A Lioness in Winter

Throughout its history Canada has been fortunate to have had a handful of public servants who profoundly influenced international institutions and earned lasting international stature. Dr. Sylvia Ostry, statistician, economist, trade negotiator, is one of them. Now in her eighth decade, Sylvia remains one of the country’s (and the world’s) leading policy experts, despite the brain aneurysm that nearly destroyed her in September 2002. This year, two books have been published in her honour by McGill-Queen’s University Press: The Sterling Public Servant: A Global Tribute to Sylvia Ostry, edited by Jacob Ryten, and At the Global Crossroads: The Sylvia Ostry Foundations Lectures, six lectures given annually in her name in previous years to explore the global economy. What follows is a personal tribute from a friend and colleague.

I first met Sylvia Ostry in late 1984, shortly after my...