The Presidential Finale: Barrie’s Own Celebrated Power and Politics Panel
Tuesday, November 3rd 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Price: $15
Presented on Zoom
(Some people are having difficulty registering using a mobile phone, please register using a computer)
The panel will take place the afternoon of November 3rd, 2020, the day of the election in the USA. Moderated by Gerald (Gerry) Caplan, the panel will be challenged to predict who will finally be declared the President of the United States only a few hours later, and are expected to reveal all before TV networks make their official declarations of the victor.
The panel, featuring Barrie’s Best and Brightest (BBB), will also gaze into the future to predict the key issues that roil international waters in the future, and how the next President, whoever he is, is likely to confront them. Finally, the panel will be challenged to debate whether there is any hope left for the world, depending on the results of the election.
Moderator
Gerald Caplan
Gerald Caplan has an MA in Canadian history, with a specialty in American history, and a PH.D. in African history from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He is an author, teacher, media commentator, United Nations researcher, social and political activist with a lifelong commitment to social justice issues. As a newspaper columnist for many decades, he wrote often about American politics and racial issues.
Panel Members
Larry Black
J.L. (Larry) Black, born in Middle Sackville, NB, has degrees from Mount Allison, Boston University and McGill (Ph.D., 1968). He was a professor of history at Laurentian (9 yrs) and Carleton Universities (30 yrs), where he was the director of the Institute for Soviet & East European Studies for a decade, and founding director of the Centre for Research on Canadian-Russian Relations (CRCR), and is now Professor Emeritus. He was re-designated Distinguished Research Professor by Carleton in 2017.
Black also has served as a researcher for NATO, a briefer for CSIS recruits, and consultant with the Immigration & Refugee Board; he is the author, co-author or editor of 55 books on Russia, the USSR and Russian-Canadian relations. The two most recent are Putin’s Third Term as Russia’s President, 2012-18 (2019) and The New World Disorder (2019), edited with Michael Johns and Alanda Theriault. Currently he is under contract with a British publishing house for a book on Russia after 2020.
Myrna Clarke
Myrna attended York University for a B.A.(Women’s Studies) B.Ed. She is currently enjoying being a retired Elementary teacher. Myrna has been politically active throughout her career, running as a candidate for the NDP, three times federally and once provincially. She moved to Barrie years ago from Toronto to work for what was then Browndale Groups Homes and then a short time working for Catulpa Tamarac before marrying and having 3 children.
Community involvement has played an important role in her life from being a La Leche League Leader, (groups to support breastfeeding families), serving on the former Simcoe District Health Council. As well she has been on the Board and continues as a member of the Governance Committee of the Barrie Community Health Centre. Since Covid19, Myrna has found creative ways to continue to spend time with family, friends, and grandchildren Two book clubs help guide her reading and virtual meetings with local groups keep Myrna engaged in the wider world.
Dr. Michael Johns
Dr. Michael Johns is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Laurentian University. He has also held the positions of Vice Dean of Arts, Acting Chair of the Department of Marketing and Management at Laurentian and Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at Cardiff University. He received his PhD from the University of Maryland. He holds a Master’s degree of Arts in Government and Politics from Maryland, and a Master’s degree of Science from the London School of Economics in Comparative Politics.
Dr. Johns teaches courses on International Relations, Comparative Politics, European and American Politics, as well as Federalism and Electoral Systems.
His research focusses on the role the European Union plays in the promotion and protection of minority and migrant rights. Dr. Johns was an instructor for the Ontario Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform, and in 2019, as part of the Canadian Civilian Reserve, he completed his second deployment to Ukraine to monitor the parliamentary election in the contested Donetsk region.
Venue: Zoom (Online)
Description:
You’ll receive the Zoom link from Canadian Webinar Solutions one week (and reminders one day and one hour) before the first session.