2005

$35,000 WINNER

Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy
by Mark Jaccard (Cambridge University Press)

Sustainable Fossil Fuels is a formidable book on an important policy issue. While many believe we must quickly wean ourselves from fossil fuels to save the planet, Mark Jaccard argues that this view is misguided and that we have the technological capability to use fossil fuels without emitting climate-threatening greenhouse gases or other pollutants. Jaccard skillfully delivers a concise but comprehensive summary of global problems of supply of and demand for energy and a survey of the most promising options for the future.

Mark Jaccard is a Professor in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

RUNNERS-UP
$5,000 EACH

Rethinking the Welfare State: The Prospects for Government by Voucher
by Ronald J. Daniels and Michael J. Trebilcock (Routledge)

Rethinking the Welfare State offers a timely, thought-provoking analysis of social welfare policy and explores the effectiveness of the voucher system as a solution to problematic areas in the welfare program. While evaluating vouchers and their implementation, Daniels and Trebilcock focus on major social programs such as food stamps, primary and secondary education, child-care, health care, low income housing, long-term care and pensions. A tour de force, Rethinking the Welfare State is an extremely important contribution to public policy deliberations.

Ronald J. Daniels is Provost and Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. He was formerly Dean and James M. Tory Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. Michael J. Trebilcock is University Professor and Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Toronto and Director of the Law and Economics Programme there.

The Polite Revolution: Perfecting the Canadian Dream
by John Ibbitson (McClelland & Stewart)

In his compelling book, The Polite Revolution, John Ibbitson dismantles the old ways of thinking about Canada's immigration, free trade, social, and defence policies. His ideas for the future of Canada are daring - a major devolution of power and dollars from the federal to the provincial level, a revamping of medicare, a refashioning of the electoral system. They amount to no less than a revolutionary plan for the creation and defence of a new national dream. The Polite Revolution is a stimulating work that will most certainly widen the circle of policy issue discussions.

John Ibbitson is the political affairs columnist for The Globe & Mail. His writing has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Governor General's Award, and most recently, a National Newspaper Award.

Signposts of Success: Interpreting Ontario's Elementary School Test Scores
by David Johnson (C.D. Howe)

In the 1996-97 academic year, Ontario introduced, to considerable controversy, standardized testing for all elementary school students to assess their progress in key subject areas. In his trailblazing book, Signposts of Success, David Johnson looks at the argument that school rankings are based, not on the school's relative success in teaching students, but on the socio-economic characteristics of the community from which the school draws its students, and argues that other factors - that principals' managerial talents, the quality of teaching, and the resources available to the school - also affect students' achievement scores.

David Johnson is Professor of Economics at the School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University

Governing with the Charter: Legislative and Judicial Activism and Framers' Intent
by James B. Kelly (UBC Press)

Since the introduction of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, the question of judicial power and its relationship to parliamentary democracy has been an important one. Some critics view the increased power of the Supreme Court as a direct challenge to parliament. In Governing with the Charter, James Kelly presents a detailed examination of the history, theory and practice of governing with and living under the Charter. Thoughtful and well-written, it is a challenging and serious contribution to a subject that continues to be hotly debated.

James B. Kelly is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University.