In 2006, award-winning author Donald Savoie wrote a seminal book on economic development in the Maritimes: Visiting Grandchildren. His plans were "to exit the field with this book." A decade later, he marks his return to that subject with Looking for Bootstraps. Concerned about the region's future, he sought to explore and explain the reasons behind its lack of economic development. The result will spark a much-needed debate about the future of the Maritime provinces.

Drawing on his past involvement in regional development (senior policy advisor to former minister of DREE; involvement in establishment of ACOA) and on his earlier work, Savoie brings a fresh perspective to an age-old problem and ask the tough questions: Why has the Maritime region not developed as well as other Canadian regions, and what can we do about it?

Donald Savoie is a self-effacing professor of public administration at Université de Moncton, where he holds the Clément-Cormier Chair in Economic Development. His recent books include Governing from the Centre (1999) and Breaking the Bargain (2003). When he is not writing scholarly works, he is advising provincial, territorial, and federal governments here in Canada, the United States, the OECD, and the World Bank. He golfs with premiers, prime ministers, and presidents of multinational corporations. He was born and raised in the Acadian village of Bouctouche, in rural New Brunswick.

Donald Savoie's profile page

• Short-listed, National Business Book Awards

"His latest book, Looking For Bootstraps, gives a brief, but comprehensive overview of the attempts at economic development in the region since Confederation ... Savoie thinks that in terms of political influence at the centre of power in Ottawa, the Maritimes have never been weaker." —The Guardian (Charlottetown, PEI)

"It's only August, but I'm pretty certain that the most significant new book published in Atlantic Canada in 2017 will turn out to be Donald Savoie's." —Telegraph-Journal (Saint John, NB)