In his lecture, Sean Conway, a long-time member of the Ontario Legislature and a former senior minister in the Liberal government of Premier David Peterson (1985—1990), will focus on some of the central issues which seem to be roiling our democratic politics in Canada, the Unites States and the United Kingdom. Among these issues are: increased polarization, the decline of trust in our political institutions, the lamentable state of our political parties, the corrosive effect of money in our public affairs, the new media environment and its very worrisome effect upon our democracy, foreign interference in our elections and the passivity of too many citizens at a time when some issues – e.g. climate change and intergenerational stresses in our society – present unusually difficult political choices. Conway will suggest some modest proposals to deal with some of these problems and will argue that for a vibrant democracy to succeed, the citizen must become more engaged if we are to avert real trouble in our town square.

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Pembroke Ontario in 1951, Sean Conway grew up in Renfrew County, studied Canadian history at Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier) and Queen’s and was elected ‘at a rather young age’ to the Ontario Legislature in 1975 where he served for 28 years including as minister of education during the Liberal government of Premier David Peterson. In 2007 he received the Churchill Society’s Award for Excellence in the Cause of Parliamentary Democracy. Since his retirement from active politics Conway has taught history at Queen’s, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) and the University of Toronto. While at Queen’s, he led a major research project into the public life of the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, the former prime minister of Canada. He has also been a public policy advisor at the Gowlings law firm and an analyst on TVO’s popular public affair program 4th Reading hosted by Steve Paikin. Conway lives in Barry’s Bay and enjoys reading, dabbling in local history and watching U.S. college football.