Vass Bednar
Vass Bednar works at the intersection of technology and public policy. In 2020 she co-founded the Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program at McMaster University where she also taught courses on policy design. She is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a fellow at the Public Policy Forum, and an advisor to both the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project and Social Capital Partners. Bednar writes for the The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business focusing on the policies, technologies, and corporate forces that shape our everyday lives and economic futures. She is managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute and lives in Ancaster, Ontario.
Writers & Books
Award History
2025 - Finalist
Balsillie Prize for Public Policy
forThe Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians
Jury Citation
“The Big Fix is a timely, compelling, and sobering read about the dangers of increasing corporate consolidation across Canada. Denise Hearn and Vass Bednar take a hard and thoughtful look at the impact these large-scale monopolies are having on the lives, choices, and pocketbooks of Canadians, and how it is stifling both competition and innovation within the country’s economy. As power and wealth are ever more tightly controlled by a handful of companies and their families (in the manner of a royal kingdom rather than a parliamentary democracy), The Big Fix offers a compelling call to action to protect Canadian consumers and workers from a system that increasingly puts private profit ahead of public interest.”—2025 Balsillie Prize jury (Samantha Nutt, Taki Sarantakis, and Scott Young)Works Recognized by WT