Examine individual changes

'{{Use Canadian English|date=May 2013}} {{Infobox person | name = Diane Francis | image = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] --> | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_place = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], USA | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{Death-date and age|Month DD, YYYY|Month DD, YYYY}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | nationality = {{CAN}} {{USA}} | other_names = | occupation = author, editor, journalist | known_for = editor, ''[[Financial Post]]'' }}{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2013}} {{BLP primary sources|date=August 2010}} '''Diane Francis''' is an American-Canadian journalist, author and editor-at-large for the ''[[National Post]]'' newspaper since 1998.<ref name="officialbio"/>In addition she is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC within its Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center. She is also Adjunct Faculty with Singularity University in Mountain View California, a Distinguished Professor at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management and has been a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. In 1991, she became Editor of Canada’s Financial Post, the first woman editor of a national daily newspaper in Canada, a position she held until the paper was sold in 1998., She was previously the Editor of the ''[[Financial Post]]'' from 1991 to 1998, when it was taken over by the ''National Post'' and incorporated into it.<ref name=FP/> She has been a columnist with the ''Financial Post'' since 1987<ref name=FP/> and her columns are syndicated. She also a regular contributor to the New York Post, the ''[[Huffington Post]]'', a broadcaster, and author of ten books on political, geopolitical and socio-economic subjects.<ref name="officialbio" /> She is currently working on a science fiction feature-length screenplay with Hollywood producers. ==Background== Francis was born in [[Chicago]], Illinois.<ref name=CCControll>{{cite web | url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/wbin/resanet/itemdisp/i=6363337 | title=Controlling interest : who owns Canada? / Diane Francis (ResAnet record) | publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]] | accessdate=2009-12-28 }}</ref> She is married and has two adult children.<ref>Diane Francis, dianefrancismylife blog, [http://dianefrancismylife.blogspot.com/ Diane Francis' Life], 4 February 2006</ref> ==Career== Francis was a reporter and columnist with Maclean's Magazine, The ''[[Toronto Star]]'' from 1981 to 1987 and then became a columnist with the ''[[Financial Post]]'' in 1987<ref name=FP/> and its editor from 1991 to 1998, when it was taken over by the ''[[National Post]]'' and incorporated into it.<ref name=FP>''Financial Post'', [http://www.financialpost.com/analysis/columnists/DianeFrancis.html Diane Francis], accessed 18 December 2009</ref> She has been a columnist and editor-at-large at the ''National Post'' since then;<ref name="officialbio">{{cite web |url=http://www.dianefrancis.com/bio.php |title=Official biography |accessdate=2009-12-18 |publisher=dianefrancis.com}}</ref> her columns are widely cited, quoted and republished. She also a regular contributor to the New York Post, the Atlantic Council, the ''[[Huffington Post]]'', a broadcaster, speaker and author of ten books on Canadian socio-economic subjects.<ref name="officialbio"/> Francis is Distinguished Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at [[Ryerson University]] in Toronto.<ref name=RU>{{cite web |url= http://www.ryerson.ca/ceooutlook/dianefrancis/ |title=Diane Francis - bio - CEO Outlook - Ryerson University |first= |last=|work=ryerson.ca |year=|accessdate=19 January 2012}}</ref> She was a Visiting Fellow at [[Harvard University]]'s Shorenstein Center in autumn 2005<ref>[[Harvard University]], [http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/fellowships/fellows_former_semester.html Former Fellows and Visiting Faculty], accessed 24 August 2010</ref> and has been a Media Fellow at the [[World Economic Forum]].<ref name=RU/> In 2013 and 2015, she served as a media advisor to graduate student teams at [[Singularity University]] in the [[NASA Research Park]] in [[Silicon Valley]]. In 2015, she became Adjunct Faculty with Singularity University and will participate in conferences and other projects such as mentoring teams in the institution's Global Challenges program. She is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council specializing in the Ukraine-Russia relationship. She has contributed many articles and written a White Paper about the nexus in the region of white collar crime and power that will be published by the Council in 2016. ==Publications== ===Books=== Francis' 1986 book ''Controlling Interest: Who Owns Canada?'' produced "the startling fact that one-third of Canada’s wealth was in the hands of just 32 families and five conglomerates";<ref>HarperCollins, [http://www.harpercollins.ca/books/9780002007054/Who_Owns_Canada_Now/index.aspx Who Owns Canada Now: Old Money, New Money and The Future of Canadian Business]</ref> it featured in Canadian best-seller lists for over a year.<ref>HarperCollins, [http://www.harpercollins.ca/books/9781554683987/Who_Owns_Canada_Now/index.aspx Who Owns Canada Now: Old Money, New Money and the Future of Canadian Business]</ref> Her 2008 followup, ''Who Owns Canada Now: Old Money, New Money and The Future of Canadian Business'' showed that whilst much of the wealth covered in her earlier book had been inherited, 55 of the 75 wealthy families or individuals profiled were self-made.<ref>Vancouver Sun, 16 April 2008, [http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=483a60ac-673e-4103-9415-c29a3bc934d0&k=78266 Eight B.C. billionaires profiled in Diane Francis book]</ref> 36 of these had never been interviewed before, including [[K. Rai Sahi]], the CEO of ClubLink Enterprises Limited, Canada’s largest owner and operator of member golf clubs. Her 1996 book titled ''[[Fighting for Canada]]'' was published in the [[French language]] as ''Maîtres Chanteurs Chez Nous!''.<ref name="officialffc">{{cite web |url=http://www.dianefrancis.com/ffc.htm |title=Fighting for Canada |publisher=archive.org, originally dianefrancis.com |accessdate=2009-12-18 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080121092335/http://www.dianefrancis.com/ffc.htm |archivedate = 2008-01-21}}</ref> In it, she alleged subversive tactics and violations of [[human rights]] by members of the [[Quebec sovereignty movement]] during the [[1995 Quebec referendum]].<ref name="officialffc" /> In 2013, she published ''Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country'', which argued for the economic and/or [[North American Union|political union of Canada and the United States]].<ref>http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2013/10/17/merger_of_the_century_by_diane_francis_review.html/</ref> ===Journalism=== Francis has interviewed, and written about, hundreds of CEOs, billionaires, heads of state, international criminals, Interpol officials, thinkers and academics. These include [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], [[Nelson Mandela]], [[Bill Gates]], [[George Soros]], [[Carlos Salinas]], [[Christine Lagarde]], [[Pervez Musharraf]], [[Angel Gurria]], [[Raghuram Rajan]], [[Larry Summers]], [[Clayton Christensen]] and dozens more. She has also been able to observe and interview the world’s political and thought leaders for 20 years at the [[World Economic Forum]]. She has traveled and covered major news events: the fall of the Berlin Wall; the dismantling of the Soviet Union; the restructuring of the former Soviet satellite nations; the reunification of Germany; the enfranchisement of blacks and election of Nelson Mandela in South Africa; the independence of Ukraine then its [[Orange Revolution]]; the events and elections leading to free trade and [[NAFTA]]; the corrupt elections and the 1994 assassination of Presidential candidate Colosio in Mexico; the 1994 Chiapas rebellion in Mexico by Mayans including an interview in the jungle with its guerrilla leader, Subcommandante Marcos; the dangers and dreams of Mexicans and their smugglers crossing “el bordo” illegally from Tijuana to San Diego; the battle in Colombia against cocaine smugglers; the Quebec referendum battle in 1995 on separation from Canada; how the world’s biggest boiler room stock fraud took place out of Amsterdam and how the world’s biggest gold swindle, Bre-X, was pulled off in Calgary, the Philippines and Indonesia. In her article in [[Financial Post]], published a day after the 2013 [[Center for Public Integrity#The International Center for Investigative Journalists|The International Center for Investigative Journalists]] offshore tax haven US$32-trillion industry story broke, <ref group=notes>In April 2013, [[Center for Public Integrity#The International Center for Investigative Journalists|The International Center for Investigative Journalists]] in Washington, D.C obtained two million emails and other documents regarding offshore tax havens, mainly the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Singapore revealing a booming offshore trade worth over US$32-trillion that thrives at the expense of national revenues. 450 Canadians were identified as holding offshore havens, not all of which are illegal.</ref> Diane Francis described her first job in Canada working for the tax lawyer of Canada's richest individual and industrialist, [[E. P. Taylor]]. At that time, Francis' employer created hundreds of new corporations dividing Taylor’s huge income so that he would pay the minimal small business income tax. She described [[K. C. Irving]] and [[E. P. Taylor]] as patrons and beneficiaries of the offshore tax haven industry. In 1959, Taylor created the world’s first exclusive gated tax haven, Lyford Cay, [[Bahamas]] where [[Arthur Hailey]], [[Sean Connery]], [[Henry Ford II]], [[Aga Khan IV]], [[Prince Rainier]], [[Stavros Niarchos]] and [[Sir John Templeton]] also resided. In 1972 K. C. Irving established himself as a resident of [[Bermuda]], "placed ownership of his empire into a series of tax-free Bermuda [[offshore trusts|trusts]]" that have "never paid taxes to Canada."<ref name=tax_avoidance5apr2013> {{cite news |publisher=Financial Post |url=http://opinion.financialpost.com/2013/04/05/tax-avoidance-becoming-bigger-than-the-u-s-economy/ |title=Tax avoidance becoming bigger than the U.S. economy |first=Diane |last=Francis |date=5 April 2013 }}</ref><ref name=huffingtonpost> {{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/diane-francis/tony-merchant-pana-merchant-offshore-tax-havens_b_3023216.html |title=Why Are We Letting Tax Cheats Rob Canada? |first=Diane |last=Francis |date=6 April 2013 }}</ref> ==View on environmental problems and overpopulation== In a column which referred to the then current [[2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference]], Francis wrote: "The 'inconvenient truth' overhanging the UN's Copenhagen conference is not that the climate is warming or cooling, but that humans are overpopulating the world." She described various environmental issues related to [[Human overpopulation|overpopulation]], and stated that: "A planetary law, such as China's [[one-child policy]], is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate currently, which is one million births every four days."<ref>Financial Post, [http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2314438 The real inconvenient truth]</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580201,00.html Columnist Proposes One-Child Policy to Battle Climate Change] 14 December 2009 Interview Fox News</ref> ==Recognition and affiliations== Francis has been conferred with four honorary doctorates from universities, been the recipient of awards for her work in journalism from organizations, publications, and universities in Canada.<ref name="officialbio" />{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} She has served on the advisory board of the [[Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research]] and a member of the board of directors for [[CARE (relief)|CARE]] Canada, and as the volunteer chair for the fund-raising campaign for [[Ryerson University]]'s community health center.<ref name="officialbio" /> Francis has been a director of the [[Toronto Symphony Orchestra]] in 2008, the Canada Ukraine Chamber of Commerce in 1989 and Ryerson Cabinet since 2011. Francis became a director of Lake Shore Gold Corp, listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges, in November 2013. Francis became a Director of Aurizon Mines Ltd., listed on the [[Toronto Stock Exchange|Toronto]] and [[American Stock Exchange]]s September 2007. ==Bibliography== *''Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country'' (2013), [[HarperCollins]] *''Who Owns Canada Now'' (2008), [[HarperCollins]] *''Immigration: The Economic Case'' (2002), [[Key Porter Books]], ISBN 1-55263-532-5 *''Underground Nation: The Secret Economy And The Future Of Canada'' (2002), [[Key Porter Books]], ISBN 1-55013-612-7 *''BRE-X: The Inside Story - The Stock Swindle That Shocked The World'' (1998), Seal Books, ISBN 1-55013-913-4 *''Fighting for Canada'' (1996), [[Key Porter Books]], ISBN 1-55013-796-4 *''A Matter of Survival: Canada In The 21st Century'' (1993), [[Key Porter Books]] *''The Diane Francis Inside Guide to Canada's 50 Best Stocks'' (1990), [[Key Porter Books]], ISBN 1-55013-218-0 *''Contrepreneurs'' (1989), McClelland-Bantam *''Controlling Interest - Who Owns Canada'' (1986), [[Macmillan Publishers]], ISBN 0-7715-9744-4<ref name=CCControll /> ==Notes== {{Reflist|group=notes}} ==References== <references /> ==External links== * [http://www.dianefrancis.com/ Author website] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Diane}} [[Category:1946 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Canadian columnists]] [[Category:Canadian political writers]] [[Category:American expatriate writers in Canada]] [[Category:Canadian women journalists]] [[Category:National Post people]] [[Category:Women in business]] [[Category:Writers from Chicago, Illinois]] [[Category:20th-century Canadian writers]] [[Category:21st-century Canadian writers]] [[Category:American emigrants to Canada]] [[Category:Ryerson University faculty]] [[Category:Canadian newspaper editors]] [[Category:Women columnists]] [[Category:Women newspaper editors]] [[Category:20th-century women writers]] [[Category:21st-century women writers]] [[Category:Canadian business and financial journalists]]'