Diane Marie Francis
Diane Marie Francis
Doctor of Commerce
As editor of "The Financial Post," the country's oldest and most recognized business journal, Diane Francis is in the forefront of journalism in Canada.
Ms. Francis, who assumed editorial leadership of "Canada's Business Voice" in 1991, has made "The Post" more informative and controversial than ever before. She has also initiated improvements of the newspaper's coverage of financial markets and of investment opportunities, making it the newspaper of record for business, investment and political news, and its "Opinion" pages which often propel the national agenda.
Renowned for her column which appears in "The Post" three times weekly (and syndicated for the Sun Newspaper chain), she also contributes a monthly column to Canada's only national news magazine, "Maclean's." As a broadcaster, she is heard twice weekly on Toronto radio, and is a regular commentator on television.
She has served on several boards, including the Advisory Boards of "The Financial Post," the Canadian Foundation for AIDS research, and the York University East/West Exchange program.
Francis has also released a number of books that are receiving attention across Canada. Her first, "Controlling Interest - Who Owns Canada" (MacMillan of Canada), reveals the alarming concentration of ownership in Canada, where 32 families and five conglomerates own one-third of the country's corporate assets.
In her second expose, "Contrepreneurs," published by MacMillan and McClelland-Bantam/Seal Books, Francis investigates three types of "contrepreneurial" activity: boiler rooms, stock market swindle and money laundering. She argues for tougher laws, better trained investigators and tighter stock market regulation to clean up Canada's "financial slums."
The Diane Francis "Inside Guide to Canada's 50 Best Stocks" (Key Porter Books), takes a positive look at Canadian business. From the 440 companies followed by institutional investors, she recommends 50 companies which she feels are well run, have good management practices, treat their shareholders well - and make money.
Her fourth book, "A Matter of Survival," is about the challenges Canada faces in a brutally competitive world, and how the country is badly out of sync with global trends.
Diane's fifth book, "Underground Nation," explores the dangers Canada must overcome if it is to survive the 21st century.
Her latest book, "Fighting for Canada," begins where the country nearly ended, after the Referendum of October 1995, and explores what Canada's leading politicians and their political parties have allowed to occur during the past 30 years.
Her work as a journalist has earned her an Honourary Doctor of Commerce.