Jury Citation

“In Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1968-2000, John English paints an unflinching, fully human portrait of an extraordinary Canadian in the later decades of his life. Drawing upon previously inaccessible materials, English deepens our understanding of the private, as well as the public, life of Pierre Trudeau as he fought to hold Canada together, to carve out a foreign policy consistent with his values, then finally, in old age, to survive the sudden death of a beloved son. Just Watch Me is a magisterial work of art. John English’s ability to convey meaning through descriptive imagery and close observation sets a new literary standard for Canadian political biography.“ -- 2009 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing Jury (Andrew Nikiforuk, Erna Paris, and Michael Petrou)