Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: Highlights from this year’s finalists

Each year, the Writers’ Trust of Canada awards $25,000 for a work of literary non-fiction that has the potential “to shape or influence thinking on Canadian political life.” This year’s Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing will be awarded on April 20 at the Politics and the Pen event in Ottawa.
In advance of the event, OpenCanada is running excerpts from all five finalists: Stephen Harper, by John Ibbitson; Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry, by Andrew Nikiforuk; Grit: The Life and Politics of Paul Martin Sr., by Greg Donaghy; The Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic, and the Whole Planet, by Sheila Watt-Cloutier; and O.D. Skelton: A Portrait of Canadian Ambition, by Norman Hillmer.
Update: John Ibbitson was awarded the prize April 20 in Ottawa for his book, Stephen Harper.