Empire Life Great Debate: Was Sir John A. the Greatest Canadian Prime Minister?
For the Yays: The Hon. Chris Alexander
For the Nays: The Hon. Bob Rae
Moderator: Steve Paikin, TV Ontario
Sponsored by Empire Life
Grand Theatre, Regina Rosen Auditorium
All seats are $5.00 plus HST and handling fee
The Honourable Chris Alexander, his wife Hedvig and their daughters Selma and Elisabeth are proud to call Ajax-Pickering home. Chris Alexander worked for 18 years as a member of the Canadian Foreign Service. His first posting was at the Canadian Embassy in Russia, and by 2003, he became Canada’s first resident Ambassador in Kabul, Afghanistan. Between 2005 and 2009, he served as a Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. From Afghanistan, he and his family returned home to Canada in 2009. On May 2nd, 2011 the people of Ajax-Pickering elected Chris as their Member of Parliament. On May 25, 2011, Chris was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence. On July 15, 2013, Chris became the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
Chris has also recently published his first book entitled, A Long Way Back: Afghanistan’s Quest for Peace. It explores what has become of Afghanistan since the U.S. – led invasion in 2001 and the challenges that are presented in a country that has not experienced real peace since the late 1970s. The complexity of Afghanistan and its history are analyzed with an overarching hope for a future of reconciliation and prosperity for the people of Afghanistan. It is argued, that this hope, can only come to fruition if neighbouring Pakistan can control its borders and be reassured of its own place in Afghanistan’s future.
The Honourable Bob Rae, a Rhodes Scholar, served as Ontario’s 21stPremier between 1990 and 1995. A Member of Parliament from 1978 and until 1982, he returned to the House of Commons and most recently served as national Interim Leader of the Liberal Party between 2011 and 2013. An accomplished author and public speaker, Mr. Rae served as a professional research assistant while a university student on Sir John A. Macdonald’s Papers in Library and Archives Canada. He is an Hon. Commissioner of Kingston’s Sir John A. Macdonald celebrations. He is the author of four books: The Three Questions: prosperity and the Public Good; Doing the Continental: A New Canadian-American Relationship; Canada in the Balance; From Protest to Power: Personal Reflections on a Life in Politics; and Exporting Democracy: The Risks and Rewards of Pursuing a Good Idea.
Steve Paikin has been anchor of TVO's flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin since 2006. In 2013, he was appointed chancellor of Laurentian University in Sudbury, was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and invested into the Order of Ontario. He has served as moderator of six election debates: the 2006, 2008, and 2011 federal leaders' debates, and the 2007, 2011, and 2014 Ontario provincial leaders' debates. Heis the author of five books:The Life: The Seductive Call of Politics; The Dark Side: The Personal Price of a Political Life; Public Triumph, Private Tragedy: The Double Life of John P. Robarts; The New Game: How Hockey Saved Itself; Paikin and the Premiers: Personal Reflections on a Half Century of Ontario Leaders. He has also pruduced several feature-length documentaries for TVO and holds honorary doctorates from Victoria University, Laurentian University and Humber College.