From prof to publisher of award-winning public policy book

Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Paul Emond wears many hats, but it’s his publishing business that has grabbed the limelight recently.

On May 1, it was announced that Democratizing the Constitution: Reforming Responsible Government by Peter Aucoin, Mark Jarvis and Lori Turnbull, and published by Emond Montgomery Publications, had won the $50,000 Donner Prize for the best public policy book in 2011 by a Canadian.

Paul Emond

Emond, who is the director of Osgoode’s Professional Master of Laws in Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, founded Emond Montgomery Publications Limited in 1978 with Ann Montgomery and developed it into one of Canada’s top academic publishers.

What started with Emond’s idea to build better teaching materials for Canadian law students, “led to a company that has not only become a leading a voice in Canadian academic and school publishing, but a strong voice in stimulating public policy debate in Canada,” he said in an e-mail message.

The winner of the Donner Prize was chosen from an impressive list of 58 submissions and a shortlist of four by the distinguished five-member jury comprised of:  A. Anne McLellan, former MP and distinguished scholar in residence to the University of Alberta at the Institute for United States Policy Studies (Jury Chair); Wendy Dobson, professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and director of the Institute for International Business; Kevin Lynch, Canadian economist and former clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the Cabinet, who is now chair of BMO Financial Group; Marcel Boyer, Bell Canada Professor of industrial economics at the University of Montreal;  and Denis Stairs, professor emeritus in political science and a Faculty Fellow of the Centre of Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University.

The Donner Prize jury described Democratizing the Constitution as “an important and timely book — one that calls into question the legitimacy of our most fundamental institutions of democracy.”  Aucoin, who died last July, was professor emeritus of political science and public administration at Dalhousie University. Mark Jarvis is a doctoral candidate at the University of Victoria, and Lori Turnbull is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Dalhousie University.

The Donner Prize, established in 1998, annually rewards excellence and innovation in Canadian public policy thinking, writing and research in Canada. In bestowing this award, the Donner Canadian Foundation seeks to broaden policy debates, increase general awareness of the importance of policy decision making and make an original and meaningful contribution to policy discourse.