Diane Francis (born 14 Nov 1946, Chicago, Illinois) is a Canadian journalist, author, and editor-at-large for the National Post newspaper since 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. She has been a columnist with the Financial Post since 1987 and her columns are syndicated. She also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, a broadcaster, and author of nine books on Canadian socio-economic subjects.
Francis became a columnist with the Financial Post in 1987 and was its editor from 1991 to 1998, when it was taken over by the National Post and incorporated into it. She has been a columnist and editor-at-large at the National Post since then; her columns are syndicated. She also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, a broadcaster, and author of nine books on Canadian socio-economic subjects.
Francis was appointed Distinguished Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto in October 2007, for a one-year term. She was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center in autumn 2005 and in 2007 had been a Media Fellow at the World Economic Forum for over ten years.
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"; it featured in Canadian best-seller lists for over a year. 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. 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!. In it, she alleged subversive tactics and violations of human rights by members of the Quebec sovereignty movement during the 1995 Quebec referendum.
View on Environmental Problems and Overpopulationmoreless
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 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."
Francis has been the recipient of awards for her work in journalism from organizations, publications, and universities in Canada. She has served on the advisory board of the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and a member of the board of directors for CARE Canada, and as the volunteer chair for the fund-raising campaign for Ryerson University's community health center.
Francis became a Director of Aurizon Mines Ltd., listed on the Toronto and American Stock Exchanges September 2007. In November 2009 she became a trustee for the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.
