National Network for Equitable Library Service

The Hill Times: Best Books of 2017 As Sir John A. Macdonald intended, the federal government must be recognized as the nation’s voice. Power. It is the capacity to inspire while encouraging and enabling change, and it matters. When handled in a positive way, power is the key to the state’s ability to strengthen the nation and improve lives. But state power, John Boyko argues forcefully, works best when concentrated on a federal level, as Sir John A. Macdonald and Canada’s other founders intended.

The Hill Times: Best Books of 2017 What are the limits of Canadian democracy and how are they being expanded by a revolution in participatory democracy? The Brexit vote in Britain and the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States illustrate that our system of representative democracy is in deep trouble. There are signs of political alienation everywhere. Most believe that government is run by a few big interests. Wealthy corporations receive grants and beneficial regulations. The incomes of middle and lower earners have remained stagnant or decreased.

The Hill Times: Best Books of 2017 Unique views from John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Indira Gandhi, and dozens of other world leaders reveal Canada and Canadians through their eyes. During the First World War, foreign leaders began addressing Canadians in our House of Commons and, ever since, have continued influencing how we think about our role in global affairs.

Defence expert Kim Richard Nossal presents a damning indictment of defence procurement in Canada, and shows how to fix it. Defence procurement in Canada is a mess. New equipment is desperately needed for the Canadian Armed Forces, but most projects are behind schedule, over budget, or both. Not only has mismanagement cost Canadian taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, it has also deprived Canada and the CAF of much-needed military capacity.

A National Bestseller! Canada’s Only Full-Time Political Campaign Manager — 50 Campaigns in 45 Years with 30 Victories John Laschinger opens the doors to the backrooms and war rooms of the political campaigns he has run, providing lessons for aspiring campaign managers, and exposing what really happens behind the scenes.

2016 Ontario Historical Society Donald Grant Creighton Award — Winner A National Post Bestseller • The Hill Times: Best Books of 2016 • 2016 Speaker's Book Award — Shortlisted The first authorized biography of Bill Davis, the enigmatic Ontario premier who carried on a Tory dynasty, but was also a crucial Trudeau supporter.

#1 Edmonton Journal Bestseller! • 2017 Alberta Literary Awards, the Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction — Winner Rachel Notley’s dramatic triumph over Alberta’s Conservative regime was an early rumble before the Trudeau landslide. Alberta has long been seen as politically paralyzed. But it has always been a cauldron of discontent, producing the Reform Party, the Wildrose movement, the modern Conservative Party of Canada, and Stephen Harper. Notley Nation tells how this pent-up energy exploded in an unexpected direction with Rachel Notley’s NDP victory.

An unflinching analysis of one of the major issues of our time — the shift from criminalization to regulation of recreational drugs. The “war on drugs” has failed. The cost of trying to control the production, sale, and use of recreational drugs through the criminal law is too high: unjust incarceration, illicit markets, tainted substances, exploited children, and an untaxed industry. But there is an alternative.

The Hill Times: Best Books of 2016 A new, expanded edition of the first-ever primer on Canada’s Constitution — for anyone who wants to understand the supreme law of the land. The Canadian Constitution makes Canada’s Constitution readily accessible to readers. It includes the complete text of the Constitution Acts of 1867 and 1982 accompanied by an explanation of what each section means, along with a glossary of key terms, a short history of the Constitution, and a timeline of important constitutional events.

A National Bestseller • The Hill Times: Best Books of 2016 This unauthorized biography provides a rare look at the real Justin Trudeau, retracing his steps from his early days to the height of power. Having grown up in the shadow of his famous father, a political giant who dominated Canadian politics for almost sixteen years, Justin Trudeau took many detours before discovering that he was a natural politician, with qualities, such as a charismatic ease with the public, that his father never possessed. Yet to most Canadians, Trudeau remains a blank slate.