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Last year, The Globe and Mail selected investment banker Donald K. Johnson, whose tireless, 12-year campaign for more generous tax treatment on charity donations opened the philanthropic floodgates from coast to coast, as its Nation Builder of 2007.

Now, as billions pour into charities, federal and provincial finance ministers are staggered by what he wrought.

In honouring Don Johnson, we did not just salute what he achieved on the philanthropic front. We also recognized the unimaginable benefits his generation's gifts can bring to other Canadians.

That's what a Nation Builder is.

So now, let's hear from you about who should be The Globe's Nation Builder of 2008. Starting today, you can submit your nominations online at globeandmail.com.

We are looking to honour those among us who have made a special contribution to Canada as a nation. That remains the mission. Others may want to reduce the concept of nation to its common denominators, but we at The Globe are looking for those outstanding Canadians who unify us and inspire us and, in so doing, make us a better people and a better country. Nation Builders, in other words.

Two years ago, we selected Maher Arar and Sergeant Patrick Tower of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

For some, it might have appeared odd to group together a victim of the war on terrorism and a soldier on the front lines of that war. But after sifting through hundreds of nominations and discussing it among ourselves, the editors felt that, beyond his personal valour, Sgt. Tower was taking up arms for the very rights and freedoms that Mr. Arar was so brutally denied.

Three years ago, former NDP leader Ed Broadbent won the award for being an island of civility in a mean-spirited House of Commons and for his intelligent advocacy of electoral reform. While we honoured him as he was about to retire from federal politics, we are not looking at active politicians for Nation Builder of 2008.

Previous winners include Paralympian Chantal Petitclerc, the Ontario Court of Appeal panel that finally swept away the last obstacles to same-sex marriage in Canada, and entrepreneur-philanthropist Mike Lazaridis, the man behind the BlackBerry.

So who is in the running this year?

Will it be Jean Vanier, the founder of the L'Arche network of nearly 200 small homes and day settings across Canada, where caregivers and volunteers from diverse cultures and backgrounds share deeply committed relationships with people with developmental disabilities?

Will it be Erika Heller, who has been battling colorectal cancer for more than three years, but whose storybook wedding in June to Ryan Cornell sent a message of hope to people everywhere battling this deadly disease?

How about Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor? Last year, the issue of "reasonable accommodation" roiled Quebec, consumed the provincial election campaign, and led to the appointment of these two men, whose educative and salutary report contributed greatly to relieving the earlier tensions.

Or Michael Kirby, the former Liberal senator who is one of Canada's greatest public policy entrepreneurs, chairman of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and organizer of a new national charity to raise research money for illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia?

Then there's Carol Huynh, the wrestler from Hazelton, B.C., who won Canada's first gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Before she ever received government support for her training, she had an inspirational high-school coach and the support of her small rural community. Her medal deserves to be celebrated as one steeped in the love of sport.

The country is made up of great people — large and small, from far and wide.

Submit your nominations here . We will publish the best suggestions online and in the newspaper, starting Dec. 1.