Raymond Blake wins political writing prize for book on Canada’s postwar prime ministers

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Raymond Blake, a University of Regina history professor, has won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, for his book Canada’s Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity.

The award was announced Wednesday night at the Politics and the Pen fundraising gala in Ottawa.

In a speech, Mr. Blake saluted his rivals for the prize, urging members of the audience to seek their books out to read. “Each of them is a winner,” he said.

He also thanked his wife, Wanda, and his two sons.

Mr. Blake said storytelling is key to the work of prime ministers though there is not always a happy ending to them.

“They do wonderful things in policy sometimes, but they also tell stories that do not relate to the policies they promise to have and never do,” he said.

However he acknowledged the stories prime ministers tell can bring Canadians together, provide hope and create a nation.

Mr. Blake’s book, published by UBC Press, explores how Canada’s prime ministers after the Second World War understood the concept of nationalism and how they articulated a new rhetoric of national identity.

“They promoted a particular understanding of the Canadian political community and national identity that, on the whole, transcended their personal agendas and partisan views,” Mr. Blake writes.

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Mr. Blake, also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, was among five finalists for the prize, which has been increased to $40,000 from $25,000 in honor of the competition’s 25th anniversary. Shortlisted finalists will receive $5,000, up from $2,500.

“Raymond B. Blake’s comprehensive and compelling analysis of prime ministerial storytelling in the post-war era is remarkably well-timed for this anxious geopolitical moment," a statement from the competition’s jury said.

Raymond Blake wins political writing prize for book on Canada’s postwar prime ministers

“This engaging book brings a unique perspective to the question of how leaders leave their imprint on a nation.”

Mr. Blake had a parting word for federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser and Conservative MP Chris d’Entremont, who were co hosts for the gala attended by cabinet ministers, business leaders, journalists and authors.

He noted that funding provided through the Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada was helpful in the process of writing his award-winning book.

“So I hope our chairs for tonight will remember that’s an important organization that needs more money,” he said.

The prize, named after the late MP for Windsor, Ont., and sponsored by the Canadian National Railway Co., honours a book of literary non-fiction that captures a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers and that has the potential to shape or influence thinking on Canadian political life.

Jury members were Jennifer Ditchburn, the president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Research on Public Policy; Sara Mojtehedzadeh, who is an investigative reporter with The Globe and Mail; and Christopher Waddell, a professor emeritus at Carleton University.

The other finalists were:

• The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau by Stephen Maher, published by Simon & Schuster Canada
• Health for All: A Doctor’s Prescription for a Healthier Canada by Jane Philpott, published by Signal
• The Adaptable Country: How Canada Can Survive the Twenty-First Century by Alasdair Roberts, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press
• The Knowing by Tanya Talaga, published by HarperCollins Publishers

The prize was established in 2000 and is presented annually at the Politics and the Pen fundraising event, which has raised more than $7-million to support the Writers’ Trust of Canada.