Bob McKenzie, Hockey Dad

Move over, Dan Brown! Literally! This unit was cleared of Brown's book, replaced by Bob's book - thank you Chapters!

Hockey Dad had a great time with the morning crew of Team 1200; quite the energetic start to the day! Bob is well-known around Ottawa; it seems that everyone watches him on TV and most of them treat him like an old friend. Of course, he is also one very nice guy, so his popularity is well deserved.

An Honourable Calling

A major snowstorm hits Ottawa December 9, causing already congested roads to become parking lots. But there was a book launch, “An Honourable Calling” by Allan Blakeney, and there was no question but that it was going ahead. So after a while sitting in the parking lot that was the Parkway, I arrived at the National Library & Archives. Of course, the weather held up a lot of people; one gentleman bounced in and exclaimed "Typical Saskatchewn weather!" ....so that explains it, eh? Even Mr. Blakeney himself had a hard time getting there; no cabs to be found, so he had had to walk a good many blocks.
However, as Allan Blakeney's interview began with the Hill Times reporter(only a little later than the planned 5:30 start), the room began to fill up, to the point that more chairs were put out; well over 70 people. Amazing community of supporters, those prairie people, and the interview was excellent. All copies of the book were sold. An impressive launch!

Mini Book Expo: The Way Ahead

Tom Brzustowski is so highly regarded that it seems impossible to contradict anything he has written. Accordingly, I will not write about my first impressions of his book “The Way Ahead: Meeting Canada’s Productivity Challenge”. Just let me state that the author claims this is written “for members of the general public”, but keep in mind that the general public the author seems most familiar with are fellow academics and a large smattering of those in politics. It reads like a university text, complete with jargon and diagrams that are designed for powerpoint presentations. It is not a text for a business manager who wishes to find something about productivity for his business.
The theme, broadly speaking, is that Canada must move from a commodity economy to a knowledge-based, value-added economy. Starting off with a look at Canada’s place in the world, using a few familiar parameters (age, population) with an added focus on science & engineering, we don’t seem to be any worse off than other countries (in spite of the author’s complaint that we do not earn enough advanced degrees). One finds all the standard charts and data, all to say government should expand its role beyond supporting research and sharing risk on some industrial R&D to helping Canadian companies bring new products to world markets. Apparently we have known this since the Porter Admonition of 2002. However hard I looked, I found Canada’s productivity challenge is no different than for any other country, insofar as this book is concerned. What we must do is what any country must do to keep abreast internationally and it appears that we are doing ok. Even where the author claims there is a problem, it seems to evaporate. Take this example, following on from the above quote:
“…substantial differences arise only when we look at the ways in which university research is connected with wealth creation” and so we do, and we find “the Canadian record for commercializing inventions resulting from basic research is good” (p107). So, in fact, what we are dealing with is not a problem, but a desire to increase what we are already doing. It is high-level, stating Canada needs more of what it already does in areas such as R&D and “the government must do something about this”. I am sure the author did not mean to leave that impression, but that statement concerned me, because we hear that all too often, and it is not a statement that inspires action. It is expecting someone else to do something, and you know, that is a productivity problem right there.

Anthony De Sa

Anthony was absolutely wonderful - I believe all who met him were enchanted.
A fun day promoting Barnacle Love, but boy was it busy! We started very early at Lapointe's in the west end and chatted with not only Angie Poirier, the host, but also the camera crew. We then dropped into Lisbon Bakery, where Anthony ordered lots of custard tarts to give as “thank yous” as we visited locations (and he did, I am sure the Chapters staff never had that happen before). The bakery owner, Maria, was absolutely thrilled and asked us to return later so she could get a photo and have him sign her book. I had given her a copy some weeks ago to encourage her to be on A Channel; she backed out, and so did the fish wholesaler. Anthony said he was not surprised, that Portuguese people did not like to draw attention to themselves.
While Anthony was at Rogers, I drove back to Lisbon Bakery. Maria said the tarts were still too hot and I had to come back - with Anthony. When we returned, she was on the phone with a cousin, and handed the phone to Anthony, asking him to talk to her cousin "she does not believe it is you"...he was treated like a celebrity! Maria then refused to take any money for the tarts. I felt badly, she would not be convinced.
We stopped in to Collected Works and on an impulse, Anthony asked if we could go into Muriel Dombret's. He loves shopping, he was very funny about his knowledge of Starbucks (Oh, stick with me, honey, you have so much to learn!). Anyway, he wanted to buy something for his wife. It seemed fitting that Anthony quickly discovered that the salesperson was Portuguese - I mean, really, what are the odds? So, they chatted away and we walked out with a lovely dress(I would have bought it for myself).
We went to the Portuguese Embassy at noon for a meeting with Ambassador Corvalho. Photographs I took will be published in the July edition of Diplomat & International Canada. I took one of Anthony beside a traditional portrait of 3 Portuguese women. I had to reassure the ambassador I would not provide this for publication; he did not want to promote this view of Portugal; he photo he requested is one with a shot of an airport behind; a more modern view, he said.
Anthony was a featured writer at Writersfest that evening; even without tarts, he charmed the audience!

Alex Rose

Alex Rose was in Ottawa May 27 to promote Who Killed the Grand Banks?. Not a good title, it is about more than the cod, which is why his message should be getting out there. A ½ hour scheduled interview with Hill Times actually lasted almost 1 hour.
CPAC, again, did a great interview. What are we going to do without Ken Rockburn?
Alex Rose was wonderfully friendly and knowledgeable; it was a real pleasure to work with him. The issues he writes about should gain more exposure, as I suspect they will. It is unnerving to think about the destruction of our natural resources; even more unnerving to discover that most people really don't care so long as they can buy shrimp (regardless of its origin) and battered cod at Loblaws. The disconnect is amazing. I am pleased to report that we have been exchanging information and he appears to be getting more coverage on the west coast.
Oh yeah, sonnet 94...one of the discussions one can get into...lots of fun!

Michelle Shephard

Michelle Shephard is absolutely darling and I have to admit that I found her book Guantanamo's Child an excellent read. She maintained her journalistic objectivity as she told the story of Omar Khadr. In person, however, she was able to reveal a little more about what it was like to deal with the Americans, the Khadr family, etc. It was also hard to believe that after all this, she still was unable to meet Omar in person. What he is like now, whether the damage done is permanent, whether he will ever be free or if he even should be, are all big questions still far from being resolved.
Michelle was interviewed by Embassy Magazine before she arrived in Ottawa April 16. The interviewer from Hill Times was from Pakistan so was very interested in speaking with her. The CPAC interview was excellent; the discussion was very intelligent – and with a touch of humour (if you can imagine).
There were about 100 people at Writersfest to hear Michelle interviewed by Adrian Harewood (rather ironic that his producer had not scheduled her for his show that day, the offer was certainly made). Michelle is a lively, friendly and warm person who was fun to be with and she was a hit at the festival.
Hugs and an invitation to visit when in Toronto.

Richard Heinzl

Richard Heinzl was in Ottawa to promote his book Cambodia Calling 26 March.

Richard’s day started with a radio interview at CHIN. The interview ran over ½ hour, which was the case for every interview we had. We met the new station manager, who discussed with Richard the various ethnic divisions they catered to; he wished to set up an interview with Richard in their Toronto studio.

Richard was interviewed by Lee Berthiaume from Embassy Magazine. Lee started the interview by announcing that he had been in Cambodia and so just HAD to have this interview. Accordingly, the interview went very well.

Ken Rockburn was his usual professional self; it was a great interview. I took a photo of the makeup process for Richard to show his sons (see, this is what you do on a book tour!)

The interviewer at The Charlatan newspaper was very well prepared, having a load of questions from her reading of the book. And, Richard was very relaxed - more photos taken, this time of him playing darts while chatting away.

A final photo was taken at Chapters, where we ran into photographer John W. MacDonald, who ensured I took a great photo of Richard signing his books.

Great guy, with interesting stories and a fabulous hideaway home down south.