Dennis Gruending

From the Catalyst, Summer 2017

Towards a Prairie Atonement

By Trevor Herriot

University of Regina Press, 2016

Reviewed by Dennis Gruending

Trevor Herriot is a gifted Saskatchewan writer who has published five acclaimed books within the past 16 years. His grandparents were European settlers on land just north of the Qu’Appelle River, which flows through Southern Saskatchewan into Manitoba. Herriot has staked his literary claim on that region. He has a strong naturalist bent and writes in illuminating detail about what he sees and hears on the ground, and about what has been lost. The prairie landscape, he says, has become one of the most altered on the planet.

From The Catalyst, Summer 2015

Tragedy in the Commons: Former Members of Parliament Speak Out About Canada’s Failing Democracy 
By Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan
Vintage Canada, 2015

Reviewed by Dennis Gruending

Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan run a think tank called Samara, dedicated to increasing the level of political participation in Canada. That’s a steep hill to climb. Turnout for the federal election in 2011 was 61 per cent. Prior to 1993, turnout usually varied between 70 and 80 per cent. Canada is free and democratic when compared to many other countries, but opinion polls exhibit a deep dissatisfaction with our politics and politicians.