Canadian election results - panel discussion in conjunction with BACS

The Canadian general election is due to take place on Monday 21 October and, exactly a week later, the results and their implications will be discussed by our panel of experts from Canada and the UK. At the last election in October 2015 the Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau, confounded most predictions and achieved a stunning victory, increasing their number of seats from 36 to 184 and winning an overall majority in the Canadian House of Commons. The Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, saw their seats decrease from 159 to 99, and fell from power as a result. The NDP (New Democratic Party) also lost a large number of seats, while the Bloc Québécois and Greens retained their current minor status, although the Bloc gained a few seats. The Liberals and the Conservatives – now led by Andrew Scheer - are currently neck-and-neck in the opinion polls and the main issues include the economy, climate change, immigration and the treatment of indigenous peoples. The record of the Trudeau government is obviously another major factor, although the Liberals appear to have largely recovered from the damaging SNC-Lavalin affair. Currently they look likely to retain their status as the largest party and to be able to form a minority government. But nothing is certain at this stage of the campaign.

Michael Hawes is a professor of international relations (currently on leave) in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston and has been Executive Director of Fulbright Canada since September 2001. He has published widely on foreign policy, political culture, and international relations.

Steve Hewitt is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Birmingham and a former President of the British Association for Canadian Studies. He has written extensively about security and intelligence in the past and present. Currently, he is working on a history of terrorism and counter-terrorism in Canada.

James Kennedy is Director of the Centre of Canadian Studies at Edinburgh University and the current President of the British Association for Canadian Studies. A Senior Lecturer in Sociology, his research interests lie in the sociology of nationalism, especially the sociological underpinnings affecting the character of nationalism in Scotland and Quebec.

Jocelyn Létourneau is Professor in the History of Contemporary Quebec at Laval University and currently the Fulbright Canada Distinguished Chair in International and Area Studies at Yale University. His research focuses on the construction of collective identity; the public and political uses of history; and the formation of historical consciousness among young people.

This event has been organised in conjunction with BACS - the British Association for Canadian Studies.