PPF Awards

Check out the inspirational addresses from honourees Anil Arora, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Marc-André Blanchard, Alfred Burgesson, Chief Crystal Smith and Steve Paikin

With a career that spans the private and public sectors, Marc-André Blanchard is the ultimate consensus builder, driving policy change at a global level. 

The founder and CEO of Tribe Network has built a Halifax-based organization to support BIPOC entrepreneurs that’s on track to launch a $20-million venture fund

Steve Paikin, veteran journalist and author has had a front row seat observing and analyzing political, social and economic issues facing Canadians for over 30 years. 

Chief Crystal Smith is the guiding force behind Cedar LNG, the world’s first Indigenous majority-owned LNG project, and a model of economic reconciliation.

After a storied career that spanned all levels of government and culminated as the longest-serving lieutenant-governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Dowdeswell says she has much more she wants to do in the “unfinished business” of democracy

Canada’s chief statistician from 2016 to 2024, Anil Arora modernized Statistics Canada, and found innovative ways to explain data — what he calls ‘the GPS of your day’

"In the barrels of the earth / where Have-Nots drown / the whales stop singing / music in liquid form / pulls you under / the spell of the circulating sea."

“Carbon dioxide removal, or CDR, is a critical activity to complement decarbonization, and because of its huge storage capacity, the ocean is the most likely place that this carbon can successfully be stored.”

“We are building our nation to be a strong community for the next seven generations to come and beyond.”

“What we do in public service is making decisions and giving advice that influences the lives of people. Public policy impacts everyone, and it is the foundation of who we are.”

Raven Lacerte is the co-founder of the Moose Hide Campaign, a national movement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians speaking up against gender-based and domestic violence