November 18, 2010 – Calvin Helin launched his new book The Economic Dependency Trap: Breaking Free to Self-Reliance in Ottawa on November 2, 2010 in the Rideau Club. The event was a huge success with participants attending from all corners of the nation. The event follows a groundswell of growing interest in the new book from across North America. The launch in Ottawa was preceded by a speech to a packed house of students and faculty in the Senate Chambers of Carelton University.

Priest, university lecturer, former member of parliament from Aruba, Armando Lampe, PhD, commented that “For parents, social workers, those working in the international development aid, and even for social Christians, this book is a must. It is an inspiration for all to join the author’s battle against economic dependency. The struggle against poverty is a noble cause, but empowerment of the poor is the key, not making them dependent. The author’s invention of the word undependence is a powerful contribution to the debate about the globalization of poverty.”

The book follows up from his six times best selling book Dances with Dependency. DWD was written specifically to make a difference to the horrendous poverty and misery experienced by indigenous populations throughout the world–becoming one of the most influential books on this topic. Importantly, the book offers real turnaround solutions to those seeking to find their way out of poverty. Dances with Dependency illustrates the “demographic tsunami” and how critical the economic prosperity of such indigenous and minority populations is to the future of nations.

The Economic Dependency Trap: Breaking Free to Self-Reliance expands on the theme introduced in Dances with Dependency. It explains the universal forms of economic dependency that impact virtually every level of society and every country. The book describes how economic dependency has flown like a stealth bomber, unnoticed past our radars of common sense, and carpet bombed the most fundamental values and attitudes individuals require to maintain their sense of self-worth and feelings of hope. For the first time the principles of economic dependency have been articulated in a manner that show the devastation caused to families and populations, and the rules that govern its application. Helin proposes groundbreaking, positive solutions in down-to-earth language every reader can relate to.

Literary icon Peter C. Newman commented that the The Economic Dependency Trap does not just suggest reform in relation to the economic dependency trap but proposes a “revolution” in how we approach it. Michael Adams, President of the Environics Research Group Limited and noted author, suggests that this new book builds on Dances with Dependency widening the “…scope to governments and middle class families in the western world who…similarly trap their populations and children into self-defeating cultures of dependency and entitlement.”

The Ottawa launch event was sponsored by the Macdonald Laurier Institute (MLI). MLI is a new non-partisan think tank and the only such organization based in the nation’s capital dealing with the full spectrum of issues falling under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Its purpose is to initiate and conduct research that identifies current and emerging economic and public policy issues facing Canadians. The managing director of the MLI is Brian Lee Crowley. Brian is the founding President of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies and spent a couple of years (2006-08) in Ottawa as the Clifford Clark Visiting Economist at Finance Canada, essentially performing the role of  the Department of Finance’s one-man in-house think tank.