By Cecilia Nasmith
A year after COVID-19 shut down Canada, the Northumberland Learning Connection poses the question – Is Canada at a Pandemic Pivot Point.
This free Zoom event explores how political and social tensions have evolved on March 11 at 7:30 p.m.
After a year of sacrifices and compliance in the name of public health, political scientist Peter Loewen and policy strategist Jamison Steeve contend that the country is at an inflection point. These experts will look at how we got to where we are now, how Canada stacks up internationally and the divergent paths our country may take – depending on political and public decision making.
Loewen is a University of Toronto political-science professor and Munk School Associate Director of Global Engagement He has recently published Perceptions and Polarization and The Waiting Is The Hardest Part in the Public Policy Forum. At the Policy, Elections and Representations Lab, he has examined vaccine hesitancy, public health communications and engagement, causes and consequences of COVID-19 misperceptions, and cross-partisan consensus.
Steeve is a Senior Advisor for Policy and Solutions at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society at the University of Toronto, a Senior Fellow at the CD Howe Institute and a Fellow at the Public Policy Forum. He was formerly Executive Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management and also of the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity.
Since 2005, Northumberland Learning Connection has offered entire seasons devoted to presentations that offer in-depth explorations of such important players on the world stage as Russia and China, issues of concern such as genetics and artificial intelligence and examinations of Canada's own Arctic and provinces such as Newfoundland. A series on Alberta was set to go in spring 2020, when the pandemic hit.
Since then, NLC has presented stand-alone on-line presentations, including Watching China, Basic Income: An Interview with Hugh Segal, Animal Farm: An Alternate View of Pandemics and, just last month, Is The Balance of Power Black.
You can register on the NLC website for the March 11 event. A slideshow will start at 7:20 p.m., with the event beginning at 7:30.
