalists on issues such as the economy, social reform, and national unity are reflected in the way the news is reported and how their political ideology differs from that of the general population.

Lydia Miljan is a professor of political science at the University of Windsor, Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute, and former Director of both the Alberta Initiative of The Fraser Institute and the National Media Archive. Barry Cooper is a professor of political science at the University of Calgary and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, of the Institute for Health Economics, and of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies.

MISPLACED DISTRUST: Policy Networks and the Environment in France, the United States, and Canada
by Éric Montpetit (UBC Press)

Can governments make good public policy? Citizens of industrialized countries largely share a sense that national and international governance is inadequate and believe governments are not only incapable of making the right policy decisions, but the entire network responsible for policy choices is untrustworthy. A first-class work, Misplaced Distrust is a ground-breaking study of the difficulties of policy-making on the subject of agriculture and its impact on the environment in Canada, the United States and France.

Éric Montpetit is with the Department of Political Science at the Université de Montréal.

THE CANADIAN SENATE IN BICAMERAL PERSPECTIVE
by David E. Smith (University of Toronto Press)

Elegantly written and carefully researched, The Canadian Senate in Bicameral Perspective is the first scholarly study of the Senate in over a quarter century, and the first analysis of the upper house as one chamber of a bicameral legislature. In this in-depth analysis, Smith uses a detailed comparison of upper houses in other countries to examine criticisms and proposed improvements to the Canadian Senate. He sheds light on the Senate's role as a political institution and argues for a renewed investigation into its future. It is a definitive work on a timely subject and will likely become a standard reference.

David E. Smith is a professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Saskatchewan.