What kind of knowledge and character do citizens and statespersons need in a flourishing democracy? A dialogue at Congress 2019 held at UBC between academics and practitioners will draw on the experience of UBC’s Institute for Future Legislators to explore how to foster evidence-based policymaking, consensus-building, and ethical partisanship. This will be followed by practical exercises—media training, parliamentary simulations, role-playing—to showcase the experiential and experimental learning and mentoring that occurs in the Summer Institute. The program will end with a discussion of the role of public educational institutions as sources of ideas, evidence, and practical wisdom in politics.
1:30-3:00 pm:
Part 1. A panel discussion with Carole Taylor, Preston Manning, Adriane Carr and UBC Professor Max Cameron, moderated by Kathryn Gretsinger.
3:00-5:00 pm:
Part 2. The summer Institute for Future Legislators: A demonstration of the use of role-playing and simulations, hosted by Gerry Baier.
Speaker bios:
Preston Manning, PC CC AOE, represented the federal constituency of Calgary Southwest in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 until his retirement in 2002. He founded the Reform Party and served as Leader of the Official Opposition from 1997 to 2000. Upon his retirement he established the Manning Foundation for Democratic Education and the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, not-for-profit organizations dedicated to strengthening Canadian democracy in accordance with conservative principles.
In addition to spending many years in television journalism, Carole Taylor has been elected both municipally and provincially, most recently as BC’s Minister of Finance. Carole has served on more than 2 dozen public and corporate Boards in her career. Currently she is Chancellor Victoria College at University of Toronto, Chancellor Emeritus Simon Fraser University, Canadian Chair of the Trilateral Commission and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Adriane Carr is Vancouver’s first Green Party City Councillor. From 2000 to 2006 she served as BC Green Party Leader — a party she co-founded in 1983 — and from 2006 to 2014 as Deputy Leader to federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May. She is the Chair of the City of Vancouver’s standing committee on Policy and Strategic Priorities, the City’s representative to the C40 Women4Climate, a Metro Vancouver Board member and Chair of Metro Vancouver’s Climate Action Committee.
Kathryn Gretsinger teaches in the UBC Graduate School of Journalism. Her career in journalism began in the late 80s when she joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Canada’s public broadcaster. Her documentaries, programs and interviews have been recognized locally and nationally. She works with programmers, producers and journalists as they construct and present journalism including audio storytelling techniques.
Gerald Baier teaches in the Department of Political Science at UBC. His teaching and research interests are in Canadian politics with a focus on the Constitution, federalism and public law. He is a regular commentator on federal politics in national and local media. His past research has explored the role of judicial decision-making in the shaping of federalism in Canada, Australia and the United States. He is presently conducting a comprehensive study of the Supreme Court of Canada’s institutional character and processes.
Maxwell A. Cameron is the Director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions at the University of British Columbia (UBC), in which capacity he runs an annual summer Institute for Future Legislators. His research focuses on comparative democratization (especially in Latin America), constitutions, and the role of wisdom and judgment in politics. His most recent book is entitled Political Institutions and Practical Wisdom (Oxford University Press, 2018). He is the recipient of a UBC Killam Teaching Prize.
Speakers:
Preston Manning, PC CC AOE
Carole Taylor, Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
Adriane Carr, Vancouver’s first Green Party City Councillor
