Tom Flanagan studied political science at Notre Dame University, the Free University of West Berlin, and Duke University, where he received his Ph.D. He taught political science and public policy at the University of Calgary from 1968 to 2019. He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1996. Flanagan is best known as a scholar for his books on Louis Riel, the North-West Rebellion, and aboriginal land claims. His book First Nations? Second Thoughts received the Donner Prize and the Canadian Political Science Association’s Donald Smiley Prize for the best book on Canadian politics published in 2000. His most recent book on aboriginal issues, The Wealth of First Nations, was shortlisted for the 2019 Donner Prize. From 1991 to 2012, Flanagan worked for Preston Manning, Stephen Harper, and Danielle Smith in various advisory capacities as well as campaign manager.

Flanagan’s experiences in politics are described in his books Waiting for the Wave: The Reform Party and Preston Manning (1995); Harper’s Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power (2007); and Winning Power: Canadian Campaigning in the Twenty-first Century (2014). Later in 2022 he will publish a book with UBC Press on the critical election of 1993, which made the Reform Party a major force in Canadian politics. Tom’s main claim to fame is that he is the only person ever to have lived in both Ottawa, Ontario, and Ottawa, Illinois.

Email: [email protected]