David Patrick McGrane (born October 22, 1977) is a Canadian professor, political scientist and community activist living in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

Early life and background

Born in

Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the List of cities in Saskatchewan, fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina, Saskatchewan, Re ...

, McGrane attended Campion College,

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a j ...

, where he completed a BA in

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

with High Honours (1999). Subsequently, he obtained an MA in Political Science from

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

(2000) and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Political Science from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

(2007).

Academic career

McGrane moved to Saskatoon when he was appointed assistant professor of political studies at

St. Thomas More College St. Thomas More College (STM) is a Catholic, undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a federated college of the University of Saskatchewan. History St. Thomas More College (STM), named for St. Th ...

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

in 2007. He was appointed associate professor in 2012 and full professor in 2020. His research interests are primarily in the areas of Canadian public policy, elections, and political parties. McGrane has authored and co-authored almost forty academic books and articles. In 2014 he published a book, ''Remaining Loyal: Social Democracy in Quebec and Saskatchewan'', which compares public policies in the two Canadian provinces and details changes over time. The book was shortlisted by the Saskatchewan Book Awards in the category of scholarly writing. ''New NDP: Moderation, Modernization, and Political Marketing'', a book on the federal

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

, has been praised for its analysis and thoroughness. It was released in 2019. In 2020, it won the Donald Smiley Prize awarded by the Canadian Political Science Association to the best book written on politics and government in Canada. Along with

Roy Romanow Roy John Romanow (born August 12, 1939) is a Canadian politician who served as the 12th premier of Saskatchewan from 1991 to 2001. He was the leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party from 1987 until his retirement in 2001. He was the Mem ...

, McGrane was lead editor for the 2019 book ''Back to Blakeney: Revitalizing the Democratic State'', which came together as a result a 2015 gathering of academics at the University of Saskatchewan to discuss former Saskatchewan NDP Premier

Allan Blakeney Allan Emrys Blakeney (September 7, 1925April 16, 2011) was a Canadian politician who served as the tenth premier of Saskatchewan from 1971 to 1982. Originally from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Blakeney moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, and worked in t ...

's political legacy. David Moscrop wrote in the ''Globe & Mail'' that the book is “interesting as an historical assessment of an effectual Premier, but it’s particularly attractive as a reminder that Big Politics is a province-building (or nation-building) necessity.” The collection won Saskatchewan Book Award for best scholarly work (the Jennifer Welsh Prize) in 2020. An academic and public intellectual, McGrane has been invited to speak many times on policy issues in the Canadian media.

Community activism

McGrane has served on the governing board of the Saskatoon Open Door Society and has been a member of the Saskatoon Environmental Advisory Committee. In 2016, he was presented with the Labour Service Community Award from the Saskatoon & District Labour Council and United Way in recognition of his volunteer work. Active politically before the 2016 Saskatchewan provincial election, McGrane was chosen in 2016 as the President of the

Saskatchewan NDP The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (Saskatchewan NDP or Sask NDP), branded as the Saskatchewan New Democrats, is a social democratic political party in Saskatchewan, Canada. The party was founded in 1932 as the Farmer-Labour Group and was kno ...

at the party’s annual convention. At the convention, he criticized the governing

Saskatchewan Party The Saskatchewan Party (SP or Sask Party) is a conservative political party in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The party was founded in 1997 by a coalition of former provincial Progressive Conservative ...

for budget cuts to social programs, inaction on

combating climate change Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include conserving energy and replacing fossil fuels with clean energy sour ...

, and giving consideration to the privatization of

SaskTel Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation, operating as SaskTel, is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian Crown corporations of Canada, crown-owned telecommunications firm based in the province of Saskatchewan. Owned by the provinci ...

, a provincial crown agency. On June 1, 2019, Dave McGrane was nominated as the Saskatchewan NDP candidate for

Saskatoon Churchill-Wildwood Saskatoon Churchill-Wildwood is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, Canada. It was first contested in the 2016 election. The district was created out of parts of Saskatoon Greystone, Saskatoon Eastv ...

in the upcoming provincial election. The NDP had lost this riding by 12% to the Saskatchewan Party in the previous election, which was the equivalent of 934 votes. In the 2020 provincial election, with McGrane as its candidate, the NDP came much closer to winning

than in the preceding election, losing by 3% to Saskatchewan Party incumbent MLA

Lisa Lambert Lisa Lambert (born December 1962 in Washington, D.C.) is an actress, comedy writer, and Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway th ...

, a difference of only 259 votes.

References

External links

Academic profile of David McGrane on University of Saskatchewan website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGrane, David 1977 births Living people Canadian political scientists Carleton University alumni People from Moose Jaw Scientists from Saskatchewan York University alumni Academic staff of the University of Saskatchewan University of Regina alumni Saskatchewan New Democratic Party politicians 21st-century Canadian politicians