‘The Third Rail’ by Jim Leech and Jacquie McNish wins Business Book Award

TORONTO – Jim Leech, former head of one of Canada’s largest public sector pension plans, and journalist Jacquie McNish have won this year’s National Business Book Award.

The two claimed the $20,000 prize for their book “The Third Rail: Confronting Our Pension Failures” (Signal, McClelland & Stewart).

Leech is ex-CEO of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, while McNish is a senior business writer at the Globe and Mail.

They beat out two other finalists — journalist Nina Munk for “The Idealist: Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty” and academic Donald Savoie for “Harrison McCain: Single-Minded Purpose.”

Now in its 29th year, the annual award honours Canadian business-related, non-fiction books.

This year’s seven-member jury was chaired by Roger Martin, professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

Other jurors included Peter Mansbridge, Pamela Wallin and Anna Porter.