Since 1982, the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation has been telling the stories of Canadian innovators with the imagination to innovate and the stamina to succeed. 

The Foundation was established in 1980 by Alberta Energy Company CEO David Mitchell to recognize and celebrate Canadian innovators of all ages and across all disciplines. Mitchell decided that Canada needed to honour and to support its home-grown innovation heroes. He believed Canadians who turned their creative genius into beneficial technology deserved recognition within their own country.

It was a bright idea and it needed a prominent Canadian who would champion the notion. David Mitchell found the right person in former Alberta Premier Ernest Manning PC OC AOE, who commanded national respect and held a strong belief in recognizing the intelligence of the common person. Agreeing to attach his name to the idea, Mitchell and Manning collectively built a nucleus of highly respected Canadian scientists and business people who became the first trustees of the new Foundation.

In continuing Manning's dinsguished and reputable legacy, the awards program is dedicated to rewarding and recognizing deserving Canadians who aspire to "do good for the common good" - a principle foundation of his life.  His ideals of honesty, integrity and sincerity have since been integrated into the mission, vision and values of the Foundation, all of which are conducted in the noblest manner.