Twelve years from now, Canada could be a vastly different place from what it is today. Will the country still play a role in the United Nations? Will its citizens face tough environmental restrictions? How will we relate to our southern neighbours? Will Canada still be a democracy? In Canada in 2020: Twenty Leading Voices Imagine Canada’s Future , twenty of Canada’s leading commentators—including David Suzuki, Irshad Manji, John Ralston Saul, Jennifer Welsh, Mark Kingwell, and Neil Bissondath—explore the ways in which this country is likely to change (or not) over the coming decades. Daniel Stoffman imagines Toronto as the Sao Paulo of the north, the result of a poorly managed immigration policy. Chantal Hébert paints a picture of Canada without Quebec. Andrew Cohen envisions a country in which Ottawa has become merely a symbol, and in which Canada Day has given way to People’s Day. Jennifer Welsh puts forth a plan to remedy Canada’s diminishing international stature. Originally published as an editorial series in La Presse and The Toronto Star , the essays are collected here, some in expanded and revised form, to offer an often controversial and always compelling portrait of Canada’s future.

Author Bio

Rudyrad Griffiths is a columnist with the Toronto Star and a regular political commentator for CityTV. He is also the founder and executive director of the Dominion Institute-a national non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of history and shared citizenship. In 2006, The Globe and Mail recognized him as one of Canada’s top 40 Under 40. He has edited or contributed seven books.

 Now in paperback, The Life of Yousuf Karsh: Portrait in Light and Shadow tells, for the first time ever, the full story of how a young Armenian immigrant living in Ottawa in the 1930s became the most prominent portrait photographer of the twentieth century. In this groundbreaking biography, acclaimed writer and historian Maria Tippett reveals the consummate skill with which Yousuf Karsh (1908–2002) built and maintained his reputation over six decades. With each photograph he took, he relied not only on brilliant mastery of the camera and behind-the scenes technique but also on gracious manners and shrewd psychological insight into human nature.

Noted for her assiduous research in crafting widely admired biographies of Canadian artists like Emily Carr, Group of Seven artist F. H. Varley, and Bill Reid, Tippett was granted unprecedented access to the private section of the extensive Karsh archives by Karsh’s widow and interviewed numerous family members and former colleagues of Karsh while writing this revelatory life. Photographs by Karsh, including such iconic figures as Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Elizabeth Taylor, Pablo Picasso, John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and Bill and Hillary Clinton, are featured throughout the book.

Tim Lilburn has long been recognized for his ability to explore issues of ecology from a variety of viewpoints — philosophical, moral, ethical, even poetic. This new collection expands on his thoughts in surprising and enlightening ways, concentrating on how we relate (often uneasily) to our physical landscape in Canada and the United States. “Going Home” is especially timely in a world where the whole of North America is waking up to the fact that our “home” is endangered because of how we live in it.

Published to rave reviews, with weeks on the bestseller lists and a place as a Globe and Mail Book of the Year, October is an extraordinary meditation on mortality and memory, from Governor General’s Award–winning author Richard B. Wright. 

Visiting his gravely ill daughter, James Hillyer encounters by chance Gabriel Fontaine, whom he met as a boy while on holiday in Gaspé. At the time, the boys had competed for the love of a French-Canadian girl from the village. Now, over six decades later and faced with the terrible possibility of outliving his own daughter, James is asked by Gabriel to accompany him on a final, unthinkable journey.

With superb storytelling, spare writing and characters who feel as real and familiar as old friends, Richard B. Wright weaves a haunting classic of a man searching for answers in the autumn of his life.

Author Bio
RICHARD B. WRIGHT is the author of 11 novels, including Clara Callan, a #1 national bestseller that won the Giller Prize, the Governor General�s Award for Fiction, the Trillium Book Award and the CBA Libris Awards for Book of the Year and for Author of the Year. He has been awarded the Order of Canada. Richard B. Wright lives in St. Catharines, Ontario, with his wife, Phyllis.

Long a charged topic in the West, Islam has become incendiary since 9/11, drawing heated reactions from both defenders and critics. The two sides rarely talk, and when they try neither seems to listen. Equally helpful for Muslims and non-Muslims, this book is a cross-cultural attempt to bridge these worlds. Based on the author’s travels in Muslim lands and his interviews with experts, “Being Muslim” examines the impact of terrorism on Muslims and explains how Islam works in the daily lives of believers. Siddiqui dissects the Western media’s treatment of Islam and Muslims, shows how extremists are being challenged by a new Islamic generation, and tackles the controversial topics, from terrorism to the treatment of women, that have been used to mischaracterize Islam and its adherents. “Being Muslim” also shows why there are good reasons to expect a future of mutual understanding. Charts, a glossary, and suggestions for further reading accompany the text.

Another blockbuster from one of the world’s foremost environmental historians. Pyne is a master of rich detail married to grand narrative, and Canada provides a huge subject worthy of those talents.

Stephen J. Pyne is one of the world’s foremost chroniclers of the cultural and environmental history of fire. He is the author of the Cycle of Fire series.

Monster wildfires in Australia, January golfers in PEI, ruined fruit crops in California, snowless ski runs in Switzerland, starving polar bears in the North, devastated trees in Stanley Park. Climate change is no longer a vague threat. The climate change we are in store for over the next few centuries will be larger and occur faster than at any time in the last 10,000 years. Brilliantly researched, Keeping Our Cool is a comprehensive and engaging examination and explanation of global warming, with a specific emphasis on climate change in Canada. In an engaging and accessible way, Weaver explains the levels of greenhouse gas emissions needed to stabilize the climate and offers solutions and a path toward a sustainable future.

We know by now that Scaredy Squirrel only feels safe when he’s at home in his nut tree, with his defenses, his emergency kit and his back–up plans at the ready. So even though the sun is shining and it’s time for a vacation, Scaredy does not want to go to the beach — that vast, frightening place where a squirrel could get stranded. (Not to mention other hazards such as sea monsters, falling coconuts, seagulls, pirates and lobsters.) Instead, Scaredy builds his own safe beach getaway under his nut tree, complete with germ-free inflatable pool, artificial beach scenery, a flashlight and a plastic flamingo. Still, the lure of the genuine beach is strong — even a dedicated homebody such as Scaredy can’t resist it forever. Can his back–up plans save him from its perils? Will his No.65 sunscreen protect his delicate complexion?

On a recent Vancouver Sunday afternoon, a young man stumbles upon a secret sport invented more than a century before, at the birth of his city. Thus begins The Man Game, Lee Henderson’s epic tale of loved requited and not, that crosses the contemporary and historical in an extravagant, anarchistic retelling of the early days of a pioneer town on the edge of the known world.

In 1886, out of the smouldering ashes of the great fire that destroyed much of the city,Molly Erwagen—former vaudeville performer—arrives from Toronto with her beloved husband, Samuel, to start a new life. Meanwhile, Litz and Pisk, two lumberjacks exiled after the fire, and blamed for having started it, are trying to clear their names. Before long, they’ve teamed up with Molly to invent a new sport that will change the course of that fledgling city’s history.