National acclaim for book about Canadian PMs
Raymond Blake, a historian who specializes in Canadian history and politics, has received the 2025 Shaughnessy Cohen Award for political writing. Blake’s book, Canada’s Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity, has earned him a prize of $40,000.
Blake’s reaction to the award and the ceremony
The Shaughnessy Cohen Award is named in honour of the late Liberal MP Elizabeth Shaughnessy Cohen, who was considered a trailblazer in areas surrounding same sex marriage and environment protection laws.
In March, Blake was one of five people to make the short list for the award, which is given out by the Writers’ Trust of Canada. He said that he was happy and delighted to be nominated.
“This is not the sort of your peers recommending that you be awarded a prize. But these are people from the Writers’ Trust, it is different. It’s sort of a public [award] and not an academic award,” reflected Blake. He added that it is special to him since academics don’t normally win this award.
Blake is one of the 25 recipients of the award which is given out once every year at the annual Politics and Pen Gala in Ottawa . The time was also opportune for Blake to win the award as the prize amount was raised from $25,000 to the $40,000 just this year.
Blake and his wife attended the ceremony where some 500 people were packed into the Chateau Laurier. Blake fondly reminisced about the time and shared his memories with us. “The person holding the envelope walks up on stage and everybody is waiting with bated breaths. And he opens the envelope like the Academy Awards. And the winner is, and he names the book. It’s a surprise. I hadn’t prepared an acceptance speech,” he said.
He further added that he had around seven minutes to thank everyone he could think of at the moment, but was caught up in the jubilation of winning the award. “I just sort of just made it up as I went along and wasn’t quite sure what I said after. And yeah, it was a big surprise. I was truly surprised, but honoured.”
Blake believes that his book is not the kind one would find on the big displays in book stores and the award is a testimony to its value. He sees this as a win for all his academic friends, colleagues, and students.
“It was a validation not only of my work, but the work of scholars like me who teach young, bright women and men,” he exclaimed.
Brief overview of the book
Blake’s book, Canada’s Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity provides an interesting way to detail Canada’s political climate since the end of the Second World War, ending with the tenure of Stephen Harper.
“Much of my work has been on 20th century Canada. And what I found is that coming out of the Great Depression in the 1930s and coming out of the Second World War […] was about 15 years of dislocation,“ said Blake.
The book outlines how different prime ministers in their era sought to invoke national unity, make Canada an inclusive nation, improve citizenship rights, and boost its status amongst other global powers.
“The book is not a biography but [a collection of] various mini-biographies of the prime ministers. The book is really a thematic approach to how they imagined Canada,” said Blake.
His book starts with Prime Minister Mackenzie King and ends with Stephen Harper. King is one of Blake’s key inspirations for writing this book. In the book, he comments on how King had addressed topics like bringing the constitution home from Britain, changing Canada Day’s name from Dominion Day and establishing a new Canadian flag.
It was a validation not only of my work, but the work of scholars like me who teach young, bright women and men. – Raymond Blake.
He also points out how all of these things which were initiated by King came into effect after his death, which made him ask the question, “Did the other prime ministers also talk about constructing a new Canada?”
“I then began to wonder if prime ministers create narratives and stories, and the stories are not necessarily related to the things they do,” said Blake.
In his book, Blake says that Prime Minister Brian Mulroney did the best amongst other Canadian prime ministers during his period. He emphasizes how Mulroney went against the tide and embraced trade with the United States. At the time, he was criticized for it. “He really changed the discourse; he changed the story[…] it’s been embraced,“ Blake said of Mulroney.
Blake also points out how the recent issues involving tariffs and trade with the USA have highlighted the importance of Canada’s trade relationship with their neighbours. He added that “Brian Mulroney, when Canadians rose up and said, ‘we don’t want this’, he said, ‘it’s good for the country’. He stuck with it and paid the price.”
Blake’s career has been one for the books
Blake originally went to school to become a teacher. He obtained his teaching degree and taught at schools. He later went back to university and got his master’s and PhD in history.
“At university I had some professors who were in history courses. I just found them fascinating and I found the subject fascinating,” said Blake.
He has been with the UofR since 2000 and published 23 books in his career. All his books are focused on some aspect of Canada’s political history. Topics like foreign policy, social policy, and government bureaucracies are common themes in his writings.
UofR recognizes his accomplishment
The UofR celebrated Blake’s award by releasing a congratulatory statement on their social media pages which said, “Join us in celebrating Dr. Raymond Blake, Professor of History, who has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing […] a remarkable achievement that shines a spotlight on Canadian history and political topics that are important to Canadians. Congratulations, Dr. Blake, on this incredible honor!”
