Effective citizens--engaged, knowledgeable, and persistent, and united in common cause--are the most powerful force that ever was, or ever will be. I hope this book will help citizens to be more effective.

In his uniquely straightforward and accessible style, Political insider Graham Steele pulls back the curtain on our political system and gives readers a look inside. A lawyer, analyst, former Nova Scotia cabinet minister, and author of the Globe & Mail bestselling memoir What I Learned About Politics, Steele answers the burning questions of Canadians: Who really runs the parties? What does a backbencher do? How does a citizen effectively navigate the system, and achieve change through a politician? What is "truthiness?"

A primer for anyone who wants to become a politician or influence one, The Effective Citizen explains how politicians think and what factors influence that thinking; how to interpret the "non-answer" in political speech; and acknowledges that in politics, "bland is safe." Ideal for political neophytes and junkees all the same, Steele's newest book will have the whole country talking.

Graham Steele was a member of the Nova Scotia legislature from 2001 to 2013. He was the minister of finance and minister of Acadian affairs (2009-2012) and minister of economic and rural development and tourism (2013) in the Dexter government. Graham is now heard regularly as a Nova Scotia political analyst for CBC. He is a Rhodes Scholar and originally from Winnipeg. The author of What I Learned About Politics, nominated for the 2015 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the 2015 Evelyn Richardson Award for Nonfiction, he lives in Halifax.

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