![]() How to Be a Climate Optimist is a self-help guide for the planet and a masterclass in brisk, vivid storytelling. The jury’s citation: “The climate debate is inherently pessimistic, and while Chris Turner doesn’t pretend that crafting policy to slow global warming is easy, he presents a compelling argument: gloom and doom is not an effective strategy. The Calgary author had a message for the decision makers in the room: “If you haven’t solved climate change, you haven’t solved any other issue.” The 2023 winner was CHRIS TURNER, author of How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World (Random House Canada). One of the biggest sticking points at the bargaining table during high-stakes negotiations and a massive public service strike: “How many of DOMINIC LEBLANC‘s relatives we needed to hire.”ĪND THE WINNER IS - The evening crescendoed with the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for political writing, a C$25,000 award named in honor of the Windsor MP who died in 1998 of a brain hemorrhage after collapsing in the House. Out-of-context lines: “NATO is working just as we intended - without us,” said Fortier. “For some reason I’ve been banned from every Loblaws across Canada,” he punchlined. The biggest laugh went to NDP leader JAGMEET SINGH, whose star turn in an intro video included a plea that Boston consul general RODGER CUZNER please foot his grocery bill. Polite chuckles vastly outnumbered uncontrollable guffaws. The odd couple didn’t match the 2022 routine served up by former CTV colleagues MARCI IEN and SEAMUS O’REGAN. The jokes: Treasury Board President MONA FORTIER and NDP MP DANIEL BLAIKIE had the night’s toughest assignment: stand-up comedy to open the show. Where a certain former ambassador and a certain former chief trade negotiator warmly renew acquaintances before finding their table. Where BEVERLEY MCLACHLIN is wandering solo through the crowd at the pre-dinner reception. It’s the kind of place where you hear TOM CLARK‘s booming voice on the way to the bar. This is, after all, a room packed to the hilt with journalists, authors, politicians, lobbyists and assorted (Ottawa) glitterati who embrace an open bar. ![]() Not exactly the lifestyle of the rich and famous. ![]() The truth? Much of the ballroom at the Chateau Laurier struggles with imposter syndrome, desperately searches for somebody they know, and even in some cases changes into their tux in the washroom down the hall. Out-of-touch insiders living up the fat-cat life. It’s the kind of event where the untrained eye might conclude Hill bubble elites are belly-laughing and deal-making away Canada’s future in tuxedos and evening gowns. Well, there’s only one Politics & The Pen. SCHMOOZEFEST - You’ll never have a hard time finding a place on Ottawa’s social calendar to wear a suit.īut a black-tie event that draws journalists, authors, politicians, lobbyists and assorted (Ottawa) glitterati to celebrate the finest in political writing? The scene at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa on Wednesday night. ![]()
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