Herschel Hardin, West Vancouver, BC

He has written major works on both economic and media issues. The economic work includes economic history, political ideology, the corporate world, business finance, business enterprise and much else – all from a critical and independent view. He also has a cultural side and a grassroots activist side. Above all, perhaps, he has deep feelings about what makes Canada a unique place, and has helped to defend that uniqueness with flair and gusto. “Wonderfully passionate, sardonic and incisive,” a book reviewer once described him. Herschel’s work covers the Canadian landscape.
Herschel grew up in a prairie town, Vegreville, Alberta, just east of Edmonton, and went to university in Ontario (Queen’s University in Kingston). He began his career as a playwright. One of his plays, Esker Mike and his Wife, Agiluk is a Canadian classic.