Book excerpt: Sylvia Ostry is one of Canada's foremost public servants. She reached the rank of deputy minister of the Canadian public service at the age of forty-five and served with distinction in three different federal departments as well as directing the Economic Council of Canada. She spent four years as chief economist at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, and was appointed the prime minister's personal representative for the Economic Summit from 1985 to 1988. After leaving the public service of Canada, she became successively chairman of the National Council of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, chancellor of the University of Waterloo, and chairman of the Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, where she is currently a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Munk Centre.