Series 19

The last three decades have seen the steady rise of politicians who gain electoral success with platforms that seemingly oppose diversity and equality. This presentation will consider the implications of this development for racism and classism. Its main message is that the consequences of politicians like Donald Trump in the United States, Nigel Farage in the United Kingdom, and Marine le Pen in France are not as straightforward as one might think. Radical right politicians are more effective at mobilizing already existing racism than at spreading racist thought among a wider population. And many of them are at least seemingly

Karina Gould, Member of Parliament, Burlington will discuss her views on the future of democracy in Canada.

Environmental challenges are often framed as purely scientific issues, squarely in the domain of the natural world rather than the messy human one. Especially in an era of climate change, however, dealing with these challenges requires a collective effort, innovative solutions, and a careful eye on how the costs and the consequences of these solutions play out.  Who pays for a move towards low-carbon, resilient communities?  Who benefits and who is left out?  These are questions that a vibrant and transparent democracy is well positioned to answer.  In this talk, I explore the many intersections between environmental integrity and democracy.

Since the early 1970s, some parts of Canada’s political systems have been dramatically overhauled in response to Indigenous mobilization for autonomy and self-government. In other parts of Canada, institutions are stagnant, and change seems nearly impossible. How flexible is our political system? How adaptable can it be to the political goals of Indigenous nations within Canada? In this presentation, we will travel to several different regions within Canada to explore the importance of policy legacies in shaping and constrain opportunities for change for Indigenous nations in the Canadian context. 

We no longer seem to live in a time where empirically provable facts matter. People believe what they want to believe, based on what they hear in their philosophical bubbles. This puts journalists in a difficult spot and the implications for society at large are even worse. I’ll discuss all of this from my perch as someone who’s been trying to convey empirically provable facts for 38 years.

Steve Paikin
TVO Anchor, “The Agenda with Steve Paikin”
Co-host, “The #onpoli Podcast”
Host, “TVO at 50 Podcast”
@spaikin

Focusing on the United States and Canada where populism historically had its roots and in which it is a long-standing political tradition, the lecture considers populism’s contradictory relationship with democracy.  While celebrating “the people” and their capacity for mutually-beneficial cooperation, populism is simultaneously also charged with being deeply polarizing – being both socially exclusionary as well as prone to blaming others for political conflict.

This talk considers how the practice of democracy has been influenced by the process of globalization which swept the world in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Democracy is usually thought of as a political practice that exists in bounded political communities such as cities or countries. However, the increasing flows of information, people, culture and commerce characteristic of life since the 1990s raises questions about the nature of political communities and democracy itself.  We will take this issue on in three parts. The first part considers a definition of globalization and provides some examples of its influence. The

Bob Rae, Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations will share his thoughts on the Evolution/Devolution of Democracy during his many years of experience in the Canadian political arena.